OPEN HOURS
2026-04-02 16:00 - 20:00 (America/New_York) | Waterfront Museum, 290 Conover Street, Brooklyn, NY, 11231, United States
The Waterfront Museum is open on most SATURDAYS 1-5pm and THURSDAYS 4-8pm for free tours for families and individuals when the barge is docked in Red Hook.
We will be closed on Saturday, May 2nd.

Boat Banter on the Barge
2026-03-14 14:00 - 15:00 (America/New_York) | Waterfront Museum, 290 Conover Street, Brooklyn, NY, 11231, United States
Join us March 14 for a low-key conversation about boats, maritime, and ideas connected to water and waterfronts featuring Michael Abegg. Barge captain David Sharps, host Stefan D-W, and Waterfront Museum guests sit down with Captain Abegg for a casual conversation about operating a small maritime business, waterfront access, the state of our harbor for industrial, recreational, transportation, and residential uses along with its ecology, and whatever other topics the tide washes in on DATE between 2 and 3pm at the Waterfront Museum barge moored at Brooklyn’s Pier 44 (290 Conover St.). This is during the museum’s regular open hours and admission is by suggested donation (people usually leave between $2 and $20).
Boat Banter on the Barge brings experts to the Waterfront Museum’s showboat barge during the winter months for low-key conversation about boats, maritime, and ideas connected to water and waterfronts. Experts draw up a chair in the heated side of the barge during the museum’s regular open hours on Saturday afternoons, and all visitors are invited to participate in the conversation as much or as little as they like. Our guest experts come from academia, industry, preservation, and beyond. They include tug and ship captains; marine and industrial historians and archaeologists; journalists, preservationists, and advocates; scholars in blue humanities, coastal studies, landscape history, and related fields; engineers, boatwrights and more.
Mike has been involved with boats, starting with, and revisiting traditional sailings vessels, tug boats, small fuel tankers, and various other types of boats in and near NY Harbor since 1993. After taking a decade off to do cabinetry, he bought his own work boat, and now does a variety of things with it. From fixing fenders for other commercial vessels, to salvage work, to deploying oysters, and many things in between.

HUGHIE
2025-10-19 18:00 - 21:00 (America/New_York) | Waterfront Museum, 290 Conover Street, Brooklyn, NY, 11231, United States
Eugene O’Neill wrote eight one-act plays toward the end of his days. He threw seven into his fireplace one night. Only HUGHIE remained…
On October 18th and 19th, Red Hook’s own Bobby Cole returns to the stage as Erie Smith in Eugene O’Neill’s HUGHIE more than thirty years after first performing the role at Sunny’s back in 1992.
Set in 1928, just after New York’s infamous train derailment and on the cusp of the Great Depression, Hughie captures the smoky solitude and fragile hope of the city’s sleepless souls in O’Neill’s hauntingly lyrical style.
On Saturday the hour long performance of Hughie will be accompanied by two new short pieces in develpment by local writers.
On Sunday, The Milkman and Sons—a lively local four-piece 1920s jazz band—will keep the spirit swinging before and after the performance. Feel free to dress the part, and be ready to dance! O’Neill would’ve raised a glass to that.

CLOSED
2025-09-27 08:00 - 2025-10-10 17:00 (America/New_York) | Waterfront Museum, 290 Conover Street, Brooklyn, NY, 11231, United States
The barge will be closed on Saturday, May 2nd, for a private event.

Liquid Cartographies
2025-09-21 08:00 - 10:00 (America/New_York) | Waterfront Museum, 290 Conover Street, Brooklyn, NY, 11231, United States
Please join a network of social artists seeking new processes to address age-old problems, to imagine our world differently.
Learn about the emerging agenda, propositional questions, and our contributors on the Liquid Cartographies webpage.
Come listen, write, dance, dream, make art, study old maps, make new maps. There are limited tickets, so get yours soon here.

