Discover the Best Classes in NYC
While there is no shortage of things to do in NYC, residents may find themselves looking for a way to spend an evening or a weekend learning new skills or participating in a new activity. There are hundreds of options available for anyone looking for a part-time course in NYC, and students will have a swath of options available to them, regardless of whether they want to learn how to cook, dance, garden, or craft or if they are looking to learn valuable life or professional skills. These courses range from beginner-friendly introductions to new subjects to more advanced training seminars, but they are all inviting places to spend one or more evenings learning new skills and hobbies, meeting new people and just enjoying all that NYC has to offer. Whether you are interested in learning a practical skill like home cooking, a craft like leatherworking or painting, a sociable skill like mixology, or something like professional leadership skills, you can find the class you are looking for on CourseHorse.
Art Classes
If you are looking to relax and participate in a laid-back, fun course that still gives you the chase to flex your creative muscles, you might want to consider enrolling in an art class. These classes are excellent ways to spend an evening honing your craft or just introducing yourself to a new set of skills. Whether you are looking to become a professional artist or you are just looking to spend an evening painting and drinking wine, there are a wide variety of options available to you.
The 92nd Street Y is one of the oldest and most prestigious community centers in NYC, and they offer a wide range of arts and crafts classes for students of all ages and ability levels. These include introductory courses like Drawing for Beginners, wherein artists with no experience can learn the art of drawing and more advanced courses like Oil Painting (Intermediate/Advanced), which gives students 13 lessons to hone complex painting skills. The 92nd Street Y also offers classes in the plastic arts, so students can spend time learning Jewelry for Absolute Beginners, Wax Carving (Intermediate/Advanced), or even Embroidery Basics or Machine Sewing.
In terms of easily accessible art classes, paint and sip courses are becoming increasingly popular throughout the city. Paint & Sip Studios NYC is a BYOB paint and sip studio that offers participants a low-stakes environment for individuals and parties to spend a fun evening painting and sampling wine and beer. Every class will see students creating a different, vibrant painting that they can take home with them to display once the course has ended, and every student will be guided through the process step-by-step, ensuring that they leave the course with a painting they are proud of. A small sampling of the different paint and sip classes offered by Paint & Sip Studios NYC include the Manhattan Skyline and the Romantic River Walk.
If you are looking for something for your child to do over the summer, The Art Studio NYC offers some engaging summer programs for children and high school students. They offer a Summer Art Safari in NYC Museums and Parks (Ages 6-11) and a Summer Art Safari in NYC Museums and Parks (Ages 12-18). These courses offer students the opportunity to receive guided art instruction in mediums including watercolor paints, pastels, colored pencils, found objects, collage, mixed-media and more while they explore some of the most scenic and evocative locales that the city has to offer. Students will spend their days, summer camp style, visiting spaces like the MET, the Guggenheim and Central Park, all while getting a hands-on art education.
FlowerSchool NY offers a range of courses for students looking to learn how to create living art pieces using varieties of flowers and plants. These courses aim to teach students how professional floral designers approach projects, and the open studio setting gives students the chance to experiment with their own creative interests. In the Beginner Floral Design (Open Studio) course, students will get hands-on experience learning the art of floral design as they recreate renowned still-life paintings of flowers in real life. FlowerSchool NY also offers seasonal training courses, including a Holiday Beginners Open Studio and a Thanksgiving Beginners Open Studio, for students looking to create their own festive decorations for seasonal holiday parties and events.
Cooking Classes
Cooking is one of the most productive and useful skills that a person can learn. Learning to cook will help them expand their palate, save on their food bills, and help them eat healthier. It can also be a way to experience new cultures and culinary traditions as you learn to cook food from other countries and societies. There are numerous schools and kitchens offering cooking classes in NYC, so no matter what kind of food you want to cook or what kind of diet you have, you’ll be able to find a course that suits your needs.
New home cooks may want to start with a course like Home Cooking New York’s Six Basic Cooking Techniques. In this class, students will learn the basics of using knives, cooking meat, roasting vegetables, making pan sauces, blanching green vegetables and cooking leafy vegetables. At the end of the course, students will have prepared a delicious pan-roasted chicken with gravy and sides of roasted potatoes, green beans and Swiss chard with lemon and garlic. Once you are comfortable with these basic skills, you can enroll in a more advanced course, like the Southern Brunch class, where you’ll learn to prepare classic shrimp and grit, eggs benedict with fried green tomatoes and a spicy Hollandaise sauce and sweet cream biscuits.
