(Various Locations) The Gotham Independent Film Awards, selected by distinguished juries and presented in New York City, the home of independent film, are the first honors of the film awards season. This public showcase honors the filmmaking community, expands the audience for independent films, and supports the work that IFP does behind the scenes throughout the year to bring such films to fruition. The festival includes awards presentations, film screenings, networking receptions, panel discussions, and more. Event Website

(gallery onetwentyeight, 128 Rivington St, New York, NY 10002) Maxine Fine’s painting, sculpture, and photography are brought together for the first time in a memorial exhibition celebrating the artist’s life and dedication to her art. Fine was born in 1942 and lived in NYC in the 70’s and early 80’s. A pioneer of the Feminist and Lesbian Art Movements, Fine’s work, a visual memoir at once achingly intimate and overwhelming in scale, explores concerns of communal significance – gender, childhood, sexuality, illness, spirituality, and mortality – articulating a shift of focus in the art world. Event Website

(Safe-T Gallery, 111 Front St, Gallery 214, New York, NY 11201) In the 1980’s, Gail Thacker began to use the inherent instability of Polaroid film as an active component in her portrait and landscape images. By deliberately evading the fixing protocols for her negatives, and placing them aside for as long as a year after exposure, her negatives accumulated a series of changes and distortions. Then in early 2008 the Polaroid Corporation announced that it would no longer manufacture its signature self-developing film. This exhibit features some of Thacker's last expressions -- portraits from the theatrical, gay and transgressive worlds of New York -- in this unusually creative and rich medium. Event Website

(Metro Pictures, 519 West 24th St, New York, NY 10011) For her first exhibition of new work since 2004, Cindy Sherman will show a series of color photographs that continues her investigation into distorted ideas of beauty, self-image and aging. Typical of Sherman, these works are at once alarming and amusing, distasteful and poignant. As her own model for more than 30 years, Sherman has developed an extraordinary relationship with her camera. A remarkable performer, subtle distortions of her face and body are captured on camera and leave the artist unrecognizable to the audience. Her ability to drastically manipulate her age or weight, or coax the most delicate expressions from her face, is uncanny. Opening: Friday, November 14, 6-8pm. Event Website

(Jonathan LeVine Gallery, 529 West 20th, 9th Fl, New York, NY 10011) Shag’s signature style of sophisticated figures lounge within lavish interiors, accentuated by the artist’s mid-century modern design aesthetic. The walls within the gallery’s Project Room will be covered in flocked-velvet wallpaper featuring a multi-colored fish motif, created by the artist himself. Event Website

(Christopher Henry Gallery, 127 Elizabeth St, New York, NY 10013) Ves Pitts' second solo exhibition at the gallery; Cake Bomb consists of a series of photo collaborations with various New York personalities and artists which fuel the life of the city. As uncertainty grips the current world mindset these photographs offer a portrayal of to the unpredictable state of the world and deriving its theme from Marie Antoinette’s statement; “Let Them Eat Cake”. The work unearths a dark and humorous interpretation and collaboration between Pitts and the subject as they create personas about this crisis-ridden misanthropic time. Pitts has worked with performers like Inbred Hybrid Collective, Taylor Mac, Dynasty Handbag, Flawless Sabrina and Glenn Marla to unveil the turmoil along side the relaxed gender diversity of these varied artists. Event Website

(Union Square Park, Broadway to 4th Ave, East 14th St to East 17th St) Unique gifts await shoppers at every turn as they peruse the more than 100 gift boutiques at the popular Holiday Market at Union Square, now in its 13th year. The Market's wares include imported and handmade holiday ornaments and decorations, antique prints, fine art, toys for kids of all ages, gourmet foods, drinks, baked goods, handcrafted jewelry and leather, golf accessories, candles, bath oils, cashmere, French linens, pet accessories, clothing and apparel for all ages. Event Website

(Bryant Park, 25 West 40th St, New York, NY 10018) Over 100 boutiques, artisans, designers, and food merchants from around the world. The Holiday Shops and The Pond make Bryant Park the perfect destination for the winter season. Event Website

