The July Fourth fireworks display may be the biggest draw, but it’s not the only show in town during the holiday weekend. Over the next four days, arts events will attract crowds all around the city. The good news is that many of the happenings are free. From beatboxers to indie-rockers, there is a gratis show, concert, or performance to please even the most discriminating arts patron. Shows that are well worth the price of admission will continue through the weekend, too.

The weekend kicks off with a dose of street art and culture at the Brooklyn Museum. As part of its Target First Saturdays program, the museum offers a wide range of free events organized around graffiti art, culture, and lifestyle. (Museum admission is free as well.) First up is a screening of “Style Wars,” a documentary detailing the 1982 battle between New York’s defiant graffiti artists and the proprietors of their canvases: the Transit Authority and Mayor Koch. Also on tap is a performance by the country’s first human beatboxing production company, Beatboxer Entertainment, followed by a talk with the artist known as Crash, whose work appears in the museum’s current “Graffiti” exhibition.

For those who last through the early lineup, the museum offers a double-dose of evening en tertainment: a screening of “Dave Chappelle’s Block Party,” directed by Michel Gondry, and a back-lot dance party thrown by DJs from Coney Island boardwalk’s Black Underground Show (200 Eastern Parkway, 718-638-5000).

Also on Saturday afternoon, Central Park’s SummerStage series offers some of the world’s hottest beats and rhythms in a joint concert. The Brooklyn-based Afrobeat band Antibalas will perform, and Israeli musicians will display their reworked klezmer and gypsy music with the Balkan Beat Box ensemble. And British artists in Ska Cubano will offer their original mix of Jamaican beats and Cuban flavor (Rumsey Playfield, Central Park, 212-360-2756).

SummerStage doesn’t stop there, though.The free festivities continue on Sunday, as Seu Jorge, Jose Gonzalez, the Alex Cuba Band, and DJ Cut Chemist take the stage. Each group has its own appeal: Gonzalez is known for tender acoustics, the Alex Cuba Band has a pop-Afro-Cuban blend, and Chemist is all about retro spinning. Despite all that, Jorge is the top draw. He’s best known for his work in “The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou,” in which he sailed the seas alongside Bill Murray and contributed his Portuguese-flavored David Bowie repertoire to the soundtrack. His 2005 album “Cru,” from which he’ll likely sing, offers an unlikely, enjoyable mix of Brazilian anthems and covers of Elvis Presley and Serge Gainsbourg tunes.With this kind of lineup, celebrating South America on a thoroughly North American weekend sud denly makes a whole lot of sense (Rumsey Playfield, Central Park, 212-360-2756).

If theater’s your thing, line up early on Sunday to catch the Public Theater’s production of “Macbeth” at Central Park’s Delacorte Theater. Though the show runs through July 9, this Sunday is the perfect time to catch the production: Half the city will have fled to summer locales and tourists won’t yet have flooded into town for fireworks.Actor Liev Schreiber stars as one-half of the power-hungry couple at the center of the story, and Moises Kaufman (“I Am My Own Wife”) directs (The Delacorte Theater, Central Park, 212-539-8750).

If you don’t manage to snag tickets to the play, just head southeast to Bryant Park, where Robert Altman’s 1970 Oscar-winning film “M*A*S*H” will be screened. A cultural landmark with an all-star cast (Donald Sutherland, Elliott Gould, and Robert Duvall), “M*A*S*H” combines the drama of a Korean War hospital unit with Mr. Altman’s satirical humor (Bryant Park, East 40th and Fifth Avenue, 212-768-4242).

For those families still in the stroller stage, there are two festivals that can engage a child’s imagination. For one such event, parents need only head north – as in straight up to the Top of the Rock Observation Deck in Rockefeller Center. Clowns, carnival goodies, and a cookie decoration booth will entertain children on afternoons from Sunday through Tuesday. It’s not entirely free – the extras come complimentary with the purchase of a Top of the Rock admission ticket (adults, $17.50; children, $11.25) – but for a few hours of child-friendly entertainment when you’re in the city, it’s a bargain (30 Rockefeller Center, 212-698-2000).

Also on Sunday afternoon is the Red, White & Blue Festival at the Intrepid Sea, Air, and Space Museum. In addition to an apple-pie-eating contest, an education station will offer American flag-making supplies and patriotic puzzles. Don’t forget to don your most patriotic, tri-color clothing, as prizes will be awarded to the most festively dressed visitors. The event is free with admission (adults $16.50, children 2-5, $4.50) to the museum (Pier 86, West 46th Street and 12th Avenue, 212-245-0072).

Though free performances have their obvious allure, a ticketed show can land you both stellar entertainment and a few hours in some top-notch air conditioning. On Friday evening and Sunday afternoon, Lincoln Center offers two of its treasures. The New York Philharmonic will present “Moscow on the Hudson” featuring works by Tchaikovsky, Prokofiev, and Borodin (Avery Fischer Hall, 212-875-5900). And American Ballet Theatre finishes up its run of “Swan Lake” on Friday and Saturday, then switches to “Sylvia” on Monday night (Metropolitan Opera House, 212-362-6000).

Last but certainly not least, the original Material Girl plays Madison Square Garden on Sunday and Monday. The one and only Madonna starts her Confessions tour this week. Though tickets are decidedly not free, a few hours with Madge may leave you loving America, if for nothing more than its excellent pop culture (4 Pennsylvania Avenue, 212-307-7171).