Editorial and Source Policy

Free in NYC is a curated event guide, not a venue, ticket seller, or organizer. The goal is to help visitors find real free things to do in New York City and verify the details quickly.

What We List

We focus on events and public programs that appear to be free to attend or free with registration. This includes concerts, movies, performances, readings, lectures, public art programs, museum days, gallery openings, library programs, parks events, workshops, kids’ activities, and community festivals.

We may also list pay-what-you-wish or suggested-donation programs when the public source clearly indicates that no fixed paid ticket is required.

What We Avoid

We try to avoid listings that require paid admission, paid membership, unclear ticket purchases, private access, or unrelated commercial offers. We also remove listings when our checks find that they are not actually free.

Sources

Listings are gathered from public event calendars, official venue pages, museum and library calendars, parks and city-affiliated calendars, community arts calendars, ticketing pages that list free admission, and direct public announcements.

Every event detail page links to the original source when a source URL is available. Visitors should use that link to confirm RSVP requirements, accessibility details, weather changes, capacity limits, and last-minute schedule updates.

Review Process

The site runs a daily refresh process that checks event dates, removes past events, deduplicates repeated listings, verifies free/admission language where possible, and keeps a review queue for uncertain listings. Manual corrections can be made when an event source is wrong, incomplete, or unclear.

If you notice a mistake, please use the contact page.