The Ukrainian Museum on East Sixth Street is 50 years into its life, and two of the exhibitions marking that milestone close on Saturday, Nov. 7. Before they do, the museum opens its doors free to everyone next Thursday night, Oct. 29, from 6 to 9 p.m.

The free evening is a monthly fixture: the museum waives admission on the last Thursday of every month and stays open late. What makes this one different is timing. It is the last free night before both anniversary-year shows come down, and one of them is the first North American museum exhibition of an artist the museum says is currently representing Ukraine at the 61st Venice Biennale.

Zhanna Kadyrova's first North American museum show

The Ground Shifts Beneath Our Feet, which opened June 20, gathers five projects that Zhanna Kadyrova has made since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Among them is Palianytsia, a group of river stones carved so that each one looks like a round loaf of traditional Ukrainian wheat bread. The museum conceived the exhibition together with the artist, with contributions from Asha Bukojemsky.

The exhibition is on view on East Sixth Street, a short walk from Second Avenue, for two more weeks.

A Living Canvas: the collection at 50

The second exhibition, A Living Canvas: The Ukrainian Museum at 50, has been up since May 17. It pulls highlights from the museum's own holdings and sets fine art beside folk art: woven kilims, embroidered ritual cloths known as rushnyky, traditional costume and painting. The show also recognizes the scholars and staff who built the collection over five decades, including the museum's founding director, Maria Shust.

Little Ukraine's museum

The museum describes its home as Manhattan's East Village, also known as Little Ukraine, the blocks around Second Avenue and East Seventh Street that have been a center of Ukrainian life in New York for generations. The 50th anniversary is being marked across 2026 and 2027 with exhibitions, public programs and investment in the institution itself.

The anniversary year continues after these shows close. The museum's 50th Anniversary Gala, titled Culture Worth Fighting For, takes place Sunday, Nov. 8, at Liberty Warehouse in Red Hook, Brooklyn. The next exhibition on its calendar, Pedagogies of War by the artists Roman Khimei and Yarema Malashchuk, opens in January 2027.

Free night details

  • When: Thursday, Oct. 29, 6 to 9 p.m.
  • Cost: Free for all visitors. The museum asks guests to let it know they are coming through the RSVP link on its free-night page.
  • On view: The Ground Shifts Beneath Our Feet (Zhanna Kadyrova) and A Living Canvas: The Ukrainian Museum at 50, both through Nov. 7.

How to go

The Ukrainian Museum is at 222 East Sixth Street, between Second and Third Avenues. The closest trains are the 6 at Astor Place, the L at Third Avenue and the F at Second Avenue.

Outside the free night, the museum is open Wednesday through Sunday from noon to 6 p.m. and closed Monday and Tuesday. Regular admission is $15, $10 for seniors and students, and free for children 12 and under and for members. Anyone who misses Oct. 29 has until Saturday, Nov. 7, to see both exhibitions.

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