Poster House

Act Black: The Black Canon—A Collector’s Story
2026-05-28 18:00 - 19:00 (America/New_York)
Join Ali J. Wheeler and Alima Wheeler Trapp of The Black Canon in conversation with Assistant Curator of Collections Es-pranza Humphrey for an intimate discussion about collecting, preserving, and sharing Black cinema history. In this special program, presented in connection with Act Black: Posters from Black American Stage & Screen, our two guest speakers will talk about how they developed a deeply personal collection of posters and ephemera, built up over decades by their father James E. Wheeler, into a vital cultural archive for educators, artists, and communities.
Together, the panelists will address the kind of care and labor that goes into maintaining an independent archive like The Black Canon as well as the organization’s collaboration with Poster House and the curatorial choices that shaped its presentation within the exhibition. Through behind-the-scenes stories and collection highlights, they will offer insight into the important, ongoing work of preserving Black performance history.
This event will take place on Zoom. A short audience Q & A will follow the discussion.
Ali J. Wheeler is the cofounder and director of The Black Canon, an arts organization and archive dedicated to preserving and promoting African American literary, performing, visual, and media arts. He currently resides in Dallas, Texas, where he works in Human Resources. Wheeler holds an MBA from Texas Woman’s University.
Alima Wheeler Trapp is the cofounder and director of The Black Canon, an arts organization and archive dedicated to preserving and promoting African American literary, performing, visual and media arts. Beyond her work with non-profit organizations, Wheeler Trapp is a long-standing leader in the field of advertising strategy, helping global brands build more inclusive and culturally grounded communications. She was recently named a Campaign US Inspiring Woman of 2026 for championing change in the industry. She earned a BSc in Marketing and an MA in Advertising, both from Michigan State University.
Es-pranza Humphrey is the Assistant Curator of Collections at Poster House, where her research centers on Black performance, fashion, and visual culture. She has been featured in the New Yorker, NPR, ABC Here and Now, the Fashion and Race Database, and several international publications for her scholarship on the graphic language of the Black Panther Party. Her current exhibition, Act Black: Posters from Black American Stage and Screen, explores Black American theater and film posters from the 1870s to the 1940s.
Accessibility Note: This online event will be hosted on Zoom with attendees’ cameras off. A recording of this event will be made available to all registered attendees. Automated closed captioning will be provided. ASL (American Sign Language) interpretation or a CART (Communication Access Realtime Translation) is available upon request. Please contact access@posterhouse.org or (914) 295-2387 to request interpretation services and to address any other accessibility needs.

Docent Tour: Reading Under Fire
2026-05-28 17:00 - 18:00
Join the Poster House education team on guided docent tours of our current exhibitions! Gain a deeper understanding of the historical context and the design techniques behind one of the museum’s shows in an informative yet casual setting.
The tours, along with your admission ticket, are always free! This Thursday, we will be focusing on the posters from Reading Under Fire: Arming Minds & Hearts During Wartime.
Accessibility Note: Masks and clear masks are available free of charge at the museum. Assistive listening devices and stools are available. ASL (American Sign Language) interpretation or a CART (Communication Access Realtime Translation) is also available upon request. Please contact access@posterhouse.org or (914) 295-2387 to request interpretation services and to address any other accessibility needs. For other event-related questions, please contact info@posterhouse.org.

Virtual Vibrant Verbal Description Tour: Love & Fury
2026-05-26 16:00 - 17:00
Every month, Poster House offers Vibrant Verbal Description Tours specifically for community members who are blind or have low vision. In order to reach a wide, art-loving audience around the world, we offer our description tours both in person and online through Zoom. These tours are given by our Lead Educators, allowing you intimate access to the works in the museum’s current shows and in the permanent collection.
This month’s virtual tour will focus on the exhibition Love & Fury: New York’s Fight Against AIDS
Please email access@posterhouse.org or call (914) 295-2387 to sign up for this event. You will be emailed poster images for reference as well as information about accessing Zoom the day before the virtual tour. Tours start promptly and will last approximately 60 minutes with questions.
For a complete list of our accessibility tours, click the Accessibility filter at the top of our Events page, email access@posterhouse.org, or call (914) 295-2387. Poster House will also strive to accommodate any outside accessibility tour requests given two week’s notice.
Accessibility Note: This online event will be hosted on Youtube with attendees’ cameras off. A recording of this event will be made available to all registered attendees. Automated closed captioning will be provided. ASL (American Sign Language) interpretation or a CART (Communication Access Realtime Translation) is available upon request. Please contact access@posterhouse.org or (914) 295-2387 to request interpretation services and to address any other accessibility needs.

