September 10, 2007

New York museums with free hours for fall 2007

(This post is now outdated. Please go to the top of the New York Museums page for the link to the most current list of free museum hours.)

Many New York City museums set aside at least a few hours each week when the public is allowed in for free.

That's in addition to the museums that are always free, or operate under a not-well-advertised “suggested donation” admission, which allows everyone to pay whatever admission price they like anytime. For example, at the Met Museum, you're required to pay only a penny for full access, but their website does carry this request: “To help cover the cost of special exhibitions, for which there is no additional charge or special ticketing, we ask that you please pay the full suggested amount.”

Some of those free hours have changed since NewYorkology's previous roundup in spring, and new ones have begun. Here is the updated list for Fall 2007:

Museums with a "suggested donation" all the time
Metropolitan Museum of Art - ($20 recommended)
The Cloisters - ($20 recommended)
American Museum of Natural History ($15 recommended)
Museum of the City of New York - ($9 recommended)
Brooklyn Museum - ($8 recommended)
Studio Museum in Harlem - ($7 recommended)
Museum of Biblical Art - ($7 recommended)
el Museo del Barrio - ($6 recommended)
New York City Police Museum - ($5 recommended)
New York City Fire Museum - ($5 recommended)
P.S. 1 MoMA - ($5 recommended)
Queens Museum of Art - ($5 recommended)
Bronx Museum- ($5 recommended)
Sculpture Center - ($5 recommended)
Museum of Chinese in the Americas - ($2 recommended)
Staten Island Museum - ($2 recommended)

Museums with free or pay-what-you-wish hours

Mondays
Brooklyn Botanic Garden - Free all-day every weekday but only from mid-November through February (normally $8)

Tuesdays
Brooklyn Botanic Garden - Free all day Tuesday, all year around (normally $8)
China Institute Gallery - free from 6 to 8 p.m. (normally $7)
Wave Hill gardens - Free all day (normally $6)
Morgan Library & Museum - Free access to the McKim rooms (Mr. Morgan’s library and study) from 3 to 5 p.m. (full museum access $12)

Wednesdays
Bronx Zoo - Admission by optional "donation" all day (normally $14)
Museum of Jewish Heritage - A Living Memorial to the Holocaust - Free from 4 to 8 p.m. (normally $10)
Brooklyn Botanic Garden - Free all-day every weekday but only from mid-November through February (normally $8)
NY Botanical Garden - Free grounds access all day (normally $6)
Van Cortlandt House Museum - free all day (normally $5)
Transit Museum - seniors free all day (normally $3 for seniors)

Thursdays
New Museum - Free from 7 to 10 p.m. (normally $12)
Museum of Arts & Design - Pay-what-you-wish from 6 to 8 p.m. (normally $9)
Brooklyn Botanic Garden - Free all-day every weekday but only from mid-November through February (normally $8)
China Institute Gallery - free from 6 to 8 p.m. (normally $7)
el Museo del Barrio - Seniors free all day (normally $4 for seniors)

Fridays
Museum of Modern Art - Free from 4 to 8 p.m. (normally $20)
Whitney Museum of American Art - Pay-what-you-wish from 6 to 9 p.m. (normally $15)
Guggenheim - Pay-what-you-wish from 5:45 to 7:45 p.m. (normally $18)
International Center of Photography - "voluntary contribution" admission from 5 to 8 p.m. (normally $12)
Morgan Library & Museum - Free from 7 to 9 p.m. (normally $12)
New-York Historical Society - Free from 6 to 8 p.m. (normally $10)
Museum of the Moving Image - Free from 4 to 8 p.m. (normally $10)
Rubin Museum of Art - Free from 7 to 10 p.m. (normally $10)
Folk Art Museum - Free from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. (normally $9)
Children’s Museum of Manhattan - Free the first Friday of each month from 5 to 8 p.m. (normally $9)
Bronx Museum - Free all day (normally $5)
The Noguchi Museum - Pay-what-you-wish on the first Friday of each month, all day (normally $10)
Asia Society - Free 6 to 9 p.m. (normally $10)
NY Hall of Science - Free 2 to 5 p.m. (normally $11)
Brooklyn Botanic Garden - Free all-day every weekday but only from mid-November through February (normally $8)

Saturdays
Jewish Museum - Free from 11:00 a.m. - 5:45 p.m. (normally $12)
NY Botanical Garden - Free grounds access from 10 a.m. to noon on Saturdays (normally $6)
Brooklyn Botanic Garden - Free from 10 a.m. to noon (normally $8)
Wave Hill - Free Saturdays from 9 a.m. to noon (normally $6)
Brooklyn Museum - Free First Saturdays of most months from 5 to 11 p.m (normally a suggested $8)

Sundays
NY Hall of Science - Free 10 to 11 a.m. (normally $11)
Frick Collection - Pay-what-you-wish from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. (normally $15)
Museum of the City of New York - Free from 10 a.m. to noon (normally a suggested $9)
Morgan Library & Museum - Free access to the McKim rooms (Mr. Morgan’s library and study) from 4 to 6 p.m. (full museum access $12)

Note: Prices listed are for adults unless otherwise noted.

Updates: The Children’s Museum of Manhattan, the China Institute and New Museum were added to this list after it was originally published.

September 10, 2007 07:58 AM in Cheap Stuff, Downtown, Kids, Midtown, Museums, Out of Manhattan, Sightsology, Upper East Side, Upper West Side

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