November 3, 2010

NYC free museum hours, day-by-day for fall/winter

Updated list of Free Museum Hours in New York.

Despite the still-sour economy, many New York City museums, zoos and gardens continue to offer free admission at least a few hours each week.

Some are always free or operate under a suggested-donation policy. Here’s an updated, day-by-day list of the ones that only go free on a weekly or monthly basis:

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

Mondays
Museum at Eldridge Street - Free tours every half hour from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. (normally $10)
Yeshiva University Museum - Free 5 to 8 p.m. (normally $8)

Tuesdays
Brooklyn Botanic Garden - Free all day (normally $8)
Until April 15 only: Museum of American Finance - Free 10 to 11 a.m. (normally $8)
November through April Wave Hill - Free all day (normally $8)
China Institute Gallery - Free 6 to 8 p.m. (normally $7)
November through March only: Queens Botanical Garden - Free all day (normally $4)
Staten Island Museum - Free noon to 2 p.m. (normally $3)

Wednesdays
Bronx Zoo - Pay-what-you-wish donation all day (normally $16)
Museum of Jewish Heritage - A Living Memorial to the Holocaust - Free 4 to 8 p.m. (normally $12)
Nov. 9 – March 13 only Brooklyn Botanic Garden - Free all day (normally $8)
Until April 15 only: Museum of American Finance - Free 10 to 11 a.m. (normally $8)
Staten Island Zoo - Free 2 to 4:45 p.m. (normally $8)
Yeshiva University Museum - Free 5 to 8 p.m. (normally $8)
NY Botanical Garden - Free grounds access all day, but excludes the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory, Everett Children’s Adventure Garden, Rock and Native Plant gardens and tram tour (grounds-only access normally $6)
Van Cortlandt House Museum - Free all day, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. (normally $5)
Starting April 1: Queens Botanical Garden - Free from 3 to 6 p.m. (normally $4)

Thursdays
Museum of Arts & Design - Pay-what-you-wish 6 to 9 p.m. (normally $15)
New Museum - Free 7 to 9 p.m. (normally $12)
Nov. 9 – March 13: Brooklyn Botanic Garden - Free all day (normally $8)
Until April 15 only: Museum of American Finance - Free 10 to 11 a.m. (normally $8)
Museum of Chinese in America - Free all day, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. (normally $7)
China Institute Gallery - Free 6 to 8 p.m. (normally $7)
November through March: Queens Botanical Garden - Free all day (normally $4)
Third Thursdays only: Brooklyn Children’s Museum - Free 5 to 7:30 p.m. (normally $7.50)

Fridays
Museum of Modern Art - Free 4 to 8 p.m. (normally $20)
Whitney Museum of American Art - Pay-what-you-wish 6 to 9 p.m. (normally $18)
New York Aquarium - Pay-what-you-wish 3 p.m. until closing (normally $13)
Morgan Library & Museum - Free 7 to 9 p.m. (normally $12 $15)
Japan Society - Free 6 to 9 p.m. (normally $15)
International Center of Photography - Voluntary contribution admission 5 to 8 p.m. (normally $12)
Folk Art Museum - Free 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. (normally $12)
Closed until Nov. 11: New-York Historical Society - Pay-what-you-wish from 6 to 8 p.m. (normally $12)
NY Hall of Science - Free 2 to 5 p.m., from September through June (normally $11)
Rubin Museum of Art - Free 6 to 10 p.m. (normally $10)
Museum of the Moving Image - Free 4 to 8 p.m. (normally $10)
Suspended Jan. 7 to Feb. 4: Asia Society - Free 6 to 9 p.m. (normally $10)
Nov. 9 – March 13 only Brooklyn Botanic Garden - Free all day (normally $8)
Until April 15 only: Museum of American Finance - Free 10 to 11 a.m. (normally $8)
Yeshiva University Museum - Free 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. (normally $8)
Bronx Museum - Free 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. (normally $5 suggested)
November through March only: Queens Botanical Garden - Free all day (normally $4)
First Fridays only Neue Galerie - Free from 6 to 8 p.m., through 2010 only (normally $15)
First Fridays only: The Noguchi Museum - Pay-what-you-wish 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. (normally $10)
First Fridays only: Children’s Museum of Manhattan - Free the first Friday of each month 5 to 8 p.m. (normally $10)
Third Fridays only: Seaport Museum - Free 6 to 8 p.m. (normally $15)