The Royal Pyrate
2025-08-31 19:00 - 20:30 (America/New_York) | Waterfront Museum, 290 Conover Street, Brooklyn, NY, 11231, United States
The Royal Pyrate is a new musical that reimagines the 300-year-old love story of the pirate Black Sam Bellamy and Mary Hallet, a woman so ahead of her time she was accused of witchcraft in colonial Massachusetts. Based on the real history of the Golden Age of Piracy, The Royal Pyrate stars Maggie Likcani, Danny Hayward, Korie Lee Blossey, Lauren Molina, and features an original score and lyrics by Jason Landon Marcus with a book by Chas LiBretto. Directed by Emily Abrams (Mindplay, NYTW 2050 Fellow, Ars Nova’s Emerging Leadership Fellow) the 100 minute musical blends sea shanty, roots rock, and pirate music for a score that will be performed by Jim Bertini, Charley Layton, Jason Landon Marcus, Charlie Bennet, Tais Szilagi, & Ellie Goodman.
TICKETS HERE
Saturday, Aug 16, at 7pm
Sunday, Aug 17, at 7pm
Saturday, Aug 23, at 7pm
Sunday, Aug 24, at 7pm
Saturday, Aug 30, at 7pm
Sunday, Aug 31, at 7pm

The King's Men
2025-08-02 19:00 - 21:00 UTC | Waterfront Museum, 290 Conover Street, Brooklyn, NY, 11231, United States
A play for nine women about men. More specifically about men playing women. When Queen Elizabeth dies and the theaters close, Shakespeare and his eccentric troupe of actors plot their next move.

Tickets here

Friday, July 18th at 7pm
Saturday, July 19th at 2pm & 7pm
Sunday, July 20th at 7pm
Friday, July 25th at 7pm
Sunday, July 27th at 5pm
Thursday, July 31 at 7pm
Friday, August 1st at 7pm
Saturday, August 2nd at 7pm

a Twenty Somethings Production

Poets Afloat
2025-06-05 18:30 - 20:00 UTC | Waterfront Museum, 290 Conover Street, Brooklyn, NY, 11231, United States
Poets Afloat
Thursday, June 5 at 6:30 pm
Tickets here Sliding scale donation. Proceeds go to the poets.
A reading of poems written during residencies aboard the vessels of New York Harbor’s heritage fleet.

Into the Charmed Churned Circle
2025-05-30 20:00 - 21:30 (America/New_York) | Waterfront Museum, 290 Conover Street, Brooklyn, NY, 11231, United States
The Indeterminacy Festival presents a preview of Into the Charmed Churned Circle,
Friday May 30, 2025 from 8pm
Tickets are $50. Purchase here.
This multi-discipline, multi-generational, immersive performance piece is created by Stanzi Vaubel and commissioned by the Snug Harbor Cultural Center. Composed by Philippe Treuille and Stanzi Vaubel, the work draws inspiration from the architectural motifs of the Newhouse Center at Snug Harbor and Herman Melville’s epic seafaring story Moby Dick. Instrumental and vocal performers hail from a consortium of ensembles including Brooklyn Youth Chorus Bass Ensemble, Grace Chorale, Brooklyn Treble Choir, New York Choir Project, and Brooklyn Conservatory Community Orchestra.