If you are interested in learning to cook with (and drink) wine, you can enroll in Taste Bud Kitchen’s Cooking with Wine course. This class will teach you how to incorporate wine into your cooking and how to prepare foods that are selected to pair well with wines. This course will cover the basics of preparing Salmon en Papillote, bacon and leek risotto, and red wine pears. The course is BYOB, so you are free to bring your own bottle of wine to enjoy with the meal and as you cook. You can also enroll in a class like the Sushi and Dumpling course, where you will learn how to make traditional Asian entrees and appetizers. In this course, students will learn how to prepare Uramaki, Maki and Temaki and hand roll veggie dumplings. The course highlights crab and vegetables, so if you aren’t interested in working with raw fish, the class will still have dishes for you.
Students looking for online cooking classes (so that they can learn to cook in their home kitchens) and learning more about traditional, regional cuisines should consider the courses offered through The League of Kitchens. The League of Kitchens features classes in which immigrants will teach culinary techniques and recipes brought with them from their homelands, such as the Argentinian Cooking w/Mirta class, in which students will learn how to make pillowy gnocchi, fresh pesto sauce and an avocado salad. If that isn’t your preference, consider making chicken ouzi in the Lebanese Online Workshop #2 with Jeanette or maybe a gulai udang ala padang (an aromatic coconut curry with shrimp and potatoes) in the Indonesian Cooking with Shandra course.
Tastings and Events
Sometimes, you might not be particularly interested in making food, but you are interested in getting food or drinks. While you could go to a restaurant, you could also enroll in one of the many food-tasting courses offered in NYC. These courses offer participants the chance to have a guided food or drink experience overseen by an expert in their craft while they learn about the history and science behind whatever it is that they are sampling. While wine and cheese tasting and beer tastings are the most common options, you can also find spirit-tasting classes and even olive oil or bread-tasting classes.
Murray's Cheese is one of the oldest cheesemonger shops in NYC, and they are one of the largest importers and purveyors of rare and artisan cheeses in the country. In addition to being a large-scale cheese shop, Murray’s Cheese regularly hosts in-person courses for students to sample their wares and learn more about the world of cheese. In the Cheese 101 course, students will learn the science behind cheese making and how different kinds of cheeses are produced and aged. This course is an ideal introduction to the world of artisanal cheeses, and it is great for beginners looking to experience fine cheese for the first time. If you want to add a drink to the event, consider the Tour of Europe - Wine & Cheese Pairing course, which will see students pairing four European cheeses and wines with one another. Through this, students will learn how cheese and wine pairings are selected, and they will learn about the unique climate and agriculture of the country that shapes the cheese and wine that they produce.
If you are looking for a spirit-tasting event, consider Kings County Distillery’s Whiskey Tasting Class. This event will see students sampling a collection of five of the distillery’s craft whiskeys, including straight bourbon, peated bourbon, bottled in bond bourbon, chocolate whiskey and a seasonal infusion. Participants will learn how whiskey is made, what makes different kinds of whiskeys unique and how the mash and aging process gives whiskey their unique flavor and texture. The course concludes with a trip to the distillery’s bar to give participants more opportunities to sample the craft whiskey. A “Top Shelf” Distillery Tour is also available for participants looking to sample rarer, limited-allocation whiskeys and moonshines.
If you want to learn how to make more elaborate spirit drinks to sample, consider enrolling in a course like CoCuSocial’s Classic and Creative Cocktails course. In this class, students will work with a professional mixologist to hand-make three classic cocktails: a Martini, a Margarita and an Old Fashioned. This course offers students the opportunity to learn the science behind mixology and the process that goes into crafting cocktails, going over issues like how spirits are balanced with sweeteners, when (and why) to shake or stir, and what bitters and garnishes do for a drink. Once you’ve completed this course, you’ll have ample opportunities to start crafting your own cocktails at home or just recreate these three drinks for family and friends.