(Radio City Music Hall, 1260 6th Ave, New York, NY 10020) See the world famous Radio City Rockettes is an unparalleled show featuring the Rockettes signature eye high kicks, and precision choreography in multiple show stopping numbers including; the legendary "Parade of the Wooden Soldiers", and "New York at Christmas," a dynamic holiday celebration. Audiences of all ages will delight in this multifaceted spectacular including Santa flying high above the crowd, childhood dreams coming true in the Nutcracker and touched as the true meaning of Christmas is brought to life with the awe-inspiring Living Nativity - the beautiful story of the first Christmas. Event Website

(Guggenheim Museum, 1071 5th Ave, New York, NY 10128) (Fridays, 6:30 - 11pm) In celebration of the three year restoration and as a tribute to Mr. Lewis, artist Jenny Holzer created a site-specific light projection entitled For the Guggenheim for the facade of the newly restored museum. This video presents an opportunity to view an excerpt from Holzer’s transformative work, which casts large-scale texts directly onto Frank Lloyd Wright’s curving architecture. Suffused with a play of light and changing language, the building and its surroundings become an environment for looking, discussion, and gathering. Event Website

(The Imperial Theatre, 249 West 45th St, New York, NY 10036) Previews begin October 1, opens November 13. The story follows Billy’s journey after stumbling across a ballet class while on his way to a boxing lesson, realizing that his future lay not in the boxing ring but on stage. Event Website

(Broadhurst Theatre, 235 West 44th Street, New York, NY 10036) Equus tells the story of a stable boy and the psychiatrist who tries to unravel the religious and sexual mystery that ensues when the troubled teenager blinds six horses. Event Website

(All around NYC!) During the Food Bank's annual NYC Goes Orange campaign, individual New Yorkers and our partners come together to "Go Orange" -- the color of hunger awareness -- in support of the 3.1 million New Yorkers who struggle to afford food. Events include food samplings, food drives, auctions and dining events. Event Website

(47th St Theater, 304 West 47th Street, New York, NY 10036) Opens October 2. Spoofs of the season include Spring Awakening, A Chorus Line, Grease: You’re the One That We Want, Legally Blonde and Frost/Nixon. Event Website

(Al Hirschfeld Theatre, 302 West 45th Street, New York, NY 10036) Previews begin August 19, Opens September 18. This is a new musical based on the Charles Dickens novel “A Tale of Two Cities.” Event Website

(By Request) This tour is based on new and unique research into the people and places Oscar Wilde visited in the NY of the gilded age. Event Website

(Lincoln Center, 70 Lincoln Center Plaza, New York, NY 10023) From the moment the lights dim, you're transported to a mysterious world of magic and fantasy. A rousing snowstorm sends a blizzard of snowflakes across the stage, while tantalizing delicacies from around the world prance about with international flair. You'll meet marching toy soldiers, little Marie, and the valiant Nutcracker who saves her from the nightmarish Mouse King all in a show the New York Post praises as "the Christmas show of all Christmas shows." With 200 performers, a one-ton tree that magically grows from 12 to 40 feet, hundreds of dazzling costumes, and a million watts of illuminated excitement, George Balanchine's The Nutcracker™ is the definitive holiday must-see! Event Website

(WAMU Theater, 4 Penn Plaza, New York, NY 10001) Wintuk is an exciting winter adventure about a boy's quest for snow. This celebration of winter weaves thrilling acrobatics, breathtaking theatrical effects and memorable songs into an extraordinairy journey to an imaginary land called Wintuk. The boy and his companions - a mysterious female shaman, a fearless young girl and a yellow-bellied man - deliver endless excitement, exhilaration and intrigue. Event Website

(The Jewish Museum, 1109 Fifth Ave, New York, NY 10128) In 1947, a significant discovery of ancient Jewish texts was made in a cave near the Dead Sea. These and other Dead Sea Scrolls found later have shed light on the major transformations and debates that occurred in ancient worship during the first centuries BCE and CE, that contributed to the development of early Judaism and Christianity. This exhibition will present six Dead Sea Scrolls complemented by objects excavated from the site near where they were found. Three of the scrolls have never been exhibited. Event Website

(Neil Simon Theatre, 250 West 52nd St, New York, NY 10019) In Hairspray it's 1962 - the '50s are out and change is in the air. Baltimore's Tracy Turnblad, a big girl with big hair and an even bigger heart, has only one passion -- to dance. Catch the show before the curtains close on this classic favorite. Event Website

(MoMA, 11 West 53 St, New York, NY 10019) This exhibit examines Van Gogh's nocturnal interiors and landscapes, which often combine with other longstanding themes of his art -- the encroachment of modernity on the rural scene. Event Website