About The Indeterminacy Festival (IF)
Founded in 2016 by Stanzi Vaubel, the festival creates site-specific, large-scale works inspired by unique environments such as grain silos, warehouses, fossil parks, and most recently, the historic porches of Nolan Park on Governors Island. Set in these unusual environments, the Indeterminacy Festival is committed to creating exceptional opportunities for lifelong artists.
Forthcoming, IF has received a commission from Snug Harbor, the former home for retired sailors. The world premiere of Into the Charmed Churned Circle will take place on June 14th, 2025, in the Newhouse Center, a historic landmark building whose design evokes the spirit of a 19th century square-rigged sailing vessel. This production brings together an intergenerational ensemble of musicians and dancers to perform the work.
The Festival is a recipient of a NYSCA award for 2025, Fulbright Fellowship, New York Foundation for Arts, with corporate sponsorship from Neuberger Berman Group. IF has been staged by invitation and support from McGill University, the University at Buffalo, the University at Malta, Alfred University, Snug Harbor Cultural Center, Governors Island Trust, and the National Arts Club.
Stanzi Vaubel, PhD, as the founder and artistic director of the Indeterminacy Festival, Vaubel’s list of honors include a Fulbright Fellowship, NYSCA and NYFA awards, with invitations to perform at the Watermill Center, the Longhouse, Tanglewood Institute, WQXR’s Young Artists Showcase, and Carnegie Hall. Her festivals have been staged around North America and Europe with support from New York, Iowa, Nebraska, and Michigan arts councils. As a radio producer Vaubel has created programs for the Whitney Museum, WNYC, BBC, and Chicago Public Radio. Vaubel is a graduate of the Juilliard Pre-College and Northwestern University. She is currently on faculty at the New York Arts Program.
Philippe Treuille attended The Juilliard School and Northwestern University. Treuille’s Requiem for choir and orchestra was premiered in 2015 by the SymphoNYChorus. His Missa de Aqua, a mass for Baptism, premiered in 2019 by the Long Island Choral Society and Orchestra. Treuille’s music has been
performed nationally and internationally including the Rubin Museum, MoMA PS1, the French Consulate, Lincoln Center, the Birmingham Museum of Art, the Château de Fontainebleau, the American Institute of Architects, the DiMenna Center for Classical Music and at the Tanglewood Institute. Philippe Treuille’s awards include a National Foundation for the Advancement in the Arts Music Composition Merit Award. More of his work is available at www.philippetreuille.com

Harboring History: Brooklyn's Transforming Waterfront
2025-05-29 19:00 - 20:30 UTC | Waterfront Museum, 290 Conover Street, Brooklyn, NY, 11231, United States
How has history of the waterfront been forgotten? How have waterfront usage and access changed over time?
Join us for a screening of “Harboring History: Brooklyn’s Transforming Waterfront.”
Thursday, May 29 from 7:00-8:30pm
Tickets
This is a film about history and forgetting, maritime power and waterfront ruins, and the press of international and national forces on our waterfront in the context of replanning the Brooklyn Marine Terminal, NYC’s largest land acquisition in decades.
This 45-minute documentary interweaves the observations of seven speakers into a thoughtful reflection on the tensions between progress and history, community needs and external actors, who’s heard and not, with an undercurrent of concern about how official public planning is sometimes done.
Following the screening, we will open the room to community discussion in response to the film.
This project was created by Jori Johnson, in collaboration with PortSide NewYork, as a Capstone project in NYU’s Archives & Public History MA program.
Tickets to this screening are free, but RSVP is required. Venue capacity is 150, with seating for 100. Seating is available on a first-come, first-served basis.

Swamp in the City: Cajun Music Festival
2025-05-08 19:00 - 23:59 UTC
Swamp in the City kick-off party
Featuring: Jesse Lege & Bayou Brew and Le Winston Band

Dust off your dancing shoes for the 8th Annual Swamp in the City: A Cajun & Creole Music Festival
Thursday, May 8 at 7pm at the Waterfront Museum – through May 11 at Red Hook locations

Get ready for four days of great music, delicious food, and vibrant community at the 8th Annual Swamp in the City: A Cajun & Creole Music Festival (tickets here). 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.
–

What to expect:

Live Music from top Cajun and Zydeco bands, including Bruce Daigrepont Cajun Band, Linzay Young & Joel Savoy, Le Winston Band, Alphonso Ardoin & the Zydeco Kingz, T’Monde, Jourdan Thibodeaux, Jesse Lége & Bayou Brew, Rose & the Bros and many more.
Dance Lessons & Jam Sessions—come early to learn the moves and join in the music-making with fellow festival-goers.
Cajun & Creole Food—think po’boys, gumbo, jambalaya, and all your Louisiana favorites, served up right on the water.
Saturday Cajun Invasion Pub Crawl through Red Hook’s best local bars—a fun way to explore the neighborhood and keep the party going.
Kickoff Party on Thursday night aboard the historic Waterfront Museum & Barge —a memorable start to a weekend full of music and dancing.
Mothers’ Day Family Dance on Sunday at 11am—bring the whole crew and stay for a day of music, dancing, and good times together.
And so much more!

