I then headed to the Heckscher Museum of Art for their first Summer Community Dinner of the season.

The evening opened inside with extended gallery hours, where several of the exhibiting artists from Just Powers: Long Island Biennial 2026 were on hand to talk about their work. My wife got into a deep discussion with one of the artists while the kids and I found our favorite pieces throughout the gallery. I have an almost unbearable attraction to touch artwork, which is extremely frowned upon in museum settings, but thankfully the Heckscher Museum team had set up a "please touch" table, with materials and replicas of pieces we'd just seen on display.

Then everything moved outside, where round tables were set up in the park grounds, each one with an artist from the show seated right there with us. Dinner was pay-what-you-wish, catered by Kabul Afghan Restaurant, part of a rotating lineup that spotlights a different local restaurant at each dinner. The food was delicious and there was plenty of it.

At the table the Heckscher Museum team had placed thoughtful question prompts at each seat, and our table spent the evening in genuinely great conversation about art, life, and experiences. Reading each other's answers and connecting more than you'd expect from people who'd just met twenty minutes earlier.

It was a beautiful setting for a beautiful idea: an indoor art reception that flowed into an outdoor dinner and conversation, all built around the notion that art and community aren't really separate things.

If this sounds like your kind of night, the Heckscher Museum of Art has two more Summer Community Dinners this summer.

And if you're looking for something like this to do this week, that's the whole point of Proof Positive Network — there are dozens of amazing (often free) nonprofit events happening across Long Island every week.

Lets find something good to do,

-Michael