Saturdays
Guggenheim - Pay-what-you-wish 5:45 to 7:45 p.m. (normally $18)
Jewish Museum - Free all day, from 11 a.m. to 5:45 p.m. (normally $12)
Suspended during Sakura Matsuri weekend, April 30, 2011, and other festivals: Brooklyn Botanic Garden - Free 10 a.m. to noon (normally $8)
Until April 15 only: Museum of American Finance - Free 10 to 11 a.m. (normally $8)
Wave Hill - Free 9 a.m. to noon (normally $8)
NY Botanical Garden - Free grounds access 10 a.m. to noon, but excludes the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory, Everett Children’s Adventure Garden, Rock and Native Plant gardens and tram tour (grounds-only access normally $6)
November through March only: Queens Botanical Garden - Free admission all day (normally $4)
First Saturdays only: Brooklyn Museum - Free admission and programs from 5 to 11 p.m. on the first Saturday of most months (normally a suggested $10)
Third Saturdays only: El Museo del Barrio - Free 11 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. (normally a suggested $9)

Sundays
Frick Collection - Pay-what-you-wish 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. (normally $18)
NY Hall of Science - Free 10 to 11 a.m., from September through June (normally $11)
Closed until March 31 when new exhibitions open:Studio Museum in Harlem - Free noon to 6 p.m. (normally $7 recommended)
Starting April 1: Queens Botanical Garden - Free admission 4 to 6 p.m. (normally $4)

(Editor’s note: If you wish to republish a portion of this list, please use no more than one day and link back to this post, which NewYorkology.com will update as museums modify their hours.)

All listed prices are the regular adult admission rates.

Related: NYC’s late-night museum hours for 2011

NewYorkology overhauls this list twice each year (with periodic changes as needed.) Since the prior list in May 2010, the following price changes have popped up: The Seaport Museum, which recently re-branded itself from the South Street Seaport Museum, raised its admission to $15 from $10. It also reduced its monthly third-Friday free hours.

El Museo del Barrio raised its suggested-admission to $9 from $6.

The Bronx Zoo admission went up to $16 from $15.

Staten Island Museum raised its admission to $3 from $2.

In addition, the Rubin added a free hour to its Friday free admission; Queens Botanical added free hours through the week for winter, and the Morgan cut its limited, free access to the historic McKim rooms now that their renovation is complete.

Update as of Nov. 5: Although it’s not on their website, the official N-Y Historical Society twitter feed confirms the museum has resumed pay-what-you-wish hours on Fridays. Update as of Feb. 18: N-YHS is closed until Nov. 11 due to renovations.

Update as of Jan. 7: The Morgan increased regular admission on Dec. 1 to $15 from $12. It also reinstated free admission to its McKim rooms on Tuesdays from 3 to 5 p.m. and Sundays 4 to 6 p.m. Asia Society announced a suspension to its Free Friday hours from Jan. 7 through Feb. 4.

Update as of Jan. 21: Added Friday free hours for the newly reopened Museum of the Moving Image.

Update as of Feb. 12: The Neue Galerie has updated its free first Fridays through 2011.

Update as of March 20: Added Japan Society’s free hours and noted that the Studio Museum of Harlem has closed temporarily to install a new exhibition.

Update as of March 24: Added the information that the Museum of American Finance will end its free hours as of April 15.

Update as of April 1: Added Studio Museum of Harlem back to the list.

Update as of April 20: Updated seasonal changes to Queens Botanical Garden from free every day to free only on select hours on Wednesdays and Sundays.

Update on April 29: Added Brooklyn Botanic Garden’s suspension of free hours during Sakura Matsuri, Chile Pepper Fiesta and Ghouls & Gourds festivals.

Related: Links to the official websites for New York City museums

Picture credit: Museum of the Chinese in America. Amy Langfield/NewYorkology.

November 3, 2010 11:27 AM in Cheap Stuff, Downtown, Kids, Midtown, Museums, Out of Manhattan, Upper East Side, Upper West Side

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