Staten Island Museum

Summer Nights: Art of Cocktails (and Mocktails!)
2025-07-10 19:00 - 21:00 (America/New_York) | NY
$40/$35 members.
Includes museum admission. (21+)
Registration required. All materials provided.
Explore a tasting menu of cocktail and mocktail recipes highlighting delicious ingredients from the wild world of fermentation and fungi! Each unique beverage is paired with a curiosity sparking presentation by Breakdown contributor Louis Vassar Semanchik and Phoebe Blue in this hands-on workshop. All materials provided.

Louis Vassar Semanchik is a mushroom grower and educator based in NYC. He currently performs crop and product R&D for Smallhold, a national mushroom company, and hosts mushroom cultivation workshops at the community biolab Biotech Without Borders and community gardens across the city.

Phoebe Blue is a quirky antifolk beatnik of sorts who gets involved in creative projects like this from time to time. Other times, she’s hosting open mic, bartending at The Coupe of hanging with her cat Lala. You might spot her in the wilds of Staten Island walking aimfully.

Menu:

Candy Cap Old Fashioned

Savory Mushroom Martini

Kombucha Cocktail

The Soorya NYC Festival Presented by the Center for Traditional Music and Dance & Members of NYC’s Sri Lankan Community
2025-06-28 15:00 - 20:00 | Staten Island Museum at Snug Harbor, 1000 Richmond Terrace, Building A, Staten Island, NY, 10301, United States
Free event. Recommended for all ages.
Soorya NYC presents folk and traditional arts to encourage cultural exchange centered on the local Sri Lankan community. Soorya NYC helps to sustain the continuity of Sri Lankan heritage in NYC and share these traditions with the wider public. Throughout the festival, you can expect live music and performances, culinary delights, an artisan market, and family friendly activities

Bird and Nature Walk: Mt. Loretto Unique Area
2025-06-25 10:00 - 12:00 | Mount Loretto Unique Area, 20 Kenny Road, Staten Island, NY, 10309, United States
Join naturalists Ed Johnson and Ray Matarazzo with Director of Natural Science Colleen Evans on guided walks through the borough of parks.
We will be on the lookout for nesting birds, particularly indigo bunting and orchard oriole. Of special note, we will be listening for periodical cicadas from Brood XIV.

Juneteenth Family Celebration – A Kickoff to the 5th Annual Juneteenth Freedom Festival!
2025-06-19 13:00 - 16:00 | NY
Presented in partnership with the Staten Island Community Alliance (SICA) and the New York International Children’s Film Festival (NYICFF)
Free event. Recommended for all ages.
Space is limited. Registration recommended.
Honor Juneteenth and create lasting memories at this family friendly celebration! Join us for a special encore presentation of award-winning children’s films that highlight the joy, determination, resilience, and complexity of being young and Black. Curated by the New York International Children’s Film Festival, these six acclaimed films showcase vibrant Black storytelling that transcends national boundaries, culture, and language, featuring works in English, French, Zulu, and ASL. This family event is a tribute to freedom, unity, and the power of storytelling.
For detailed information on the films being screened, please click here.
Join us for this inspiring celebration, and don’t miss the 5th Annual Juneteenth Freedom Festival at Snug Harbor on Saturday, June 21st – a full day of culture, music, and community!

Bird and Nature Walk: Field of Dreams - New Springville
2025-06-11 10:00 - 12:00 | Greenbelt Field of Dreams, Alaska Place &, Forest Hill Rd., Staten Island, NY, 10306, United States
Join naturalists Ed Johnson and Ray Matarazzo with Director of Natural Science Colleen Evans on guided walks through the borough of parks.
We will be looking for nesting birds, evidence of old grist mills, and other interesting things in this little visited (at least by us) park.
Meet in the parking lot located off Forest Hill Road, just down from Richmond Ave.. (Entrance is across Forest Hill Road from Costco.)

Pride Festival 2025
2025-05-31 12:00 - 17:00 | NY
Free event. Recommended for all ages.
Location: Northeast Meadow at Snug Harbor
Party with the Pride Center of Staten Island and rejoice in the rich diversity of the LGBTQIA+ and allied community. Come celebrate with live music, artists, craft vendors, food, activities, and performers. FREE shuttle bus service is available to and from Snug Harbor and Shake Shack at Empire Outlets. Find our table at the festival for fun activities!

Bird and Nature Walk: Wolfe’s Pond Park
2025-05-28 10:00 - 12:00 | Wolfe’s Pond Park, 420 Cornelia Ave., Staten Island, NY, 10312, United States
Join naturalists Ed Johnson and Ray Matarazzo with Director of Natural Science Colleen Evans on guided walks through the borough of parks.
The search for migrating birds continues.
Meet in the parking lot near the Parks Dept. buildings.

