March 20, 2009

Free hours at museums, gardens, zoos for Spring '09

Note: This is list is out of date. It’s been replaced by museum free hours for fall 2009 and winter 2009. See the top of the New York museums section for current links to free and late-night museums.

Even as budgets tighten, most New York City museums are maintaining their weekly free or pay-what-you-wish hours, according to NewYorkology’s latest survey for Spring 2009.

The free hours are in addition to the museums that are always free, or operate under a not-well-advertised “suggested donation” policy. 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 costs of special exhibitions, we ask that you please pay the full suggested amount.” Also note that free hours don’t always get you full museum access at some spots.

The economy is hurting museums big and small and many are cutting programs, firing staff, and even the Brooklyn Museum today announced an increase of $2 to its suggested admission. NewYorkology encourages a vote-with-your-feet (and pocketbook) policy, so please patronize the cultural institutions and businesses you’d like to still have around when the recession ends. Also note that some of the free hours below are sponsored by Target, CIT, Bloomberg , Verizon among others.

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 - ($10 recommended)
Brooklyn Museum - ($10 recommended)

Studio Museum in Harlem - ($7 recommended)
New York City Police Museum - ($7 recommended)
Museum of Biblical Art - ($7 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 the Moving Image is closed for renovations, except for the “Behind the Screen” exhibition which has a $5 suggested admission
Staten Island Museum - ($2 recommended)

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

Mondays
Museum at Eldridge Street - opens for free tours every half hour from 10 a.m. to noon (normally $10)
Yeshiva University Museum - from 3:30 to 7:30 p.m. (normally $8)
Rubin Museum of Art - Free admission to seniors only (65 and up) all day, but only on the first Monday of every month (normally $7 for seniors)

Tuesdays
Brooklyn Botanic Garden - Free from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. (normally $8)
Museum of American Finance - Free from 10 to 11 a.m. through August (normally $8)
Wave Hill gardens - Free all day during off-peak months (November through April, and again in July through August) and free 9 a.m. to noon during peak months (May, June, September and October) (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 pay-what-you-wish donation all day, 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. (normally $15)
Museum of Jewish Heritage - A Living Memorial to the Holocaust - Free from 4 to 8 p.m. (normally $12)
Staten Island Zoo - Free from 2 to 4:45 p.m. (normally $8)
Museum of American Finance - Free from 10 to 11 a.m. through August (normally $8)
Brooklyn Children’s Museum - free admission from 2 to 5 p.m., until June 30 (normally $7.50)
NY Botanical Garden - Free grounds access all day, but “This does NOT include admission to the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory, Everett Children’s Adventure Garden, Rock and Native Plant Gardens (April–October), or Tram Tour” (grounds-only access normally $6)
Van Cortlandt House Museum - free all day, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. (normally $5)
Transit Museum - seniors free all day (normally $3 for seniors)

Thursdays
Museum of Arts & Design - Pay-what-you-wish from 6 to 9 p.m. (normally $15)
New Museum - Free from 7 to 9 p.m. (normally $12)
Museum of American Finance - Free from 10 to 11 a.m. through August (normally $8)

Fridays
Museum of Modern Art - Free from 4 to 8 p.m. (normally $20)
Guggenheim - Until April 19, during the run of the exhibition “The Third Mind: American Artists Contemplate Asia, 1860-1989,” admission is free every Friday between 5:45 and 7:45 p.m. with the last entry at 7:15 p.m. After April 19 and until May 15, the museum will resume Friday pay-as-you-wish program from 5:45 to 7:45 p.m. After May 15, pay-as-you-wish moves to Saturdays.
(normally $18)
Whitney Museum of American Art - Pay-what-you-wish from 6 to 9 p.m. (normally $15)
New York Aquarium - pay-what-you-wish from 3 to 5 p.m. (normally $13)
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)
NY Hall of Science - Free 2 to 5 p.m., but only September through June (normally $11)
New-York Historical Society - Free from 6 to 8 p.m. (normally $10) (Closed for renovations July 15 - Sept. 15)
Rubin Museum of Art - Free from 7 to 10 p.m. (normally $10)
National Academy Museum - pay as you wish from 5 to 6 p.m. (normally $10)
South Street Seaport Museum - Free Fridays from 5 to 9 p.m. but only on the third Friday of each month, sometimes with free harbor sails (museum admission normally $10)
Children’s Museum of Manhattan - Free the first Friday of each month from 5 to 8 p.m. (normally $10)
The Noguchi Museum - Pay-what-you-wish on the first Friday of each month, all day, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. (normally $10)
Asia Society - Free 6 to 9 p.m., but free Fridays are suspended July 4 to Labor Day. (normally $10)
Folk Art Museum - Free from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. (normally $9)
Museum of American Finance - Free from 10 to 11 a.m. through August (normally $8)
Brooklyn Botanic Garden - Seniors get in free all day, 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. (normally $8)
Brooklyn Childrens Museum - Free from 5 to 7:30 p.m. through Aug. 28 (normally $7.50)
Bronx Museum - Free 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. (normally $5 suggested)