Coffee with a Curator
2026-05-23 10:00 - 11:00
Poster House members are invited to join curators Molly Manning and Nicholas D. Lowry for a discussion over coffee about their work and current exhibitions. After some refreshments, join them in the galleries for a brief tour of their personal highlights from Reading Under Fire: Arming Minds & Hearts During Wartime and From Monarchy to Modernity: Travel, Identity, & the Czechoslovak First Republic (1918–1938). Members will be offered a complimentary cup of coffee or tea at the Café after checking in at the Info Desk.
Molly Guptill Manning is an author, historian, curator, and associate professor of law at New York Law School. She is the author of the New York Times bestseller When Books Went to War: The Stories That Helped Us Win World War II as well as The Myth of Ephraim Tutt: Arthur Train and His Great Literary Hoax; and The War of Words: How America’s GI Journalists Battled Censorship and Propaganda to Help Win World War II. Manning has spoken across the country about the power of the written word, and has curated exhibitions showcasing the essential role that books, magazines, and newspapers played in World Wars I and II. Before she became a professor, Molly worked in the New York federal courts for 13 years. She earned a BA and an MA in American History, an MA in Museum Studies from NYU, and a JD at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law.
Nicholas D. Lowry was born in New York City and is an internationally recognized authority on vintage posters. He is president of Swann Auction Galleries in New York where he oversees the vintage poster department, and is also known for his appearances on the PBS television series Antiques Roadshow where he has been appraising vintage posters for almost 30 years. He recently starred in Bohemian Identity, a documentary series on the history of Czech graphic design.
Accessibility Note: Masks and clear masks are available free of charge at the museum. Assistive listening devices and stools are available. ASL (American Sign Language) interpretation or a CART (Communication Access Realtime Translation) is also available upon request. Please contact access@posterhouse.org or (914) 295-2387 to request interpretation services and to address any other accessibility needs. For other event-related questions, please contact info@posterhouse.org.

Visita guiada en español: Amor y furia
2026-05-22 17:00 - 18:00, 2026-04-24 17:00 - 18:00
Participe en una visita guiada en español con el equipo educativo de Poster House para nuestra exposición Amor y furia: La lucha contra el VIH/sida en Nueva York.
Esta exposición explora cómo el diseño gráfico transformó el movimiento popular neoyorquino contra el VIH/sida entre 1979 y el 2003. Las campañas de salud pública, la propaganda de agitación (agitprop), los folletos benéficos y los volantes de las discotecas ofrecen algo más que solo mensajes: reflejan cómo las comunidades construyeron sistemas de supervivencia desde las bases, a menudo antes de que el Estado decidiera a actuar.
Nota sobre accesibilidad: En el museo tenemos disponibles mascarillas y mascarillas transparentes gratis. También hay disponibles audífonos auxiliares y taburetes. Previa solicitud, ofrecemos interpretación en lengua de signos estadounidense (ASL) o traducción con subtitulado en tiempo real (CART). Ponerse en contacto con access@posterhouse.org o llame al (914) 295-2387 para solicitar servicios de interpretación y para cualquier otra necesidad de accesibilidad. Para otras preguntas relacionadas con el evento, ponerse en contacto con info@posterhouse.org.

Act Black Lettering Tour
2026-05-21 18:30 - 20:00
Join David Jon Walker for a typography tour of Act Black: Posters from Black American Stage & Screen. Walker will introduce guests to the lettering styles and typographic history within many of the posters promoting some of the most notable Black performers and productions of the 20th century.
David Jon Walker is a New Haven–based designer and educator whose practice spans graphic design, typography, and visual storytelling. He teaches in the Graphic Design program at the Yale School of Art, where he also completed his second MFA in 2023. David’s work has been recognized by AIGA and the Type Directors Club, and he has collaborated with a wide range of cultural institutions, including Poster House, the Birmingham Museum of Art, the National Museum of African American Music, the Country Music Hall of Fame, the Art Institute of Chicago, Princeton University Library, and Yale University.
Accessibility Note: Masks and clear masks are available free of charge at the museum. Assistive listening devices and stools are available. ASL (American Sign Language) interpretation or a CART (Communication Access Realtime Translation) is also available upon request. Please contact access@posterhouse.org or (914) 295-2387 to request interpretation services and to address any other accessibility needs. For other event-related questions, please contact info@posterhouse.org.