(Guggenheim Museum, 1071 5th Ave, New York, NY 10128) Since the early 1990s, Catherine Opie has produced a complex body of photographic work, adopting such diverse genres as studio portraiture, landscape photography, and urban street photography to explore notions of communal, sexual, and cultural identity. From her early portraits of transgender people and performance artists to her expansive urban landscapes of cities like Minneapolis, Los Angeles, and New York, Opie has offered profound insights into the conditions in which communities form and the terms in which they are defined. Event Website

(Rockefeller Center, 45 Rockefeller Plaza, 5th to 7th Aves, 47 to 51st Sts, New York, NY 10111) The most famous city rink of them all. ($9.50+, skate rental $8) Event Website

(Brooklyn Museum, 200 Eastern Pkwy, Brooklyn, NY 11238) The Brooklyn Museum is the final venue of an international tour of the first retrospective in more than twenty years of work by the internationally acclaimed artists Gilbert & George. The exhibition comprises more than eighty pictures created since 1970, among them more than a dozen that are only in the Brooklyn presentation. The exhibition traces their stylistic and emotional evolution through their pictures and art in other media, ranging from charcoal on paper sculpture from the early 1970s to postcard pieces to ephemera dating back to the 1960s. Event Website

(New York Botanical Garden, 200th Street and Kazimiroff Boulevard, Bronx, NY 10458) Wrapped in the glow of twinkling lights, model trains and trolleys zip along over bridges and on winding tracks past scaled replicas of New York landmarks made by award-winning designer Paul Busse. Orange slices, cinnamon sticks, poppy pods, pine cones, and other plant parts make a festive brew as the materials used to create the more than 140 architectural reproductions. Among the favorites are the Empire State Building, Little Red Lighthouse, Brooklyn Bridge, and the borough's own Yankee Stadium. The sights and sounds of locomotives with names such as Holiday Steam Engine and the North Pole and Snowflake Railroad are sure to evoke both magic and merrymaking. Event Website

(American Museum of Natural History, 175 Central Park West, New York, NY 10023) The theme of this year's tree is Fantastic Creatures: Mythic and Real, echoing the Mythic Creatures exhibition. Mythic creatures such as dragons, mermaids, unicorns, as well as real animals like narwhals and peacocks hang from and surround the base of the tree. Volunteers begin folding in July to complete approximately 500 creations displayed on the tree. The two Holiday Barosaurs, which greet visitors to the Museum on the front steps throughout the holiday season, are fabricated of openwork stainless steel and festooned with pine boughs and lights. Illuminated at night, the whimsical dinosaurs flank the John Russell Pope Central Park West staircase and echo the Barosaurus mount in the Roosevelt Rotunda. Event Website

(Lincoln Center, 70 Lincoln Center Plaza, New York, NY 10023) From clowning to capering canines and prancing horses, Big Apple Circus is simply tons of fun. Event Website

(UBS Art Gallery, 1285 6th Ave, New York, NY 10019) More than 60 photographs and approximately a dozen lithographic posters that depict the circus coming to town, performances of spectacular feats, and the behind-the-scenes life of circus members. HEYDAY will highlight the rediscovered work of Frederick W. Glasier, who photographed the circus and served as the official photographer for the Barnum & Bailey Circus on-and-off for three decades. Event Website

(Bronx Museum, 1040 Grand Concourse at 165th St, Bronx, NY 10456) Photography, film, installation art and more by artists including Vito Acconci, Martha Rosler and David Hammons on the subject of the street as a source of inspiration. Event Website

(Bryant Park, 25 West 40th St, New York, NY 10018) (Sun - Thurs: 8am - 10pm; Fri & Sat: 8am - 12am) The Pond at Bryant Park is Manhattan's first and only free admission ice skating rink. Back for its fourth season, The Pond is fast becoming one of NYC's most treasured winter destinations. Whether you enjoy a day of family skating, share a romantic evening spinning under the stars, celebrate the holidays at a company bash, or join us for the many special events and ice activities this season, The Pond truly offers a bit of magic for everyone. (Free) Event Website