Saturdays
Guggenheim - Starting May 15, pay-what-you-wish hours will start at 5:45 p.m. until the new closing time of 7:45 p.m. (normally $18)
Jewish Museum - Free from 11:00 a.m. - 5:45 p.m. (normally $12)
Brooklyn Museum - Free First Saturdays of most months from 5 to 11 p.m. (normally a suggested $10)
Brooklyn Botanic Garden - Free from 10 a.m. to noon (normally $8)
Museum of American Finance - Free from 10 to 11 a.m. through August (normally $8)
Brooklyn Children’s Museum - free admission from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. but only on the second Saturday of each month through June (normally $7.50)
Wave Hill - Free from 9 a.m. to noon (normally $6)
NY Botanical Garden - Free grounds access from 10 a.m. to noon, but note that “This does NOT include admission to the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory, Everett Children’s Adventure Garden, Rock and Native Plant Gardens (April–October), or Tram Tour” (grounds-only access normally $6)

Sundays
Frick Collection - Pay-what-you-wish from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. (normally $15)
NY Hall of Science - Free 10 to 11 a.m. but only September through June (normally $11)
Museum of the City of New York - Free from 10 a.m. to noon (normally a suggested $9) Ended April 15.
Brooklyn Children’s Museum - free admission from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. but only on the second weekend of each month (normally $7.50)
Studio Museum in Harlem - free noon to 6 p.m. once the museum reopens April 2 with a new installation (normally $7 recommended)
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)

Other
The annual Museum Mile Festival is June 9, when admission is free to nine museums: the Guggenheim, Cooper-Hewitt, Met, Jewish Museum, National Academy, Museum of the City of New York, Goethe Institute and the Neue Galerie.
Bank of America’s Museums on Us allows cardholders free admission during the first weekend of every month (at least through April, with a possible extension) at the Met, Jewish Museum, American Museum of Natural History, NY Hall of Science, Bronx Zoo, NY Aquarium and the International Center for Photography. Update: The BofA deal has been extended through December 4-5, 2010. It’s the first full weekend of every month. NYC locations in the deal are now Bronx Zoo, Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum, Met Museum, New York Aquarium and the Whitney.

Note: Prices listed are for adults unless otherwise noted.

For those who like to keep track, there were a handful of changes to this list from the Fall/Winter list. The suggested admission price went up $2 at three museums: Police Museum (now $7 suggested;) Brooklyn Museum ($10 suggested as of March 21); and the Museum of Jewish Heritage (now $12.) The entry fee also went up $1 at the Staten Island Zoo to $8.

The New Museum dropped — then resumed — its free family programs on first Saturdays, and added free admission all the time for children under 18.

The New Museum also cut back its free admission hours to 9 p.m. from 10 p.m. However the Brooklyn Botanic added an extra hour and a half to its free hours for spring.

The Brooklyn Children’s Museum added free hours every Wednesday afternoon, but cut back its early-bird weekend entry from every Saturday and Sunday to only the second weekend of every month.

In addition, the Guggenheim’s former pay-what-you-wish policy on Fridays from 5:45 to 7:45 p.m. is currently Free Fridays until April 19. At that point, a museum spokesperson told NewYorkology, it switches back to pay-as-you-wish Fridays until May 15 when the museum starts Saturday pay-what-you-wish hours from 5:45 p.m. to 7:45 p.m.

Update: After this story was posted, it was updated to reflect the April 15 rise of the suggested admission at the Museum of the City of New York and the cancellation of its Sunday free hours. The Guggenheim’s start date for Saturday pay-as-you-wish was corrected to May 15 from April 15. The New York Aquarium’s and National Academy Museum’s Friday pay-as-you-wish hours were also added after the original publication. Free hours were added for the Museum of Finance and the Brooklyn Childrens Museum.

After this story was posted, the China Institute Gallery dropped it’s late/free schedule for 6 to 8 p.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Those late hours will resume in September. During the summer, the galleries are open for free Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. The New-York Historical Society’s closing for renovations was also added.

Image source: From MoMA’s “Martin Kippenberger: The Problem Perspective” exhibition on view through May 11

Martin Kippenberger
Untitled from the series Dear Painter, Paint for Me (Ohne title aus der serie Lieber Maler, male mir), 1981
Acrylic on canvas, 8’ 2 ½” x 9’ 10 1/2 in.
The Museum of Modern Art
Promised gift of Steven and Alexandra Cohen
© Estate Martin Kippenberger, Galerie Gisela Capitain, Cologne
Used with the permission of the Museum of Modern Art

March 20, 2009 12:43 PM in Cheap Stuff, Museums

®Copyright 2004 - 2009, All Rights Reserved