In-Person Vibrant Verbal Description Tour: Love & Fury
2026-05-18 11:00 - 12:30
Every month, Poster House offers Vibrant Verbal Description Tours specifically for community members who are blind or have low vision. In order to reach a wide, art-loving audience around the world, we offer our description tours both in person and online through Zoom. These tours are given by our Lead Educators, allowing you intimate access to the works in the museum’s current shows and in the permanent collection.
This month’s in-person tour will focus on the exhibition Love & Fury: New York’s Fight Against AIDS.
Please email access@posterhouse.org or call (914) 295-2387 to sign up for this event, as space is limited. Tours start promptly and will last approximately 90 minutes with questions. While Poster House offers Vibrant Verbal Description Tours specifically for community members who are blind, have low vision, or who would otherwise benefit from verbal descriptions, everyone is welcome, space permitting.
For a complete list of our accessibility tours, click the Accessibility filter at the top of our Events page, email access@posterhouse.org, or call (914) 295-2387. Poster House will also strive to accommodate any outside accessibility tour requests given two week’s notice.
A minimum number of sign-ups is required for the tour to proceed as scheduled. In the event it is cancelled, you will be given 24 hours notice via email.

Accessibility Note: Masks and clear masks are available free of charge at the museum. Assistive listening devices and stools are available. ASL (American Sign Language) interpretation or a CART (Communication Access Realtime Translation) is also available upon request. Please contact access@posterhouse.org or (914) 295-2387 to request interpretation services and to address any other accessibility needs. For other event-related questions, please contact info@posterhouse.org.

Poster Kids: Give More Books—Make More Books!
2026-05-17 10:30 - 12:00, 2026-05-03 10:30 - 12:00
We are free to read books, and free to write them too! In celebration of Poster House’s new exhibition, Reading Under Fire: Arming Minds & Hearts During Wartime, craft and bind your own blank book, turning it into a storybook or a journal. We’ll learn how to sew the pages together using a needle and thread, and how to attach the pages to covers that you can enjoy decorating.
This program invites children 5–11 years old and their adults to collaborate (siblings are welcome). This is not a drop-off program.
Accessibility Note: Masks and clear masks are available free of charge at the museum. Assistive listening devices and stools are available. ASL (American Sign Language) interpretation or a CART (Communication Access Realtime Translation) is also available upon request. Please contact access@posterhouse.org or (914) 295-2387 to request interpretation services and to address any other accessibility needs. For other event-related questions, please contact info@posterhouse.org.

Third Sunday Always Free
2026-05-17 10:00 - 18:00, 2026-04-19 10:00 - 18:00
Poster House is free on the third Sunday of every month, often featuring complimentary programming geared toward families. Be sure to sign up to secure your spot—or just enjoy the museum at your own pace!
Accessibility Note: Masks and clear masks are available free of charge at the museum. Assistive listening devices and stools are available. ASL (American Sign Language) interpretation or a CART (Communication Access Realtime Translation) is also available upon request. Please contact access@posterhouse.org or (914) 295-2387 to request interpretation services and to address any other accessibility needs. For other event-related questions, please contact info@posterhouse.org.

Poster Tots: Needle and Thread
2026-05-16 10:30 - 12:00
At this Poster Tots event, celebrate the joys of reading and writing in a workshop inspired by Poster House’s new exhibition, Reading Under Fire: Arming Minds & Hearts During Wartime. After a tour and storytime, families can create their own storybooks from scratch using kid-safe materials. Bind your book together and add your own special title as a finishing touch!
Join Poster House for Poster Tots, a program designed to encourage children ages 2–4 (accompanied by their adults) to feel confident in museum settings. Advanced registration is required. This is not a drop-off program.
Accessibility Note: Masks and clear masks are available free of charge at the museum. Assistive listening devices and stools are available. ASL (American Sign Language) interpretation or a CART (Communication Access Realtime Translation) is also available upon request. Please contact access@posterhouse.org or (914) 295-2387 to request interpretation services and to address any other accessibility needs. For other event-related questions, please contact info@posterhouse.org.

