Stranger, smaller-room, and in-the-know Scope NYC picks for Friday, November 6, 2026.
The Noguchi Museum opens its galleries and sculpture garden for Free First Friday, a free admission day that falls on the first Friday of each month. November hours are 10 a.m.–5 p.m.; the museum’s new Akari exhibition opened earlier this week.
Curators C. Ondine Chavoya and David Evans Frantz join performance scholar Karen Jaime for a free conversation on queer Chicana/o spaces in Los Angeles and Latine life in New York. El Museo del Barrio keeps its galleries open late around the 5–7 p.m. talk, followed by a reception.
Jonathan Paik’s Jazz Gallery residency folds hymns, Korean sanjo, footwork, blues, free jazz, musique concrète, and internet algorithms into new compositions. His six-piece lineup includes two samplers, two guitars, bass, and drums; the Friday set begins at 7 p.m.
At McNally Jackson Seaport, Elena Dudum reads from her memoir They Told Me Back Home Would Be Beautiful, about Palestinian American identity, family, and inheritance. She is joined by Kiese Laymon for this free 7 p.m. conversation; RSVP through the bookstore listing.
Books Are Magic hosts writers Akbar Shahid Ahmed and Rozina Ali on their books Crossing the Red Line and Seasons of Fury. The 7 p.m. conversation in Brooklyn Heights includes a copy of either featured book or a $10 store gift card with each ticket.
Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra connect three places through the Vitoria, Shanghai, and Marciac suites. The 7:30 p.m. concert also has a 6:30 pre-show lecture for anyone who wants context before the full orchestra takes the stage.
Joanna Kotze’s new dance work this is the beginning, this is the end begins its New York Live Arts run at 7:30. The interdisciplinary piece examines history’s repetitions and the thresholds of agency; opening night is followed by additional performances Nov. 7 and Nov. 11–14.
The Slipper Room’s Friday variety revue mixes burlesque, sideshow, and comedy, with Bastard Keith, Veronica Viper, Cardone, Twisted Sisters, Cheeky Lane, Zennifer Sage, Andrea Flow, Tiger Bay, and Evil Hate Monkey. Doors open at 8; sets follow at 8:30, 9:45, and 11.
The Fricks stage a late-night, Mozart-and-Constanze wedding reception at the Slipper Room, with a deliberately bawdy POMP! theme. The 11:30 p.m. guest show is a one-off after the venue’s earlier variety sets; it is for ages 21 and up.
Nitehawk’s midnight screening of Jonathan Demme’s 1991 thriller is presented on 35mm. Arrive for the 11:55 p.m. seating; the film starts just after midnight, making this a true late-night cinema plan.