(FIT, 27th St & 7th Ave, New York, NY 10001) Set in theatrical mise-en-scene suggesting iconic gothic settings, such as the labyrinth, the ruined castle and the laboratory, more than 75 ensembles will be on display. Although popularly identified with black-clad teenagers and rock musicians, gothic fashion is represented in this exhibition with looks by designers such as Alexander McQueen, John Galliano of Christian Dior, Rick Owens, Gareth Pugh, Anne Demeulemeester, Anna Sui, Olivier Theyskens, Ricardo Tischi of Givenchy, Jun Takahashi of Undercover, and Yohji Yamamoto, as well as sub-cultural styles, such as "old-school goth," cyber-goth, and the Japanese look of Elegant Gothic Lolitas. (Free) Event Website

(Museum of the City of New York, 1220 Fifth Ave, New York, NY 10029) The 1920s and ‘30s witnessed a burst of creative energy in the fields of architecture, design, and fashion. Shaping new styles of buildings and furnishings, redefining fashion, and giving visual form to avant-garde performing arts, architects and designers forged a still-influential modern aesthetic. The era’s most creative figures rarely worked in isolation, preferring instead to participate in international dialogues that crossed national boundaries and linked capital cities in collaborative artistic enterprise. Between the world wars, no two cities engaged in a more fertile conversation than Paris, capital of 19th-century refinement, and New York, the upstart challenger that represented 20th-century dynamism. Event Website

(American Museum of Natural History, 175 Central Park West, New York, NY 10023) The Museum's new Polar Rink, made from synthetic ice, is located on the Arthur Ross Terrace, with magnificent views of the glowing Rose Center for Earth and Space and the surrounding Theodore Roosevelt Park. Skaters will glide around a 17-foot-tall polar bear made of openwork stainless steel festooned with pine boughs and twinkling lights. Event Website

(South Street Seaport, 19 Fulton St, New York, NY 10038) (10am - 10pm) Seaport Ice is downtown Manhattan’s newest winter attraction. Amid the visual splendor of tall ships, skyscrapers, and New York Harbor, this 8,000 sq. ft. ice skating rink offers a unique skating for the whole family. ($5; $7 Skate Rental) Event Website

(Brooklyn Museum, 200 Eastern Pkwy, Brooklyn, NY 11238) This exhibition of twenty-five portraits by internationally renowned photographer Timothy Greenfield-Sanders is a documentary project that explores being Black in America. Sanders also directed a series of filmed interviews conducted by noted film critic Elvis Mitchell that will be presented along with the photographs. Serena Williams, Chris Rock, Colin Powell, Toni Morrison, Russell Simmons, Al Sharpton, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and Sean Combs are among the many African Americans whose faces are seen and voices heard in The Black List Project. The images, photographic and filmed, are the core of the collaboration between Greenfield-Sanders and Mitchell that has resulted in The Black List: Volume One, an HBO documentary that premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2008 and was aired nationally for the first time in August 2008, and a multi-city museum exhibition. Event Website

(War Memorial Ice Skating Rink, 1321 Victory Blvd, Staten Island, NY 10301) (Friday: 4pm - 8pm. Saturday: 12pm - 4pm and 7pm -) ($8; $5 skate rental) (718-720-1010) Event Website

(Various Locations Five Boroughs) New York City Opera begins an exciting year of transition as the company’s home at Lincoln Center, the New York State Theater, undergoes major renovations. During the renovations, City Opera will take to the road, bringing live music and provocative cultural conversation to more than fourteen different venues in all five boroughs of New York City. Through concerts, showcases, multi-media presentations, talks, panels, and film screenings, City Opera will celebrate opera’s surprisingly central role in contemporary culture, and will provide a preview of future seasons. Event Website

(Museum of Sex, 233 5th Ave, New York, NY 10016) A male bonobo shrewdly soliciting sex in exchange for sugar cane. Two female bonobos blissfully engaging in genito-genital (G-G) rubbing. The strenuous coupling of endangered Panda bears. Encounter these creatures and others so vivid in their portrayal that they will likely feel as though they have unwittingly begun a voyeuristic journey into the wild. Event Website

(American Museum of Natural History, 175 Central Park West, New York, NY 10023) This exhibition will examine one of the most pressing scientific issues of our time -- the massive, human-induced warming of Earth, a phenomenon that could lead to drought, rising sea levels, heavy storms, and other events with potentially dire impacts on the health of society and the natural world. Explore the science, history, and impact of climate change, and find out ways in which individuals, communities and nations can reduce their carbon footprints. Event Website