Act Black Archives Tour
2026-05-15 17:00 - 18:00
Join Collections Specialist Alex Stern and Assistant Curator of Collections Es-pranza Humphrey for a behind-the-scenes look at the making of Act Black: Posters from Black American Stage & Screen. While the exhibition features an astonishing selection of posters highlighting Black performers between the 1870s and the 1940s, not every poster or piece of ephemera made the final cut. We’ll gather in the Storage and Conservation Room on the lower level for an intimate viewing of some of the material that you can’t see in the show.
Space is extremely limited—this tour is capped at 12 guests, so reserve soon to guarantee your space!
Important Notes:

No backpacks, food, or beverages are allowed in the Storage and Conservation Room
Photography is not permitted during the tour
While children are welcome, we ask that they are especially respectful of this delicate material and are able to follow instructions around no touching, running, or other behavior inappropriate for this type of museum setting

Accessibility Note: Masks and clear masks are available free of charge at the museum. Assistive listening devices and stools are available. ASL (American Sign Language) interpretation or a CART (Communication Access Realtime Translation) is also available upon request. Please contact access@posterhouse.org or (914) 295-2387 to request interpretation services and to address any other accessibility needs. For other event-related questions, please contact info@posterhouse.org.

Docent Tour: Love & Fury
2026-05-14 17:00 - 18:00, 2026-04-23 17:00 - 18:00
Join the Poster House education team on guided docent tours of our current exhibitions! Gain a deeper understanding of the historical context and the design techniques behind one of the museum’s shows in an informative yet casual setting.
The tours, along with your admission ticket, are always free! This Thursday, we will be focusing on the posters from Love & Fury: New York’s Fight Against AIDS.
Accessibility Note: Masks and clear masks are available free of charge at the museum. Assistive listening devices and stools are available. ASL (American Sign Language) interpretation or a CART (Communication Access Realtime Translation) is also available upon request. Please contact access@posterhouse.org or (914) 295-2387 to request interpretation services and to address any other accessibility needs. For other event-related questions, please contact info@posterhouse.org.

Tunnel Book Workshop: Personal Visions of Freedom
2026-05-09 12:30 - 15:00
Join Poster House and artist Maria Veronica San Martin in this 3D Tunnel Book Workshop inspired by the exhibition Reading Under Fire: Arming Minds & Hearts During Wartime. Participants will create a layered, hardcover tunnel book that expresses their personal vision of freedom. All materials are provided but participants are welcome to bring photos, artwork, archival materials, text, and/or historic images—such as protest posters or family memorabilia—to make their books truly unique. Each participant will leave with a one-of-a-kind tunnel book.
Maria Veronica San Martin (@san.martin.maria) is an artist and educator whose work explores memory, history, and human rights. She teaches at Parsons School of Design, The New School and the Center for Book Arts in New York; she also works with Booklyn Artist Alliance, and has led workshops at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. She is the creator of the Moving Memorials series of 13 artist’s books; 203 copies of them are held in more than 80 international museums and libraries.
Image courtesy of Center for Book Arts, New York.
Accessibility Note: Masks and clear masks are available free of charge at the museum. Assistive listening devices and stools are available. ASL (American Sign Language) interpretation or a CART (Communication Access Realtime Translation) is also available upon request. Please contact access@posterhouse.org or (914) 295-2387 to request interpretation services and to address any other accessibility needs. For other event-related questions, please contact info@posterhouse.org.

