The Arts & History   

Join fashion designer Kathlin Argiro for a presentation and hands-on fabric flower workshop that brings heritage craftsmanship into the present.

Begin with the story of M & S Schmalberg, America’s last remaining fabric flower factory, and learn how this iconic Garment District atelier continues to serve fashion, theater, and film. Watch a live demonstration of the traditional hand-pressed techniques that define this rare craft.

Then create your own fabric flower using authentic, hand-pressed petals from the atelier itself. You’ll leave with a beautifully finished piece, and a deeper appreciation for the artistry and skill behind this enduring New York tradition.

“All art is propaganda,” Diego Rivera famously pronounced. In this presentation, we will look at how art has been used to inspire people in bringing about social change and upending oppressive power structures. Our investigation will span from the call for liberté, egalité et fraterité in the French Revolution with artists such as David, Gros, and Delacroix, to the anti-war and anti-authoritarian messages of Goya, Picasso, and Kollewitz, to the socialist aspirations of the Mexican painters, Rivera, Kahlo, Orozco, and Sequeiros, and finally to some recent artists such as Barbara Kruger, David Wojnarovicz, Kehinde Wiley, and Ai Weiwei. By the end of the evening, maybe we will all be inspired to make a better world.

What’s up north? Join Ginny on this spring tour of the most natural part of Central Park, the North Woods and Harlem Meer, featuring stone arched bridges and manmade waterfalls. We’ll visit the newly renovated Conservatory Gardens’ formal French, English, and Italians gardens with their beautiful spring blooms, and see the gate that belonged to a Vanderbilt. Then we’ll venture over to explore the brand new, state-of-the-art facility, Harlem Meer Center, that replaced the Lasker Pool and Rink.

How did medieval warriors fight and win unruly battles? What weapons did they have at their disposal to defend against and conquer foreign enemies, walled cities under siege, and surprise attacks? This lecture will examine the mechanics of key weapons like the crossbow, trebuchet, and broadsword to better understand what it meant to fight for one’s life in the Middle Ages. Join us as we hear the testimony of victorious soldiers, defeated rulers, and ordinary people conscripted to defend their homelands, for better or worse.

For much of the 20th century, Berlin was at the center of conflicts that nearly tore the city and the world apart.  Learn how Berlin, the heart of libertine Weimar culture, became the Nazis' capital and by 1945 a nearly bombed out city.  See how recovery was overtaken by the city's Cold War division, Stalin's 1948 blockade of West Berlin, and a Western airlift that saved from starvation people who'd been America's enemies just three years before.  Relive East Berliners' futile 1953 uprising against Communist rule, Khrushchev's construction of a wall that denied freedom to millions of East Germans, and the fear of both sides during the Cuban Missile Crisis that if war broke out, it might well start in Berlin.  Finally, watch JFK's and Reagan's speeches making the Berlin Wall the symbol of Communist failure, the stunning day the Wall came down, and the renaissance of a reunified Berlin today.  Throughout, learn of the courage of average Berliners, East and West, who struggled for decades to survive.

Discover the craftsmanship behind one of fashion’s most enduring embellishments. Led by Fashion Designer Kathlin Argiro, this exclusive tour of M&S Schmalberg, America’s last remaining fabric flower factory, offers a behind-the-scenes look at a working Garment District atelier that continues to serve designers across fashion, theater, and film. Participants will observe the traditional processes used to cut, dye, press, and assemble fabric flowers by hand, gaining insight into how heritage techniques remain relevant within today’s industry. Don’t miss this rare opportunity to see slow craftsmanship in action within a rapidly evolving fashion landscape and the role it plays in contemporary fashion.

Take a cinematic journey through the lives and legacies of two unforgettable Hollywood greats: Martin Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio. With curated film clips, behind-the-scenes insights, and lively guided discussions, the classes will explore how each of these icons shaped American film and culture through their groundbreaking performances, creative vision, and lasting influence on the industry.