Guided Tasting: The Wild World of Honey
2025-05-21 18:00 - 20:00 | NY
$35/$30 Members Registration required.
Join us for a fun and delicious evening celebrating one of the world’s greatest pollinators: the honeybee! Guided by visiting Italian honey experts Gian Luigi Marcazzan and Giovanni Cillia along with their American colleague, Donna DeFalco, you will learn to taste honey like a sommelier, exploring the unique characteristics of different varieties via flavor notes, aroma, texture, and color.
Gian Luigi Marcazzan has been a researcher and technical manager focused on honey quality control through chemical and sensory analysis at the Council for Agricultural Research and Economics (CREA) in Bologna, Italy, for 27 years. He has also studied the composition of royal jelly and propolis to enhance the understanding of their properties and to characterize and control their quality. His passion for nature and bees led him to become a beekeeper in 1979, and he continues to breed bees for honey and swarm production.
In 1990, Gian Luigi participated in the first course on honey sensory analysis. This discipline was introduced in Italy by Michel Gonnet, who developed it in 1988. Since then, honey sensory analysis in Italy has grown significantly. Gian Luigi was part of the group that established the National Register of Experts in Honey Sensory Analysis, which is recognized by the Ministry of Agriculture as a unique entity worldwide. This work is central to Gian Luigi’s role in honey characterization, control, and promotion. Today, Gian Luigi serves as the President of the board of the Italian Register of Experts in the Sensory Analysis of Honey
Donna DeFalco is a professional honey sommelier, one of only 5 in the US. and board member of the American Honey Tasting Society. She is the owner of Riverbend Honey and has been keeping bees with her husband for over 14 years.

Bird and Nature Walk: Great Kills Park
2025-05-21 10:00 - 12:00 | Great Kills Park
Join naturalists Ed Johnson and Ray Matarazzo with Director of Natural Science Colleen Evans on guided walks through the borough of parks.
Migrating shorebirds and waders will be the highlights of this trip.
Meet in the big parking lot for 10am.

Breakdown Artist Talk: Antonia A. Perez
2025-05-17 13:00 - 14:00 | NY
Free with museum admission.
Join Breakdown artist Antonia A. Perez in the gallery to learn more about her artwork and creative practice. Perez weaves discarded materials, such as plastic bags, into sculptural forms using traditional fiber-work techniques.
“My work depends on the collection of remainders. What is left after we finish using an object? The leftovers of our everyday lives are what excite me. What others might cast off, I collect.”
– Antonia A. Perez

Bird and Nature Walk: Clove Lakes Park
2025-05-14 10:00 - 12:00 | Clove Lakes Park
Join naturalists Ed Johnson and Ray Matarazzo with Director of Natural Science Colleen Evans on guided walks through the borough of parks.
By mid-May, Clove Lakes Park is usually teeming with migrating birds.
Meet at the corner of Victory Blvd. and Royal Oak Road.

Bird and Nature Walk: Blue Heron Park
2025-05-07 10:00 - 12:00 | Blue Heron Park, 222 Poillon Ave, Staten Island, NY, 10312
Join naturalists Ed Johnson and Ray Matarazzo with Director of Natural Science Colleen Evans on guided walks through the borough of parks.
Woodlands with a pond and a feeder behind the nature center should be attractive to a variety of migrating birds.
Meet in the parking lot off Poillon Ave.

Bird and Nature Walk: Conference House Park
2025-04-30 10:00 - 12:00 | Conference House Park, 298 Satterlee St., Staten Island, NY, 10307
Join naturalists Ed Johnson and Ray Matarazzo with Director of Natural Science Colleen Evans on guided walks through the borough of parks.
Diverse habitats should produce a good assortment of birds.
Meet in the parking lot near the Visitor’s Center on Satterlee St.

Erasure Poetry Workshop
2025-04-24 18:30 - 20:00 | NY
Free with museum admission.
Doors open at 6:00pm to view Breakdown.
Travel back in time to another land…scape through the pages of Days Afield on Staten Island written by museum founder and renowned naturalist William T. Davis. Reflect on the changes made to this borough’s natural spaces through erasure poetry in this hands-on workshop led by SI Poet Laureate Marguerite Maria Rivas. Participants will create contemporary poems using historic text, constructing a new view of the same SI landscape.
What is an erasure poem? Erasure poetry is a type of found poetry in which the poet takes an existing source text and creates their own poem by erasing, redacting, or otherwise obscuring the words in the original text.

About Marguerite Maria Rivas:
A native New Yorker, Marguerite María Rivas teaches women’s literature and writing at Borough of Manhattan Community College, where she mentors first-generation college students. Much of her creative and scholarly work is based on the history, culture, and environment of Staten Island. Her essays and poetry have been published in anthologies, journals, and periodicals, nationally and internationally, and she is the author of two volumes of poetry. She enjoys welding and doing improvisational spoken word performances with musicians in her spare time. She is the Poet Laureate of Staten Island.