Members-Only Tour: Seneca Village
2026-05-09 11:45 - 13:00 | Seneca Village at Central Park, West 85th Street and Central Park West, New York, NY, 10024, United States
In honor of Poster House’s exhibition Act Black: Posters from Black American Stage & Screen, members are invited to a guided tour of Central Park’s Seneca Village.
Before Central Park was built, the area along its perimeter from West 82nd to West 89th Streets was home to Seneca Village, the largest community of African American property owners in New York. Founded in 1825, it was relatively prosperous, with churches, a school, and high rates of property ownership, which, in some cases, made male landowners eligible to vote. The city acquired the land for Central Park in 1853 and its residents were required to leave by the end of 1857. Scholars and archaeologists began to investigate the site more systematically and raise public awareness of it during the 1990s.
Members will meet at the Mariner’s Gate entrance to Central Park on West 85th Street and Central Park West at 11:45am and walk over to Seneca Village for the tour, led by a Central Park Conservancy guide.
Accessibility Note: As this is an off-site event, masks and clear masks are available free of charge with prior notification. ASL (American Sign Language) interpretation or a CART (Communication Access Realtime Translation) is also available upon advanced request. Please contact access@posterhouse.org or (914) 295-2387 to request interpretation services and to address any other accessibility needs. For other event-related questions, please contact info@posterhouse.org.

Screen, Stage & Spirits: Cocktails Inspired by Act Black
2026-05-06 18:00 - 21:00
What better way to experience the museum’s latest exhibition than with a drink in hand?
Join Poster House for a very special evening of showstopping cocktails inspired by Act Black: Posters from Black American Stage & Screen!
Curator Es-pranza Humphrey will be your guide as you explore key themes within this extraordinary exhibition that covers the history of posters promoting Black performers on stage and screen from the 1870s to the 1940s. The tour will be divided into three segments, each perfectly paired with a period-appropriate cocktail crafted by master mixologist Imani Scriber.
Throughout the evening, Imani will also lead a live cocktail demonstration, offering insight into her creative process and the inspiration behind each drink. Each cocktail interlude will connect directly to themes addressed in the exhibition, creating a layered dialogue between visual culture, performance history, and mixology.
The ticket price includes three custom-made cocktails. Guests must be 21+.
Imani M. Scriber is a native of Washington, DC, with more than 10 years of experience in the hospitality industry. She specializes in the development of bar menus, operational structure, and opening execution.
Accessibility Note: Masks and clear masks are available free of charge at the museum. Assistive listening devices and stools are available. ASL (American Sign Language) interpretation or a CART (Communication Access Realtime Translation) is also available upon request. Please contact access@posterhouse.org or (914) 295-2387 to request interpretation services and to address any other accessibility needs. For other event-related questions, please contact info@posterhouse.org.

Members-Only Tour: Reading Under Fire
2026-05-04 18:00 - 19:00 | Poster House, 119 West 23rd Street, New York, NY, 10011, United States
Join curator Molly Guptill Manning for a private, members-only tour of Reading Under Fire: Arming Minds & Hearts During Wartime.
During World Wars I and II, nearly every combatant nation recognized that it was necessary to provide materials to maintain the wellbeing and morale of its soldiers—and books soared in popularity. Between lulls in action or when waiting for orders far from the front lines, the troops read to forget their surroundings and fears, taking a mental vacation from their hardships.
This exhibition includes book-related posters from the United States, Great Britain, Canada, and Germany printed during both world wars. All of these nations relied on public book donations and fundraising to supply soldiers with reading material, and many posters were designed to encourage such civilian contributions.
Light refreshments will be served.
Accessibility Note: Masks and clear masks are available free of charge at the museum. Assistive listening devices and stools are available. ASL (American Sign Language) interpretation or a CART (Communication Access Realtime Translation) is also available upon request. Please contact access@posterhouse.org or (914) 295-2387 to request interpretation services and to address any other accessibility needs. For other event-related questions, please contact info@posterhouse.org.

First Friday
2026-05-01
Join Poster House on the First Friday of every month for free admission and extended hours!
Museum members can check in at the Info Desk to receive one free drink ticket to use at the bar from 6–9pm.
Explore the museum’s latest exhibitions and get in on the fun by attending a tour, workshop, performance, or activity throughout the day. Every First Friday is different, offering unique opportunities to engage with rotating exhibitions and the permanent collection.
Accessibility Note: Masks and clear masks are available free of charge at the museum. Assistive listening devices and stools are available. ASL (American Sign Language) interpretation or a CART (Communication Access Realtime Translation) is also available upon request. Please contact access@posterhouse.org or (914) 295-2387 to request interpretation services and to address any other accessibility needs. For other event-related questions, please contact info@posterhouse.org.