To sign up individually, follow the links below:

• Legends of the Silver Screen: Martin Scorsese, Thursday, 5/21
• Legends of the Silver Screen: Leonardo DiCaprio, Thursday, 6/4

In this class, we will pay tribute to one of the most influential filmmakers in American cinema, Martin Scorsese. Celebrated for his electrifying style, moral complexity, and deep passion for film history, Scorsese has spent decades exploring themes of crime, masculinity, faith, obsession, and redemption. From Taxi Driver and Goodfellas to Shutter Island, The Wolf of Wall Street, and Killers of the Flower Moon, we’ll examine how his dynamic camera work, editing rhythms, and long-standing collaborations have shaped modern filmmaking. Through curated film clips, historical context, and guided discussion, this course will examine why Scorsese remains both a master storyteller and one of cinema’s greatest directors almost sixty years after his directorial debut.

Johannes Vermeer, the 17th century Dutch artist, has given us mesmerizing and enigmatic paintings. Yet, several paintings attributed to him are problematic to say the least, even though they all have the right provenance. Some look like an amateur’s work, others are emotionally powerful while technically inferior. We will explore the enduring mysteries, including the theory that Vermeer’s daughter became his apprentice.

Please join Page Knox for a walk through the Metropolitan Museum of Art's iconic Nineteenth Century wing, and witness the evolution of Impressionism. Beginning with Romantics like Eugene Delacroix and the Barbizon landscape painters, the collection reveals the rise of the avant-garde in the 1800s. We'll see how the work of realist Gustave Courbet and proto-Impressionist Edouard Manet leads to the creation of the movement with its beloved artists Claude Monet, Auguste Renoir, Edgar Degas, Camille Pissarro, Alfred Sisley, and Berthe Morisot. As the century ends, we'll witness the rise of Post Impressionism, with iconic works by Vincent Van Gogh, Georges Seurat, and Paul Cezanne, as they lay the foundations for modern art.

In this class, we will examine the evolution of Leonardo DiCaprio from teen heartthrob to one of the most critically acclaimed actors of his generation. Beginning with his early breakout roles and moving through acclaimed performances in films like What’s Eating Gilbert Grape, Titanic, The Departed, Inception, The Revenant, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, and One Battle After Another, we’ll explore how DiCaprio built a career rooted in risk-taking and reinvention. Through curated film clips, historical context, and guided discussion, this course will highlight his intense, often method-influenced screen presence, frequent collaborations with major directors, and commitment to complex, often morally ambiguous characters, thereby solidifying his status as a modern legend of the silver screen.

Although historians enjoy a world of beautifully curated manuscripts, sometimes the “garbage” of the past tells us more about the people who lived then. This lecture will explore discovered graffiti from the ancient and medieval past to get a glimpse of daily life as it was recorded on public walls, outhouses, and even church balconies. Join us as we track these unofficial recorders of history through humorous, lewd, and enigmatic graffiti markings.

Held 100 years to the day after his death, this lecture commemorates Antoni Gaudí’s enduring legacy and explores his most ambitious architectural undertaking in extreme detail. Still unfinished after 143 years, the wondrous cathedral of La Sagrada Familia in Barcelona recently became the tallest church in the world. Full of surprises at every turn, it awes with innovative engineering and wildly creative design. Its architect, Antonius Gaudí, became an international icon with a cult-like following, his many buildings in and around Barcelona defining the city’s unique character. We will explore his extraordinary achievements in depth, uncovering the ideas, innovations, and symbolism that make La Sagrada Familia unlike any other building in the world.

This lecture traces the meteoric rise and lasting legacy of the "King of Rock and Roll." We explore how Elvis blended diverse musical styles to spark a global cultural revolution, inspiring a generation of legends like John Lennon, David Bowie, and Bruce Springsteen. The journey follows Elvis from his humble beginnings in poverty to his dual stardom in music and film, through the lean years of the British Invasion, and into his triumphant 1968 "Comeback Special." We conclude with his final era as a Las Vegas headliner—a period marked by massive success, personal struggles, and his untimely death at 42—to understand his permanent impact on popular culture.

Before Central Park, New Yorkers escaped the city to the Green-Wood Cemetery, not just a resting place for some of New York City’s notable residents, but an oasis tucked away in Brooklyn. On this tour, we’ll start at the high Victorian Gothic Revival Brownstone gates designed by the distinguished American architect Richard Upjohn. We’ll visit the historic chapel designed by Warren & Wetmore (architects of Grand Central Terminal), as well as explore the grounds of Beaux Arts mausoleums, some featuring Tiffany glass windows, while listening to the stories of some of New York City’s prominent families that eternally reside on the grounds.