Bird and Nature Walk: Clove Lakes Park
2025-04-16 10:00 - 12:00 | Clove Lakes Park
Join naturalists Ed Johnson and Ray Matarazzo with Director of Natural Science Colleen Evans on guided walks through the borough of parks.
The park should provide us with a good variety of spring migrants, including warblers, vireos, thrushes, etc.
We will meet at the Bridge on Martling Avenue

Mushroom Walk with New York Mycological Society
2025-04-12 14:00 - 16:00 | NY
Ages 7+
This is a free event.
Registration required. Space is limited.
Join the New York Mycological Society on a campus walk to observe, identify and document the surprising diversity of mushrooms hidden in plain sight all around us. Look closely and see what you can find! Magnifying handlenses will be loaned to attendees. In case of inclement weather, the event will take place indoors as a fun and informative introduction to mycology. Beginners and all ages are welcome! Walk led by Ethan Crenson, mycologist and President of NYMS; Co-Leaders: Maya Han and Maren Fossi.
Myco walk: 2-3:00pm
ID table: 3-4:00pm

Breakdown Exhibition Panel Discussion With Dr. Martin Melosi, Jade Doskow, and Lisa Ann Schonberg
2025-04-03 18:30 - 20:00 | NY
$15 adults/$10 members. Free for students
Join artists Jade Doskow and Lisa A. Schonberg in conversation with exhibition contributor Dr. Martin Melosi around their research and participation in the exhibition Breakdown: The Promise of Decay.
Jade Doskow is the Photographer-in-Residence of Freshkills Park, Staten Island, New York City. She is a New York based architectural and landscape photographer known for her rigorously composed and eerily poetic images that examine the intersection of people, architecture, nature, and time.
Dr. Martin Melosi is one of the nation’s leading scholars in Environmental History. Dr. Melosi is Distinguished University Professor of History and Director of the Center for Public History at the University of Houston. In 2000-2001, he held the Fulbright Chair in American Studies at the University of Southern Denmark in Odense and has been a visiting professor at the University of Paris and the University of Helsinki.
Lisa Ann Schonberg is a composer, percussionist, and ecological sound artist. Informed by her background in ecology, Schonberg composes music with a focus on cryptic sounds of insects and other underappreciated beyond-humans. She documents soundscapes, insects, and habitats through music composition, writing, and multimedia collaboration, engaging the public in listening to prompt heightened consideration of these soundworlds.
Moderated by:
José Ramírez-Garofalo is an Ecologist and serves as the President of Protectors of Pine Oak Woods, an organization focused on open space preservation on Staten Island. His work focuses on documenting changes in the ecological communities in New York City and understanding the coupled dynamics of the human-natural system. He uses cutting-edge methods and natural history information to inform natural resource management decisions and conservation actions, and has conducted collaborative research at Freshkills for ten years.

Bird and Nature Walk: Freshkills-North Park
2025-04-02 10:00 - 12:00 | Freshkills North Park, 350 Wild Ave., Staten Island, NY, 10314, United States
Join naturalists Ed Johnson and Ray Matarazzo with Director of Natural Science Colleen Evans on guided walks through the borough of parks.
We should get a nice variety of raptors and migrating waterfowl & landbirds.
Meet in the parking lot at the end of Wild Ave.

Bird and Nature Walk: Mount Loretto Unique Area
2025-03-19 10:00 - 12:00 | Mount Loretto Unique Area, 20 Kenny Road, Staten Island, NY, 10309, United States
Join naturalists Ed Johnson and Ray Matarazzo with Director of Natural Science Colleen Evans on guided walks through the borough of parks.
We will be searching the fields, woodlands and waterfront for wintering songbirds, raptors and waterfowl, and maybe some early spring migrants.
Meet in the parking lot off Hylan Blvd.

Teen Drawing Workshop
2025-03-16 14:00 - 16:00 | NY
Free admission for students with ID.
Coffee/tea and snacks included.
Develop your skills or start from scratch in this hands-on drawing workshop. Participants will work from a dynamic still life installation including taxidermy, fungi, and other specimens from the museum’s natural science collection.

Teen Tour + Activity
2025-03-15 13:00 - 15:00 | NY
Join Bloomberg Arts Intern Latifa Labdouni for an exhibition tour and activity – for teens, by teens!

NYC Teen Arts Week
2025-03-12 11:00 - 2025-03-16 17:00 | NY
From Wednesday, March 12th through Sunday, March 16th students with school ID receive Free admission to the Museum.