This year, we’re excited to feature an incredible lineup of artists and bands, including Jesse Lege & Bayou Brew, Linzay Young, Bruce Daigrepont Cajun Band, T’Monde, Jourdan Thibodeaux, Joel Savoy, Gina Forsyth, Wilson Savoy, Sunpie & the Louisiana Sunspots, Alphonse Ardoin & the Zydeco Kingz, Le Winston Band, Kelli Jones, Rose & the Bros, Chas Justus, The Red Aces, and more. For a complete schedule of events, visit swampinthecity.com/schedule.

Ticket Options:
4-Day Supporter Pass
$200 (Early Bird) | $225 (adv) | $275 (door)
Includes:

All-access pass for the full 4-day festival
Supporter’s gumbo dinner before Thursday’s Kickoff Party

4-Day VIP Pass
$275 (Early Bird) | $300 (adv) | $350 (door)
Includes everything in the Supporter pass PLUS:

Exclusive swag bag (valued at $85, includes a T-shirt, tote, hat, stadium cup, and sticker pack)
VIP access to a special Saturday brunch show with T’Monde
VIP perks throughout the weekend

3-Day Supporter Pass (Fri-Sun)
$150 (Early Bird) | $175 (adv) | $200 (door)
Includes:

All-access pass for Friday through Sunday

3-Day VIP Pass (Fri-Sun)
$225 (Early Bird) | $250 (adv) | $275 (door)
Includes everything in the 3-Day Supporter pass PLUS:

Exclusive swag bag
VIP access to the Saturday brunch show with T’Monde

Single-Day Tickets
After March 3rd, single-day tickets will be available at the following advanced discount prices:
Thursday Kickoff Party (Aboard the Barge)
$40 (adv) | $50 (door)Friday Night at Strong Rope
$50 (adv) | $60 (door) – (kids 12 and under are free at all Strong Rope events!)Saturday Pub Crawl
$30 (adv) | $40 (door)Saturday Night at Strong Rope
$55 (adv) | $65 (door)
Sunday at Strong Rope
Pay-What-You-Wish!
(Suggested $40 donation)

Don’t miss your chance to be part of this magical festival. Get your tickets now and get ready for four days of music, dancing, food and fun at Swamp in the City!

See y’all there!

The Wind and the Rain: A Story About Sunny's Bar
2024-10-27 17:00 - 19:00 UTC | Waterfront Museum, 290 Conover Street, Brooklyn, NY, 11231, United States
September 28th through October 27th
Buy tickets here.
En Garde Arts, in association with Vineyard Theatre, presents the world premiere of The Wind and the Rain: A story about Sunny’s Bar, a site-specific, multimedia theatrical experience created by Obie Award winners, playwright Sarah Gancher and director Jared Mezzocchi. Commissioned by Vineyard Theatre and En Garde Arts, The Wind and the Rain: A story about Sunny’s Bar will run September 28 – October 27, 2024, at The Waterfront Museum, with an opening set for Monday, October 7, 2024.
At the end of Conover Street in Red Hook, Brooklyn, on the waterfront opposite the Waterfront Museum, there is a bar called Sunny’s. For over 100 years, it’s been run by one family, through booms and busts, prohibition and pandemics, blight and gentrification. It’s been home to dreamers and immigrants, artists, bootleggers, longshoremen, union bosses, corrupt police, numbers runners, bluegrass musicians, and hipsters. And when Hurricane Sandy hit, it was almost lost forever. But in that moment of incomprehensible damage and loss, one woman persevered. Tone Johansen fought to save Sunny’s – for all of us.
The Wind and the Rain: A story about Sunny’s Bar rock-skips across the decades, reaching into the deep past and leaping into the future. Beginning at The Waterfront Museum and ending at Sunny’s Bar, it invites audiences inside the lives of the real people who became the fabric of this community. The Wind and the Rain uses immersive design technology, to tell a quintessential New York Story about how the currents of time and nature shaped our lives.
En Garde Arts’s Executive Artistic Director Anne Hamburger commented, “The Wind and the Rain is a dream project of mine as it harkens back in form to the early site-specific work on which En Garde Arts built its reputation. With its historic charm, Red Hook is an ideal neighborhood in which to mount this site-specific piece envisioned by two exceptionally creative minds. Sarah Gancher is not only an acclaimed playwright, but also a gifted fiddle player and longtime Sunny’s regular, while Jared is a talented multi-hyphenate artist and consummate storyteller. En Garde Arts is proud to shine a light on Sunny’s intrepid owner, Tone Johansen. Theatrical productions with brave and exceptional women at their center are all too rare.”
Performances of The Wind and the Rain: A story about Sunny’s Bar will take place September 28 – October, 27, 2024, at The Waterfront Museum.
Please visit www.engardearts.org for more information.

