Socrates Sculpture Park

Socrates Sculpture Park Always open, always free!
9am-sunset.
(1025)

Socrates Sculpture Park was an abandoned riverside landfill and illegal dumpsite until 1986 when a coalition of artists and community members, under the leadership of artist Mark di Suvero, transformed it into an open studio and exhibition space for artists and a neighborhood park for local residents. Socrates Sculpture Park is the only site in the New York Metropolitan area specifically dedicated

to providing artists with opportunities to create and exhibit large-scale sculpture and multi-media installations in a unique outdoor environment that encourages strong interaction between artists, artworks and the public. The Park's existence is based on the belief that reclamation, revitalization and creative expression are essential to the survival, humanity and improvement of our urban environment.

This June, the Park becomes a stage. brings its Crossroads Series to Socrates for two evenings of live performance. Cros...
05/30/2026

This June, the Park becomes a stage.

brings its Crossroads Series to Socrates for two evenings of live performance. Crossroads gathers interdisciplinary artists across generations to share their practices, meet the questions facing artists now, and build a living network of exchange and inclusion.

Two nights. Seven works. Free with RSVP (link in bio).

FRIDAY, JUNE 12 | 6:30–7:30 PM
Adventures in Success by Liberty Styles, with Orlando Hernandez and Naomi FunakiAnak
nasaan ka by Vanessa Rappa
ShaBahBwaaa by Diovanna Obafunmilayo

SATURDAY, JUNE 13 | 6–7:30 PM
Cave Dances by Orlando HernandezLOAM
(excerpt) by Cara
Hagan
Duet by Heather Dutton
Middle Child Dance TheatreSleep by Anna Thérèse Witenberg, performed by Ethan Huffman

Reserve your spot at the link in our bio. 🔗

05/28/2026

At this year’s 40th Anniversary Gala, three artists and cultural leaders will help us celebrate the people and partners who have shaped the Park’s story.

Guadalupe Maravilla, whose solo exhibition ‘Planeta Abuelx’ transformed the Park into an altar-space and medicinal garden in 2021, combines sculpture, painting, performative acts, and installation, while grounding his transdisciplinary practice in activism and healing. He will present the award to Materials for the Arts, recognizing a longtime partner whose commitment to creative reuse has helped artists transform discarded materials into public work, learning, and possibility.

Ivana Mestrovic, Socrates Board Chair, a cultural leader and supporter, will present to the Sidney E. Frank Foundation, honoring one of Socrates’ earliest supporters and the kind of belief that helps artists, public space, and community take root.

Phil Sanders, a master printer, author, artist, arts business consultant, and founder/director of PS Marlow with more than thirty years of experience in printmaking and nonprofit arts leadership, will present to Chakaia Booker, celebrating an artist whose relationship with Socrates spans decades, from early onsite experimentation in 1994 and 1997 to her return this year with monumental works that mark a powerful full-circle moment.

Together, they remind us that Socrates has always been built through relationships: artists supporting artists, partners believing early, and communities making space for creative risk.

Join us Thursday, June 4, as we celebrate 40 years in the Park.

Tickets at the link in bio.

Opera returns to the waterfront. ✨On Wednesday, June 10, join us for the Summer Recital Series, presented in collaborat...
05/27/2026

Opera returns to the waterfront. ✨

On Wednesday, June 10, join us for the Summer Recital Series, presented in collaboration with Capital One City Parks Foundation SummerStage.

This free outdoor concert brings rising young artists from the Met’s Lindemann Young Artist Development Program to the Park for an evening of opera under the open sky, featuring works by American composers as part of Carnegie Hall’s United in Sound: America at 250 festival.

Wednesday, June 10
7–8 PM
Free with RSVP | Link to register in bio.

Image: Argenis Apolinario

Congratulations to Jonathan Kuhn — Director of Art & Antiquities at and a longtime NYC Parks representative on the Socr...
05/26/2026

Congratulations to Jonathan Kuhn — Director of Art & Antiquities at and a longtime NYC Parks representative on the Socrates Sculpture Park Board — on being named a 2026 Sloan Public Service Award honoree by .

Often called the “Nobel Prize of Public Service,” the Sloan Awards recognize six New York City civil servants whose dedication, leadership, and commitment have shaped the lives of New Yorkers. For more than three decades, Jonathan has stewarded the city’s public art collection — over 1,000 monuments and countless temporary exhibitions across the five boroughs — and built the conditions for artists, parks, and public space to thrive together.

Celebrate him alongside his fellow 2026 honorees on May 28 with .

Don’t forget to catch our artists in the wild! You can now find artworks by Mark di Suvero, Socrates’ founder, and artis...
05/22/2026

Don’t forget to catch our artists in the wild!

You can now find artworks by Mark di Suvero, Socrates’ founder, and artist alumni Sanford Biggers and Alyson Shotz at galleries around NYC.

Mark di Suvero: Avanti!
Paula Cooper Gallery (Chelsea)
On view through July 17, 2026

Sanford Biggers: The Gift of Tongues
Marianne Boesky Gallery (Chelsea)
On view through June 13, 2026

Alyson Shotz: Deep Field
Derek Eller Gallery (Tribeca)
On view through May 30, 2026

05/20/2026

As we celebrate our 40th anniversary year, we’re proud to welcome back , our after-school youth program.

Since April, students from more than 8 schools across and have gathered weekly at the Park to explore drawing, sculpture, horticulture, photography, and the possibilities of making art outdoors.

This season, Socrateens are working with Socrates staff and .convergence to design and build upcycled planters that will also function as rain gardens, offering a creative response to flooding, climate resilience, and environmental care.

Across the spring and fall semesters, students will continue learning alongside artist fellows, visiting artists, educators, and one another.

Rooted in Socrates’ long tradition of artist-led experimentation, outdoor learning, and free public education, Socrateens gives young people space to test ideas, work with their hands, collaborate, and see themselves as part of the Park’s living creative community.

Programs like Socrateens carry forward the spirit that has shaped Socrates from the beginning: trust in artists, commitment to community, and the belief that learning can happen through making, gathering, and beginning again.

We’re excited to see what they create this season.

Art may be good for the body, not just the spirit.A recent study found that arts and cultural engagement may be linked ...
05/19/2026

Art may be good for the body, not just the spirit.

A recent study found that arts and cultural engagement may be linked to a slower pace of biological aging, adding to a growing body of research on the relationship between , , and -being.

This evening, experience that connection in the Park.

Sunset Meditation with returns tonight at 7 PM, and continues every Tuesday through August 25.

Join us for an evening of stillness, breath, public art, and community as the sun sets over the waterfront.

No registration required. Just bring yourself.

05/15/2026

when BRIDGE is DJing your party.

Join us in three weeks for ours. Thursday, June 4, Socrates Sculpture Park 40th Anniversary Gala featuring sounds provided by .

Dinner, dancing, cocktails, community, and the NYC skyline.

See you there. Link to tickets in bio.

Address

32-01 Vernon Boulevard
New York, NY
11106

Opening Hours

Monday 9am - 7:30pm
Tuesday 9am - 7:30pm
Wednesday 9am - 7:30pm
Thursday 9am - 7:30pm
Friday 9am - 7:30pm
Saturday 9am - 7:30pm
Sunday 9am - 7:30pm

Telephone

(718) 956-1819

Website

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