Docent Tour: Act Black
2026-04-30 17:00 - 18:00
Join the Poster House education team on guided docent tours of our current exhibitions! Gain a deeper understanding of the historical context and the design techniques behind one of the museum’s shows in an informative yet casual setting.
The tours, along with your admission ticket, are always free! This Thursday, we will be focusing on the posters from Act Black: Posters from Black American Stage & Screen.
Accessibility Note: Masks and clear masks are available free of charge at the museum. Assistive listening devices and stools are available. ASL (American Sign Language) interpretation or a CART (Communication Access Realtime Translation) is also available upon request. Please contact access@posterhouse.org or (914) 295-2387 to request interpretation services and to address any other accessibility needs. For other event-related questions, please contact info@posterhouse.org.

Members-Only Tour: Joan Semmel at the Jewish Museum
2026-04-28 18:00 - 19:00 | Jewish Museum, 1109 5th Ave at 92nd St, New York, NY, 10128, United States
Poster House members are invited to the Jewish Museum for a private tour of Joan Semmel: In the Flesh at the Jewish Museum. This tour will be jointly led by Isometric Studios, the team behind the exhibition’s design, and the museum’s curator of contemporary art, Rebecca Shaykin.
Born in 1932 into a secular Jewish family in the Bronx, Semmel trained as an abstract expressionist painter in New York before moving to Spain in 1963, where she enjoyed early success on an international stage. Upon her return to New York in 1970 as a newly divorced mother of two, she found community within the burgeoning feminist and anti-censorship movements alongside her peers, including Judith Bernstein, Louise Bourgeois, Joyce Kozloff, Joan Snyder, Anita Steckel, Hannah Wilke, and other trailblazing women artists.
In the Flesh highlights Semmel’s lifelong investigation of the female experience. Spanning more than 50 years of the artist’s practice, the exhibition offers new perspectives on some of Semmel’s most pivotal series. Works on view include her 1978 painting Sunlight, one of her iconic self-images and a defining work of the feminist movement, as well as paintings from her bold, high-key Erotic Series of the early 1970s, as well as large, complex compositions as the nude self-portrait Skin in the Game (2019).
Accessibility Note: As this is an off-site event, masks and clear masks are available free of charge with prior notification. ASL (American Sign Language) interpretation or a CART (Communication Access Realtime Translation) is also available upon request. Please contact access@posterhouse.org or (914) 295-2387 to request interpretation services and to address any other accessibility needs. For other event-related questions, please contact info@posterhouse.org.

Virtual Vibrant Verbal Description Tour: Poster History Timeline
2026-04-28 16:00 - 17:00
Every month, Poster House offers Vibrant Verbal Description Tours specifically for community members who are blind or have low vision. In order to reach a wide, art-loving audience around the world, we offer our description tours both in person and online through Zoom. These tours are given by our Lead Educators, allowing you intimate access to the works in the museum’s current shows and in the permanent collection.
This month’s virtual tour will focus on a few favorites from Poster House’s Poster History Timeline.
Please email access@posterhouse.org or call (914) 295-2387 to sign up for this event. You will be emailed poster images for reference as well as information about accessing Zoom the day before the virtual tour. Tours start promptly and will last approximately 60 minutes with questions.
For a complete list of our accessibility tours, click the Accessibility filter at the top of our Events page, email access@posterhouse.org, or call (914) 295-2387. Poster House will also strive to accommodate any outside accessibility tour requests given two week’s notice.
Accessibility Note: This online event will be hosted on Zoom with attendees’ cameras off. A recording of this event will be made available to all registered attendees. Automated closed captioning will be provided. ASL (American Sign Language) interpretation or a CART (Communication Access Realtime Translation) is available upon request. Please contact access@posterhouse.org or (914) 295-2387 to request interpretation services and to address any other accessibility needs.