LET THE MICE IN: THE SHADOW RING (1992–2002) reunion
2024-07-27 19:00 - 20:00 (America/New_York) | Waterfront Museum, 290 Conover Street, Brooklyn, NY, 11231, United States
Jul 27, 2024
4 pm and 7 pm
$25, free for box set owners (with proof of purchase, RSVP to info@blankforms.org by July 13)

TICKETS at official event site
On the occasion of the monumental release of The Shadow Ring (1992–2002), the original Cat & Bells Club compatriots G. Lambkin & D. Harris will be joined by Novation Bass Station wizard and Phacto founder T. Goss for two sets of song and celebration. The three Folkestone-reared friends will reunite at the Waterfront Museum. Not performing as the Shadow Ring, the performances will summon the trio’s current sonic incarnations, featuring readings, sound arrangements, and a rare set by Call Back the Giants. Once on the water, we’ll soon learn what the fish REALLY think.
At 9 pm, join the group for an afterparty, informal Q&A, and DJ set at the San Pedro Inn.
Throughout their legendary, decade-long run, the Shadow Ring were an enigmatic force on the international musical sub-underground. Before their disbandment in 2002, this shambolic rock outfit, formed by a group of rowdy teenagers in southeast England, left behind a mighty run of eight LPs, a handful of 7″s, and a spate of raucous live shows and cryptic zine appearances on both sides of the Atlantic, all which have bolstered their enduring word-of-mouth mystique. Beginning in 2023, Blank Forms has launched a multipronged retrospective, including the first vinyl pressing of the self-released pre-Shadow Ring tape The Cat & Bells Club (1992), reissues of their first two records, and a comprehensive CD box set with a 500-page catalog. More reissues and activities are on the way.

William King's "A Man and His Barge"
2024-07-25 16:00 - 20:00 UTC | Waterfront Museum, 290 Conover Street, Brooklyn, NY, 11231, United States
“I was drawn to Red Hook with its edgy, worn landscapes, its ubiquitous rust, and the extraordinary quality of its light. Some years ago, while taking pictures there, I came upon an old barge moored in a small inlet in the harbor.”
and so begin’s William King’s story of a Brooklyn man and his barge.
This photographic project highlights Captain David Sharps and the Waterfront Museum of Red Hook, Brooklyn. The documentary imagery focuses on Captain Sharps and his various maritime activities, operations and maintenance needed to maintain the historic vessel.
This show is on view during the museum’s regular open hours Thursdays and Saturdays, May 4 – July 25
Admission is by suggested donation (people usually leave between $2 and $20).

Batalá New York drum performance
2024-06-02 14:30 - 15:00 UTC
Free drumming performance on the barge!
Sunday, June 2nd from 2:30-3:00pm
Batalá New York is the premier all-women, Black-led, percussion ensemble, activating partnerships, community building, and cultural awareness, bringing high-energy performances to the people of New York City through an engaging blend of cultural education and joyous entertainment.
Batalá New York is one of approximately four Batalá groups that are all women and women-led. Their music, instruments and costumes are primarily from Salvador da Bahia in the northeast of Brazil.

Captain Nemo's Adventure Academy: 20,000 Laughs Under the Sea
2023-10-01 14:00 - 16:00 UTC | Waterfront Museum, 290 Conover Street, Brooklyn, NY, 11231, United States
Dive into this madcap homage to Jules Verne’s’ famous maritime hero!
Captain Nemo himself will entertain, inspire, and challenge your little guppies’ brains while quenching their thirst for knowledge of the Wonders of the Deep.
TICKETS HERE
$5-$20 Sliding Scale
The cantankerous and ever-curious Captain Nemo lives to excite kids about our watery-blue planet with tales of the Giant Squid, the elusive Angler fish and even how whale poop is part of the Cycle of Life!
This engaging theatrical experience features beautiful sound effects, hilarious slapstick hijinks, magic, bubble-play and full-audience participation.
Created and performed by David Engel, alias Billy Bones the Good Pirate, who tours his shows to arts centers, festivals, schools and museums nationwide and internationally.
More here.

