The best art cafés in New York City
The best art cafés in New York City
Get your creative buzz on at one of the city's many new art cafés and clubs.
Since the pandemic kept us all cooped up in 2020, we’ve craved community, moving many home-based activities into shared spaces. One such example, Reading Rhythms - a group that gathers to read together - has grown quickly, as have the number of venues dedicated to creative exploration and artistic activities in NYC.
It may be coincidence that many of these spots aren't centered on drinking, or perhaps it does in fact reflect shifting social preferences. Either way, they’re a welcome alternative for those looking for alcohol-free spaces - and of course, I have to cover them here!
This post highlights some of the best art cafés and event-based art clubs in the city that are all open in the evening, so you can have a solo date or friend date on a weekend night while avoiding the busy bars and clubs.
Happy Medium
Of course, I have to mention Happy Medium as the OG art café in the city. Launched in 2020, Happy Medium is a large and airy loft space in Chinatown that’s absolutely crammed with art supplies, and they recently opened a second location in Greenpoint. They host open art café hours as well as dedicated workshops, both of which require a reservation. The art café offers experiences such as paint-a-pot, collage making, bracelets, and different media for painting and drawing, most of which range between $15 and $28 - less than the price of a couple of drinks. They also have a great selection of non-alcoholic drinks and some snacks available, so this is really a great option for a night out. Learn more about Happy Medium here.
Brooklyn Renaissance
Similar to Happy Medium, Brooklyn Renaissance is an airy loft space in Downtown Brooklyn that offers both open open art lounge hours and frequent workshops. In addition to traditional arts such as watercolor painting and charcoal drawing, their art lounge experiences include craft activities such as embroidery, moss art, and mosaic coasters. You can learn more about Brooklyn Renaissance here.
Drawing Room NYC
Imagine you have a friend who lives in a really cool eclectic living room loft space of a high rise building right by Penn Station - that’s Drawing Room (without the “The”). Aside from its use as an art café with open art experience hours and workshops, Drawing Room also leans into the idea of a third space. You can get a day pass to use Drawing Room as a coworking space (free tea and coffee included), and they host frequent community events such as potlucks and movie nights.
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Clubs & events
Aside from brick & mortar art cafés, NYC also offers a plethora of recurring art related workshops. I’m just listing a few here that stood out to me, but feel free to share your favorites in the comments.
Art Gurl
Art Gurl is a lovely community that was founded by art educator Meagan Mahaffy in early 2022. Meagan and her team host IRL workshops in NYC almost every week, ranging from collaging to card making and pumpking painting. Art Gurl actively encourages everyone to stop worrying about making great art and just follow their creative intuition and “make bad art”. Learn more about Art Gurl and see upcoming events on her website.
Arts Club
Arts Club is a series of arts education events that are mostly based in or around the East Village. They host frequent “Studio Nights” that cover specific artists such as Frida Kahlo or Keith Haring, or discuss art movements such as abstract expressionism, and often include a hands-on component. They also organize art gallery crawls. I have yet to join one of their events, but it’s been top of my to-do list for a while! Learn more about Arts Club here.
Of course, there are many more art activities in the city, which I didn’t cover in this post. Feel free to share your favorite spots in the comments!
ANTI HANGOVER DRINKING CLUB is a newsletter & blog by Sam Bail, the founder of Third Place Bar NYC. I host regular alcohol-free social events and share my favorite zero-proof recommendations with you.