In-Person Vibrant Verbal Description Tour: Poster History Timeline
2026-04-27 11:00 - 12:30
Every month, Poster House offers Vibrant Verbal Description Tours specifically for community members who are blind or have low vision. In order to reach a wide, art-loving audience around the world, we offer our description tours both in person and online through Zoom. These tours are given by our Lead Educators, allowing you intimate access to the works in the museum’s current shows and in the permanent collection.
This month’s in-person tour will focus on a few favorites from Poster House’s Poster History Timeline.
Please email access@posterhouse.org or call (914) 295-2387 to sign up for this event, as space is limited. Tours start promptly and will last approximately 90 minutes with questions. While Poster House offers Vibrant Verbal Description Tours specifically for community members who are blind, have low vision, or who would otherwise benefit from verbal descriptions, everyone is welcome, space permitting.
For a complete list of our accessibility tours, click the Accessibility filter at the top of our Events page, email access@posterhouse.org, or call (914) 295-2387. Poster House will also strive to accommodate any outside accessibility tour requests given two week’s notice.
A minimum number of sign-ups is required for the tour to proceed as scheduled. In the event it is cancelled, you will be given 24 hours notice via email.
Accessibility Note: Masks and clear masks are available free of charge at the museum. Assistive listening devices and stools are available. ASL (American Sign Language) interpretation or a CART (Communication Access Realtime Translation) is also available upon request. Please contact access@posterhouse.org or (914) 295-2387 to request interpretation services and to address any other accessibility needs. For other event-related questions, please contact info@posterhouse.org.

Members-Only Tour: Love & Fury
2026-04-25 18:00 - 19:00
Join curator Ian Bradley Perrin for a private, members-only tour of Love & Fury: New York’s Fight Against AIDS.
When AIDS hit New York, posters spoke when institutions stayed silent. In a city wired for visual competition—crowded streets, subway ads, nightclub flyers—posters became lifelines. They helped people to find clinics, mourn the dead, demand justice, and fight for the living.
This exhibition explores how graphic design shaped New York’s grassroots response to AIDS from 1979 to 2003. Public health campaigns, agitprop, benefit flyers, and club handbills offer more than just messages—they map how communities built survival systems from below, often before the state would act.
Light refreshments will be served.
This exhibition is rated R for sexually explicit imagery and text.
Accessibility Note: Masks and clear masks are available free of charge at the museum. Assistive listening devices and stools are available. ASL (American Sign Language) interpretation or a CART (Communication Access Realtime Translation) is also available upon request. Please contact access@posterhouse.org or (914) 295-2387 to request interpretation services and to address any other accessibility needs. For other event-related questions, please contact info@posterhouse.org.

Curatorial Tour of Love & Fury: New York’s Fight Against AIDS
2026-04-25 15:00 - 16:00
Join curator Ian Bradley-Perrin for a guided tour of his exhibition Love & Fury: New York’s Fight Against AIDS. This show traces the powerful graphics that emerged from New York’s AIDS crisis, highlighting how artists, activists, and community organizers used posters to mobilize care, demand action, and honor those lost. In this tour, Ian will talk about the images, stories, and strategies that shaped a movement—and continue to resonate today.
Accessibility Note: Masks and clear masks are available free of charge at the museum. Assistive listening devices and stools are available. ASL (American Sign Language) interpretation or a CART (Communication Access Realtime Translation) is also available upon request. Please contact access@posterhouse.org or (914) 295-2387 to request interpretation services and to address any other accessibility needs. For other event-related questions, please contact info@posterhouse.org.

Community AIDS Memorial Quilt-Making Workshops
2026-04-25 - 2026-04-26
The AIDS Memorial Quilt, comprising more than 50,000 individual panels created by participants around the world, functions as a collective, living archive, honoring those who have died from HIV/AIDS and related causes while documenting decades of activism, grief, and care.
In conjunction with Love & Fury: New York’s Fight Against AIDS, Poster House and the New York City AIDS Memorial are proud to co-present two free community quilt-making workshops.
Led by artist Erika deVries, participants will collaborate on the design and creation of commemorative quilt panels honoring members of the poster and design communities lost to HIV and AIDS. The workshops will also address the history and impact of the AIDS Quilt while encouraging intergenerational dialogue and community-building.
No sewing experience required! Lunch will be provided to attendees.
Image credit: AIDS Memorial Quilt-Making Workshops, March 2025, at SVA, courtesy of the New York City AIDS Memorial. Photos by Alexander Sargent.
The New York City AIDS Memorial is a living monument honoring the more than 100,000 New Yorkers who have died of AIDS and recognizing the caregivers, activists, and communities who responded to the epidemic with compassion and resolve. Located in a public park at the former site of St. Vincent’s Hospital in Greenwich Village, considered by many to be the epicenter of the crisis in New York, the memorial presents free, year-round public programs and contemporary art commissions that preserve history, activate public memory, and affirm the ongoing fight against HIV/AIDS.
Erika deVries is a visual artist based in Kingston, New York, whose practice centers textiles, adornment, and neon light as language for collective memory, storytelling and care. Working with fabric and found garments alongside neon ritual forms and transcriptions of the handwriting of her children and beloved relatives, she explores how grief, devotion, and language take shape. DeVries cofounded the social sculptural spaces Cygnets Way and Your Mom & the Swan, and is a longtime creative collaborator with the queer neon art studio Lite Brite Neon.
Accessibility Note: Masks and clear masks are available free of charge at the museum. Assistive listening devices and stools are available. ASL (American Sign Language) interpretation or a CART (Communication Access Realtime Translation) is also available upon request. Please contact access@posterhouse.org or (914) 295-2387 to request interpretation services and to address any other accessibility needs. For other event-related questions, please contact info@posterhouse.org.

