A full Friday: two free 9/11 programs tonight — the 2,753-chair tribute and American Symphony Orchestra memorial concert on the Bryant Park lawn, plus a free doc screening at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine — and a free Dracula screening in Astoria; the weekend brings free outdoor opera in Brooklyn (Sat 2pm), West Harlem jazz at the Morningside Park waterfall (Sat 5pm), a brand-new Saturday Greenmarket at MoMA PS1, the return of the Rockaway sandcastle competition (Sun) and Bed-Stuy’s free weeklong Art Is Alive festival — with Ralph Ellison jazz back in Harlem Sunday 2pm.

Live Music

  • Bryant Park’s free 9/11 tribute + American Symphony Orchestra memorial concert — TODAY: the lawn is filled with 2,753 empty chairs, one for each person killed at the World Trade Center, all facing south, 8am–4pm — walk among them, leave a note or a carnation; then a free American Symphony Orchestra memorial concert on the lawn, 7–8:15pm, no ticket or reservation, just bring a blanket.
  • Outdoor Opera: Vespa — A Girl and Her Pet Wasp — TOMORROW Sat 9/12, 2–3pm, Old Stone House gardens (Washington Park, Brooklyn): free — an interactive new opera by Don DiNicola staged outdoors in the gardens.
  • West Harlem Summer Jazz Festival — TOMORROW Sat 9/12, 5–6:30pm, Morningside Park Waterfall (113th St & Manhattan Ave): free — West Harlem Arts Alliance + Harlem Late Night Jazz, the annual festival’s Morningside edition.

Film & Talks

  • 9/11: Reclaiming Ground Zero screening — TONIGHT 6:30–8:30pm, Cathedral of St. John the Divine (Morningside Heights): free, RSVP required — J.B. Savey’s documentary on the decision-making behind the World Trade Center site redevelopment, introduced by AmericaSpeaks founder Dr. Carolyn J. Lukensmeyer.
  • Bram Stoker’s Dracula free screening — TONIGHT, doors 8pm / film 8:30, Medusa Art Studio, 18-14 Astoria Blvd, 21+: free, no RSVP — Coppola’s gothic version, with a bar and cafe on site.

Art & Public Art

  • Creative Time Sandcastle Competition — Sun 9/13, 1–4pm, Rockaway Beach at Beach 108th St: free (RSVP) — eight artists turn the shoreline into a temporary outdoor gallery, the first edition since 2013; judging at 4pm, with a ticketed benefit bash at The Rockaway Hotel 5–7pm after.
  • 10th Annual Art Is Alive Festival — Sun 9/13–Sat 9/19 at 506 MacDonough St, Bed-Stuy: free — Asase Yaa’s weeklong 10th-anniversary program: nightly 7pm West African, Haitian and Senegalese dance and drum classes plus wellness sessions, building to the second annual block party Sat 9/19, noon–7pm.

Food & Markets

  • Greenmarket at MoMA PS1 — opens TOMORROW Sat 9/12, Jackson Ave & 46th Ave on the 46th Ave plaza in front of the museum (LIC): new weekly GrowNYC market, Saturdays through Nov 21 — Breezy Hill Orchard, Halal Pastures Farm, Mushroom Queens, Knead Love Bakery, Wave Hill Breads; SNAP/EBT + Health Bucks accepted.
All gathered items - what was cut and why (11)

21 events auto-dropped by the timing filter (past dates) - logged in the Obsidian raw dump.