Arthur Miller's The Hook
2023-06-25 20:00 - 23:00 UTC | Waterfront Museum, 290 Conover Street, Brooklyn, NY, 11231, United States
Fridays – Sunday June 9-11, 16-18 & 23-25 at 8pm.
Brooklyn’s Brave New World Repertory Theatre (BNW) will present a full production of The Hook, adapted by Brooklyn-based writer Ron Hutchinson from Arthur Miller’s unproduced screenplay and directed by Claire Beckman aboard The Waterfront Museum’s floating stage moored in Red Hook. The performances will run three weekends on Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights at 8pm from June 9-25. Based on the true story of martyred longshoreman Pete Panto, who stood up to a racketeering union, rigged elections and corruption on the Red Hook docks in the 1950’s.
Claire Beckman co-founder/producing artistic director of BNW says “The Hook captures the life and death struggle on the docks where the ever-present danger to the workers and their families was both from the job itself and the mobsters who controlled the docks.”
Beckman credits David Sharps, director and captain of The Waterfront Museum “for bringing Miller’s story to the US. “David introduced the UK team to me and Brave New World Rep. We are thrilled to be partnering with Captain Dave again, as we continue our dramatic explorations of the waterfront.”
The Hook of the title is Red Hook, Brooklyn. It is also the classic tool of a longshoreman; an extension of his arm, a claw for gripping heavy crates and sacks of goods – or for use in a fight. The play gives a closer look at the tightly-knit working class community doing the dangerous work of loading and unloading the ships. Back-breaking work which made New York the world’s richest and most important harbor.Both BNW and Beckman have a history with Arthur Miller, arguably Brooklyn’s greatest 20th century playwright. BNW has previously produced acclaimed productions of two other Miller classics: The Crucible in 2010 and The American Clock in 2011, in addition to A View from the Bridge in 2018 & 2019.
The screenplay of The Hook, arguably the template for On the Waterfront, lay untouched for almost seventy years until British designer Patrick Connellan unearthed the original material, including Miller’s handwritten notes. A stage version was produced at the UK’s Northhampton Theatre Royal in 2015. It was inspried by the true story of Pete Panto, a young dockworker who stood up to the corrupt Mafia-connected union leadership. Panto was kidnapped on a local street, murdered by The Mob and his body dumped in New Jersey. The movie was never made. When studio heads demanded the systemic corruption on the docks be attributed to Communism instead of The Mob, Miller pulled the plug, uninterested in writing “red scard” propaganda. He wrote A View from the Bridge instead.

The Pierson Family Follies
2023-01-11 - 2023-03-13 | Waterfront Museum, 290 Conover Street, Brooklyn, NY, 11231, United States
A evening of family fun. Beth, Doug and Emma, et all combine their music, skills, humor and wit in a fun showboat evening for all ages.
The Pierson Family Follies will appear on the Lehigh Valley No. 79 Showboat on Saturday, October 14th at 7pm. Sliding scale $5-$20.
Tickets here or pay at the door.
Featuring Slackjaw – Rob Meador and Doug Pierson have been astonishing audiences worldwide for generations with their music. On October 14 they will play original creations, and they’ll recreate some of your favorite bluegrass tunes to boot.
Beth (Pierson) Leonard and Sarah Pope who will make appearances as SarahBesque and Bethford, attempting to support the show with comical physical theater interludes that highlight their ridiculous virtuosities
Emma Pierson is a singer/songwriter from Brooklyn, New York. While she’s been singing and writing forever, she began performing locally with her band, Emmerson and her Clammy Hands at the end of 2017. With folk, pop, and rock’n’roll influences, her music is sweet, melodic and lyrical with a dark edge and a sense of humor.
