Waterfront Barge Showboat & Museum

The 2026 World Ferry Safety and Technology Conference
2026-05-06 - 2026-05-07 | Waterfront Museum, 290 Conover Street, Brooklyn, NY, 11231, United States
The Ferry Safety and Technology Conference will take place in New York City on May 5-7, 2026. On May 6, the main part of the conference will take place at the Waterfront Museum Barge. Speakers will update us on the latest news about electric ferries coming to NYC, operational and structural approaches to the dilemma of carriage of electric vehicles aboard ferries; to the impact and response to changing global weather, innovative design solutions, and global opportunities. Live music will be provided by the indie rock band New Yeller.
This conference is being convened by the Worldwide Ferry Safety Association (WFSA).
REGISTER HERE

Swamp in the City: A Cajun & Creole Music Festival
2026-05-07 19:00 - 21:30 (America/New_York)
Get ready for four days of great music, delicious food, and inclusive community at the 9th Annual Swamp in the City: A Cajun & Creole Music Festival. Held along the scenic Red Hook waterfront, this festival brings the best of Cajun and Creole culture to Brooklyn, featuring some of the most talented musicians from Louisiana and beyond, plus plenty of opportunities to dance, eat, and celebrate.
The official kickoff party will be held at the Waterfront Museum on Thursday, May 7th, from 7 – 9:30 pm. The festivities will begin with a dance lesson, followed by performances from accordionist and Cajun musician Jesse Lége, and Louisiana music group The Revelers.
For a complete schedule of events, visit swampinthecity.com/schedule.
TICKETS HERE

The Fish Who Saved New York
2026-06-28 11:00 - 14:00
Starring Phoebe Legere, The Fish Who Saved New York is a family-friendly musical featuring comedy, audience participation, and high-seas adventure that kids will talk about all summer. Join us on Sunday, June 28th, for giant puppets, fun songs, and a cast of unforgettable undersea heroes aboard the historic Waterfront Museum Barge.
Schedule
11:00 AM – 12:00 PM: World Championship of Drawing a Soccer Ball Finals (for children aged 9-12), and How to Draw a Seahorse, a Starfish, and a River (for children aged 6 – 8)
12:00 PM – 1:00 PM: Break/Waterfront Exploration
2:00 PM: The Fish That Saved New York Harbor, World Premiere Performance
Phoebe Legere is a Juilliard-educated, multi-disciplinary artist. Her experimental music and performance art have established her as an NYC legend; she has opened for David Bowie’s 1990 Sound + Vision national tour, received a Pulitzer nomination with the Cleveland Chamber Symphony, and exhibited her work in the Brooklyn Museum, Venice Biennale, and Pompidou Centre. Her interactive work always reinforces her belief in art as a social and spiritual necessity.
Click here for tickets and more details.

Four Paintings
2026-07-02 18:00 - 21:00
Four Paintings continues the Waterfront Museum’s decades-long legacy of providing a home for neighboring artists and providing public access to the rich cultural, maritime, and labor history of the Red Hook waterfront. Housed aboard a 1914 railroad barge, the Waterfront Museum promotes historic preservation, the area’s maritime heritage, and an understanding of the importance of our water highway for commerce, commuters, culture, and recreation.

Joseph Reich is an American painter working in Red Hook, Brooklyn. His large-scale landscape paintings are rooted in sustained visual observation and attention paired with the rigorous physical practice of their making. For twelve years, he operated a storefront gallery and studio in Chicago’s Pilsen neighborhood, developing his own exhibition practice. Joseph relocated his practice to Red Hook, Brooklyn, where his paintings reflect a complex interplay between landscape, industry, manufactured goods, work, and the built environment that evokes the museum’s mission of connecting the Brooklyn waterfront environment to its residents and its past. He has recently exhibited work at Andrew Logan Projects along with Six Paintings currently on view at Compound Art & Sound Gallery.
Opening Reception Thursday, July 2, 6-9pm
July 2 – September 19
Open Hours Saturdays 1-5pm & Thursdays 4-8pm
see events calendar for exceptions

More information here.

Galileo
2026-07-17 20:00 - 22:00
The Waterfront Museum is honored to present the Brooklyn Stage Company’s first production of Galileo, a Bertolt Brecht play that has only become more relevant to the modern audience.
After Brecht’s plays were banned in Germany in 1933, he fled to the United States, where he rewrote Life of Galileo, through which he reflected on war, the atom bomb, and the responsibility of knowledge. Nearly eighty years later, Galileo still asks the questions we’re wrestling with in 2026: Who decides what’s true? What happens when evidence challenges authority?
Brooklyn Stage Company is dedicated to developing new work by emerging playwrights, while each season presenting one play from the great theatrical canon. Last year, that was Eugene O’Neill’s Hughie. It was performed aboard the Waterfront Museum, a National Historic Landmark, and the home of the company’s very first production in 1992.
Returning to this space with Galileo continues the tradition that has always defined Brooklyn Stage Company: presenting timeless plays that speak directly to the world we’re living in today.

Click here to purchase your ticket!
