ArtRx NYC

 Celebrating Queer Nightlife

When: Tuesday, December 6, 6:30pm ($20)
Where: Museum of the City of New York (1220 Fifth Avenue, East Harlem, Manhattan)

Nightlife is not just a way to party and blow off steam — for LGBTQ people especially, it has long been a source of inspiration, a form of community building and even resistance. In conjunction with the exhibition Gay Gotham, this four-person panel (plus moderator) will give queer clubs their due by discussing their importance — a necessary affirmation seven months after the Pulse attack. —JS

 The Artist-Writer as Activist-Critic

When: Tuesday, December 6, 7–9pm
Where: e-flux (311 East Broadway, Lower East Side, Manhattan)

Ever since Trump’s election, I’ve been thinking hard about my role as an art critic and journalist. How can I contribute in a politically meaningful way? Tonight, three artist-writers will grapple with the same question, using their own work as a jumping-off point. All of them are included in Paper Monument’s recent compendium of artists’ writing, Social Medium, and the discussion will be moderated by the book’s editor, Jennifer Liese. —JS

 The World’s Greatest Bookstores

When: Tuesday, December 6, 7pm
Where: BookCulture (450 Columbus Avenue, Upper East Side, Manhattan)

When cartoonist Bob Eckstein illustrated a New Yorker feature in 2014 on New York City’s bookstores, he wasn’t a bookstore aficionado. However, as the feature turned into a full-length book, he was drawn into the fascinating and strange tales of 75 of these international community hubs, from a mobile book tank in Argentina to a floating book boat in London. Tonight at Book Culture, he’ll discuss and read from Footnotes from the World’s Greatest Bookstores, with promised “gong moderated bookstore storytelling.” —AM

 Faith Ringgold Speaks

When: Wednesday, December 7, 6pm ($15)
Where: Museum of Modern Art (11 West 53rd Street, Midtown, Manhattan)

The Museum of Modern Art recently acquired Faith Ringgold’s extremely violent, 12-foot-wide painting “American People Series #20: Die” (1970), which will be the focus of her conversation tonight with MoMA curators Anne Umland and Thomas J. Lax. In the current climate of widespread anger and anxiety, and with fringe groups emboldened in their bigotry by a dangerous US President-elect, the work seems as poignant and scarily prescient as ever. —BS

 Mary Reid Kelley’s Recent Videos

When: Thursday, December 8, 6:30–8pm
Where: Jewish Museum (1109 5th Ave, Upper East Side, Manhattan)

In Mary Reid Kelley’s fantastical black-and-white videos, the settings seem to emerge from drawings or theatrical sets, with characters often masking their true eyes. Pulling from modern literature, historical texts, and popular culture, Kelley’s videos mine the historical role of women and how law and politics have impacted them. Kelley, who was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship this year, will present recent work with her partner and collaborator, Patrick Kelley, at the Jewish Museum in a discussion with Jens Hoffman. The event is part of the Artist Focus series, the museum’s collaboration with the Film Society of Lincoln Center that explores moving-image work that doesn’t neatly fit within the categories of visual art or cinema.  —EWA

 Jamel Shabazz Speaks

When: Thursday, December 8, 6:30pm (free with RSVP)
Where: Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture (515 Malcolm X Boulevard, Harlem, Manhattan)

Photojournalist and curator Akintola Hanif leads a discussion with renowned Brooklyn-born photographer Jamel Shabazz — whose new book, Pieces of a Man, was published recently. The conversation will focus on Shabazz’s contribution to “preserve world history and culture.” The event, which is first come, first seated, will be live-streamed and followed by a book signing.

 Merry Midcentury Christmas

When: Friday, December 9, 6–9 pm
Where: Regeneration Furniture (38 Renwick Street, Soho, Manhattan)

It may feel tough to be merry as this year comes to a close, so a Midcentury Christmas celebration could be a good temporary antidote. Rewind the clock a few decades at this party held in honor of Midcentury Christmas, a new book by Hyperallergic contributor Sarah Archer that examines the holiday-related objects, designs, and ephemera that emerged in the 1950s and ’60s, from Christmas cards to instructions for decorating your Christmas tree or dining table. The festivities, of course, will occur in the midcentury showroom of Regeneration Furniture, with themed food and drinks to complete the setting. —CV

 Pittsburgh Police Series

When: Saturday, December 10, from 2pm ($10)
Where: Light Industry (155 Freeman Street, Greenpoint, Brooklyn)

At a time when many of us are figuring out how to resist, it’s important to remember that part of resistance is education. The police brutality we’re so horrified by today has its roots in the police forces of years past, which for decades consolidated their power and enshrined racist practices. Shot by John Marshall, this little-known film series is a kind of enthography of the Pittsburgh police department between 1969–70. Screened jointly by Light Industry and Metrograph, it should be illuminating, to say the least. —JS

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With contributions by Elisa Wouk Almino, Allison Meier, Tiernan Morgan, Benjamin Sutton, and Claire Voon