NYC Teen Arts Week programming includes:
Teen Tour + Activity
Teen Drawing Workshop

Women in Science Spotlight: Elizabeth Knight Britton
2025-03-08 14:00 - 15:00 | NY
$5 ticket. Includes museum admission.
During a time when women in science were rare, Elizabeth Knight Britton was an expert in bryology, the study of mosses. Learn about Elizabeth’s influence on science in Staten Island and New York City and what makes a moss, a moss! Join Colleen Evans, Director of Natural Science to learn more.

Bird and Nature Walk: Wolfe's Pond Park
2025-03-05 10:00 - 12:00 | Wolfe’s Pond Park, 420 Cornelia Ave., Staten Island, NY, 10312, United States
Join naturalists Ed Johnson and Ray Matarazzo with Director of Natural Science Colleen Evans on guided walks through the borough of parks.
Note: This Bird and Nature Walk has been changed from Silver Lake Park to Wolfe’s Pond Park. We will meet in the parking lot near the Parks Department buildings.

New York International Children’s Film Festival: Celebrating Black Stories
2025-02-22 14:00 - 15:30 | NY
Celebrating Black Stories spotlights shorts from throughout the New York International Children’s Film Festival and around the world that embrace the joy, resilience, and complexity of being young and Black.

Bird and Nature Walk: Brookfield Park
2025-02-19 10:00 - 12:00 | Brooklfield Park, Arthur Kill Rd. bet. Richmond Ave. and New Vale Ave., Staten Island, 10308, United States
Join naturalists Ed Johnson and Ray Matarazzo with Director of Natural Science Colleen Evans on guided walks through the borough of parks.
The wide open skies of Brookfield Park make it the ideal place to search for wintering raptors, while the creeks hold a variety of waterfowl.
Meet in parking lot off Arthur Kill Road.

Romare Bearden Family Collage Workshop
2025-02-08 14:00 - 16:00 | NY
Explore the art of collage and learn about artist Romare Bearden in this hands-on workshop. Participants of all ages will use a variety of materials to create collages inspired by Bearden’s Homage to Mary Lou (Piano Lesson), an artwork in the museum’s collection. Romare Bearden is regarded as one of the most creative and original visual artists of the twentieth century and is best known for his richly textured collages.
All Ages. Free with museum admission. All materials provided.

Bird and Nature Walk: South Beach/Fort Wadsworth
2025-02-05 10:30 - 12:30 | NY
Join naturalists Ed Johnson and Ray Matarazzo with Director of Natural Science Colleen Evans on guided walks through the borough of parks.
In addition to the usual (and maybe unusual) species of waterfowl and gulls that winter here, we will also be on the lookout for harbor seals. Meet in the parking lot off Capodanno Blvd, opposite Sand Lane.

Breakdown: The Promise of Decay Public Opening Reception
2025-01-25 14:00 - 16:00 | NY
Free with Museum Admission
Curated by Rylee Eterginoso and Colleen Evans
Breakdown examines the vibrancy of decay. This interdisciplinary exhibition explores notions of time, waste, and the in-between. Breakdown shines a light on the dark corners of the life cycle recognizing the oft-overlooked workhorses of the ecosystem. From mycelium to microplastics, this exhibition focuses on what breaks down and what does not. It asks visitors to value a world they cannot see in order to protect the one we can. Breakdown features contemporary artwork, objects from the museum’s collection, and scientific innovations in the curious world of decomposition.
Featured Artists: Selin Balci, Jade Doskow, Tamara Kostianovsky, Phyllis Ma, Antonia A. Perez, and Lisa Ann Schonberg
With contributions by Dr. Martin Melosi, Louis Vassar Semanchik and Michael Falco

Breakdown: The Promise of Decay Members and Private Opening
2025-01-23 18:00 - 20:00 | NY
Registration by invitation only.
For more information about registration or how to become a member, please contact the Development Office at 718-483-7117.
Become a member to attend the preview of Breakdown: The Promise of Decay
Curated by Rylee Eterginoso and Colleen Evans
Breakdown examines the vibrancy of decay. This interdisciplinary exhibition explores notions of time, waste, and the in-between. Breakdown shines a light on the dark corners of the life cycle recognizing the oft-overlooked workhorses of the ecosystem. From mycelium to microplastics, this exhibition focuses on what breaks down and what does not. It asks visitors to value a world they cannot see in order to protect the one we can. Breakdown features contemporary artwork, objects from the museum’s collection, and scientific innovations in the curious world of decomposition.
Featured Artists: Selin Balci, Jade Doskow, Tamara Kostianovsky, Phyllis Ma, Antonia A. Perez, and Lisa Ann Schonberg
With contributions by Dr. Martin Melosi, Louis Vassar Semanchik and Michael Falco