In American Fashion: Natalie Nudell & Ian Bradley-Perrin in Conversation
2026-04-24 18:00 - 19:00
Join Ian Bradley-Perrin, curator of Love & Fury: New York’s Fight Against AIDS, in a conversation with author Natalie Nudell, held in celebration of the paperback release of her book In American Fashion, Ruth Finley’s Fashion Calendar (Bloomsbury Press). In this important and scholarly discussion, they will explore how HIV/AIDS impacted the fashion and creative industries in the 1980s and ’90s, and how Ruth Finley’s Fashion Calendar remains an essential record of the fashion community’s response to the epidemic.
In American Fashion, Ruth Finley’s Fashion Calendar will be available for purchase in the Shop. Nudell will be signing her book following the event.
Natalie Nudell (@natalien__) is a fashion and textile historian with a research focus on the 20th- century American fashion industry centered on the Fashion Calendar, labor, and the digital humanities. She is an Adjunct Assistant Professor in the History of Art Department at the Fashion Institute of Technology, SUNY, where she is also the Director of the Fashion Calendar Research Database. Nudell produced and wrote the feature documentary Calendar Girl (2020) about Ruth Finley and New York Fashion Week. Nudell is the recipient of the 2026 Vilcek Prize for Creative Promise in Fashion & Culture.
Ian Bradley-Perrin is a historian of HIV/AIDS in the United States whose work bridges scholarship, activism, and curation. He contributed to Up Against the Wall: Art, Activism, and the AIDS Poster at the Memorial Art Gallery and developed his dissertation, “A Consumer’s Epidemic: People with AIDS and the Politics of Consumption,” on the first five years of the AIDS response by People with AIDS. He has worked at AIDS advocacy organizations in Canada and the United States and is currently a Senior Scientist supporting HIV treatment and prevention clinical research. Bradley-Perrin earned his PhD in Sociomedical Sciences and History from Columbia University and has lived with HIV for over 15 years. His scholarship and lived experience inform his approach to curating and interpreting the history of AIDS.
Accessibility Note: Masks and clear masks are available free of charge at the museum. Assistive listening devices and stools are available. ASL (American Sign Language) interpretation or a CART (Communication Access Realtime Translation) is also available upon request. Please contact access@posterhouse.org or (914) 295-2387 to request interpretation services and to address any other accessibility needs. For other event-related questions, please contact info@posterhouse.org.

Poster Kids: Printmaking from the Pantry
2026-04-19 10:30 - 12:00
This month at Poster Kids, we’re highlighting Poster House’s permanent collection and the printmaking techniques that it showcases—from letterpress to stone lithography. In this workshop, you’ll have the opportunity to work hands-on with the posters and the lithographic tools! After our tour, learn about the process of lithography in a DIY workshop.
This program invites children 5–11 years old and their adults to collaborate (siblings are welcome). This is not a drop-off program.
Accessibility Note: Masks and clear masks are available free of charge at the museum. Assistive listening devices and stools are available. ASL (American Sign Language) interpretation or a CART (Communication Access Realtime Translation) is also available upon request. Please contact access@posterhouse.org or (914) 295-2387 to request interpretation services and to address any other accessibility needs. For other event-related questions, please contact info@posterhouse.org.