Tech Classes
While not always as amusing as a cooking class or an art seminar, learning tech skills can be a great way to build your resume and become more competitive in the job market. You could enroll in a career-focused course that aims to help you break into a new field or you could enroll in a class that teaches a specific skill so that you can expand on your present employment opportunities in less time. Regardless of your long-term career goals, there are tech classes in NYC that can help you reach them.
Noble Desktop is an NYC-based tech education provider that offers career-focused training for students looking to break into the field of tech, coding or design. Their classes are taught by expert instructors who are present to provide students with real-time assistance and feedback, and all of the classes center on real-world applications of skills and technologies. In courses like their FinTech Bootcamp, students will prepare for new careers in the financial services industry as they learn how to use data analytics and forecasting tools like Python and SQL and data visualization tools like Tableau. Students looking for a more accelerated program can consider enrolling in a course like the Intro to Python Programming course, which teaches students the data science and web design functionalities of Python, the most popular programming language in the world. Both of these courses are ideal for beginners without prior programming experience.
Students may also consider learning to code or design in courses offered by NYC Career Centers. Located in Manhattan, this school offers a range of programming and tech courses for students looking to start their careers fresh or revitalize their skills in an effort to become more competitive in the job market. If you are looking to become a professional digital artist or graphic designer, you can enroll in the Graphic Design Certificate program and learn how to create stunning works of art using InDesign, Photoshop and Illustrator. In addition to getting hands-on experience, you’ll work on real-world projects that can be added to your professional portfolio, and you’ll be able to take advantage of one-on-one mentorship sessions. If you are looking to just get your feet wet in terms of learning design, you may want to consider a course like the Premiere Pro Bootcamp, in which you’ll learn how to use Adobe’s Premiere Pro video editing software to edit video content for personal or professional projects.
Professional Classes
Another way to build your career options and to make your life easier is to enroll in a professional skills development class in NYC. These classes are ideal places to learn the kind of hard tech skills that will pay dividends in a wide range of career paths, and they can teach you the soft skills needed to work in interpersonal or managerial roles. These courses are great ways to build marketable skills and increase your long-term earning potential.
If you are looking to climb the ranks at your company, you are likely to want to learn managerial skills, and The American Management Association is there to help you with certifications and training courses. They offer a range of courses, including their Certified Professional in Management Exam Prep Course, which provides students with all of the skills training they need to be confident in their ability to pass the AMA Certified Professional in Management™ exam. In this course, students will get practical, hands-on experience applying management theory and skills in practice. The exam is not included as part of the course. If you are new to the world of management and aren’t confident that you are ready to sit for a certification exam (or you don’t have the real-world experience to qualify), consider taking the Management Skills for New Managers course. This class prepares students to work in managerial roles by training them in the basic organizational and interpersonal skills that are applicable in any field or profession, like motivation, delegation and conflict resolution. While professional managers may find that they want or need additional training, this program is a solid starting point for managers in roles of any size.
If you are a manager and are looking for a course that can help your team become more effective at their jobs, consider the various destressing and mental health management courses offered by CourseHorse Experiences. These group classes are designed to help teams become more efficient by paying attention to the kinds of mental and physical health roadblocks that cause problems in the workplace. In the Virtual Group Stretching & Realignment course, participants will learn and implement chair and desk stretching and yoga exercises specifically designed to handle the kinds of muscle tensions and pressure points that are associated with daily work and office culture. If you are looking for a more intensive, regularly scheduled course, you can enroll your team in the Virtual Weekly Decompression for High Stress Teams. In this seminar, participants will learn stretching techniques, yoga poses, mindfulness exercises and meditative practices that they can make use of on a regular basis, and they will have a time and place set aside each week to ensure that they are paying attention to their mental health.
If you are more interested in the art of storytelling than in the plastic arts, you may want to consider taking a creative writing course from The Gotham Writers’ Workshop. In these classes, students will have the opportunity to get feedback on their work and learn practical writing and publishing skills that they will need to make their ideas into realities. New students can enroll in the Creative Writing 101 Level 1 course and learn how to write short and long-form fiction, creative nonfiction and dramaturgical works. Students who are interested in learning specific kinds of fiction writing can enroll in one of the more focused intensive classes, including the Fiction Writing Intensive, Personal Essay Writing Intensive, and Poetry: Level 1 classes.
