We’ve got your weekend: Culture without a price tag (aka it’s almost all free)

Wednesday, June 13/Crescent Park (2300 N. Peters): You know it’s a good sign when demand is so high that an event becomes a “regular.” That is the case with Yoga Movement Mashup. This free event asks people from all over the city to celebrate movement and community. In other words, you go there to meet people and then do some yoga and sweat it out in Crescent Park. Since there was such a demand for these events, they will be occurring monthly for the rest of the summer. The yoga movement begins at 6:00 PM on Wednesday, and you can find out more details about the monthly occurrences here. 

Thursday, June 14/New Orleans Jazz Museum (400 Esplanade Avenue): Author Cassie Pruyn will be providing her poetic and profound research on the Bayou St. John through the centuries at New Orleans Jazz Museum’s monthly Second Thursday Lecture. Cassie recently published Bayou St. John, A Brief History. Bayou St. john played a significant role in the neighborhood of the same name, fueling debate over the waterway’s use, control and ownership for centuries. Native Americans first used it as a trade route. Later, it became a backdoor entrance for settlers to the present-day French Quarter. Cassie will talk about all this and more (as well as have photographs). Admission is free, open to the public, and the talk begins at 6:00 PM. 

Friday, June 15/One Eyed Jacks (615 Toulouse): There is nothing better than sweating in the summer to sweet tunes spun by DJ Soul Sister. She’ll be at One Eyed Jacks on Friday with her “Soulful Takeover.” Now that the colleges are out and the weather is sweltering, the dance floor is open to all of us who stay put for the summer and sweat it out! The dancing begins at 10:00 PM. This is the one event that is not free. It’ll cost you $10 to shake off your body in sweat! 

Saturday, June 16/2340 Port Street: Take a deep inhale and smell the beauty of…garbage. If you’d like to see that garbage not only smell better but be put to work then head over to Port Street on Saturday to learn about composting. In this hour-long workshop, everyday people (aka Recirculating Farms Coalition) will transform into gardeners and scientists as they demonstrate the elements and steps for composting. They’ll define “browns” and “greens,” go over the basic science behind decomposition, and explore natural break-down processes hands-on by digging through compost at 3 different stages–measuring the temperature, and even making your own compost! Mmmm… Oh, also, snacks and water will be provided. This event is outside so wear some comfy clothing, bring a hat, and lather on the sunscreen. The composting lesson begins at 10:30 AM, and you can find out full details here. 

Monday, June 18/THNOC William’s Research Center (410 Chartres Street): It’s time to get Swedish! In collaboration with the Embassy of Sweden in Washington, D.C., and the Consulate of Sweden in New Orleans, The Historic New Orleans Collection will have a recital celebrating famed Swedish opera singer Jenny Lind (1820–1887). Commemorating New Orleans’s tricentennial and the ties between the city and Sweden, the program will feature soprano Kine Sandtrø, who is the 2017 recipient of the Royal Swedish Academy of Music’s Jenny Lind Scholarship, and pianist Julia Sjöstedt, both of whom are traveling to New Orleans for this performance. The concert, “Celebrating the Swedish Nightingale” will feature music performed by Lind, who visited New Orleans in February 1851 to great acclaim. The concert begins at 6:00 PM (doors open at 5:30), it is free, but to reserve a seat, click here. 

Tuesday, June 19/Newcomb Art Museum (Tulane campus): Newcomb Art Museum has its opening of  Uncommon Exchanges, a unique dialogue between unlikely pairings of Tulane and Gulf South experts, in partnership with A Studio in the Woods, The ByWater Institute at Tulane University, and New Orleans Center for the Gulf South (Nola Gulf South). For this special program marking Juneteenth, artist Bmike will be in dialogue with Dr. Rosanne Adderley, Associate Professor of African Diaspora History at Tulane University. Assistant Director of the New Orleans Center for the Gulf South Dr. Denise Frazier will moderate. The program is free, open to the public, and will be held in Freeman Auditorium in the Woldenberg Art Center on Tulane’s uptown campus. There will also be a free reception to follow immediately after at Newcomb Art Museum, and it all begins at 6:00 PM. For more details, check out their event page here. 

Tuesday, June 19/Turkey and the Wolf (739 Jackson Avenue): It’s not everyday that a reading happens where meats are marinated and eggs are fried, but that’s exactly what is happening when author Caleb Johnson comes to town. This Alabama-born author will be reading from his debut novel, Treeborne, on Tuesday at Turkey and the Wolf. There will be complimentary pulled pork sandwiches and peach pie for as long as they last, and it all begins at 6:00 PM.