Life Skills
While certainly a broad category, there are numerous different valuable life skills that you can easily pick up with a bit of study and some guided practice. Maybe you want to learn to be more handy around the home? Perhaps you are interested in learning a new language? Are you a first-time parent trying to prepare yourself for the big day? No matter what kind of skills you want to acquire, there is sure to be a life skills training class available to you in NYC.
If you are a new homeowner or you are just hoping to become more handy around the house, you can enroll in one of the DIY classes offered by the New York City College of Technology. In these classes, students will learn practical skills that they can use to solve problems more effectively around the house and to save money on expensive repairs (labor is always the most expensive part of the process). New homeowners should consider taking the Basic Homeowners Tool Kit course. In this class, students will learn basic skills for home repair, like how to cut a board, level a shelf, find a stud or attach a bolt anchor to a wall. These are all easy-to-learn practical skills that can save you money and hassle in the long run. If you are looking for a more advanced course, consider the Homeowner’s Guide to Basic Plumbing. In this course, students will learn how to stop drips, unclog drains, fix toilets and install faucets, which are all fairly basic plumbing skills that can help you avoid massive problems in the future.
If you are looking to travel, expand your business opportunities or just learn useful new skills, you can enroll in a language course at ABC Languages. In these classes, students will receive guided language instruction and real-world speaking and conversation skills as they study the basics of the language of their choosing. ABC Languages offers beginner, intermediate and advanced training courses, each of which aims to help students learn practical language skills to be conversant, and all of these courses will give students the opportunity to practice grammar, pronunciation and vocabulary. ABC Languages also offers a range of private courses in a diverse array of languages, including French, Spanish, Arabic, Dutch, Korean and Japanese.
Performing Arts Classes
New York City has one of the most thriving and culturally diverse performance scenes in the nation. Everything from live music and stand-up comedy to improv and live theater are accessible at virtually any time and there are dozens of different communities that you can become a part of by learning the performing arts. It doesn’t matter whether you want to learn to sing in your spare time or you are hoping to find a career on Broadway, practice and guidance are essential parts of the process. Thankfully, this guidance (and space to practice) is available in any of the hundreds of performing arts classes held in NYC.
If you are interested in becoming a stand-up comedian, you should consider enrolling in a course taught at The American Comedy Institute. Classes are taught by one of the most prolific stand-up comedy instructors in the nation, Stephen Rosenfield, and alumni of the program include Lena Dunham, Jim Gaffigan, Esther Ku and Hannah Gadsby. In the Stand-up Comedy Workshop, which is taught in person and online, students will have the chance to workshop their material, receive lessons and feedback on jokes and stage presence and get an opportunity to deliver their set in a live performance space. Most notably, students will get one-on-one time working with Stephen to tighten their material, go over performance concerns and workshop bits and jokes, which is an invaluable resource for anyone looking to break into comedy. They also offer shorter, more focused training sessions, such as their two-hour Crowd Work Workshop, which focuses on teaching comedians how to engage directly with their audience in order to improve their performances.
If you are more musically inclined, you may want to consider enrolling in one of the many classes at City Music Schools. Whether you are looking to learn to play an instrument in private lessons or master singing, there is an instructor who can help bring out the performer in you. In the Voice Lessons (Private) seminars, students will work with a professional voice instructor to master the kind of singing that they hope to learn, so this course will be useful for anyone, regardless of whether they are just learning to sing, hoping to learn to belt an aria or mastering the art of the patter song. City Music Schools also offers private instrument lessons in subjects to numerous to list, including common instruments like the Piano and Guitar, orchestral instruments like the flute and violin and esoteric instruments like the accordion or harmonica.
New York has one of the country’s finest improv scenes, second only to Chicago (a ranking that New York improv artists are likely to contest. If you are interested in becoming part of the city’s rich improv tradition, you can take a class with the Brooklyn Comedy Collective to learn the basis of improv or to get an opportunity to hone your improv skills in advanced classes. If you are new to the scene and want to enroll in your first improv class, consider a Drop-in Improv session. These short sessions feature a rotating collection of games and activities designed to give new and experienced improv performers a chance to practice and develop their skills. If you want more focused training, the BCC also offers an Advanced Improv: Personal Notes class. In this course, students will receive personalized feedback, commentary and notes from the BCC’s professional improv performers, which can be an invaluable resource for anyone looking to make a splash in the world of improv.
