If you love visiting museums, you probably love visiting museums for free.
(Who wouldn’t?)
And during February visitors to both Seattle and San Diego can take advantage of special Museum Month programs that offer great savings on museum visits.
Seattle Museum Month
February is Seattle Museum Month. And during this promotion, any guest who stays just one night at one of the participating downtown hotels receives a pass that offers half-price admission at more than 30 museums and attractions around the region.
The pass is good for up to 4 guests for the entire month.
In Seattle, the list of participating museums includes the Burke Museum, Chihuly Garden and Glass, the Museum of Pop Culture, the Seattle Aquarium, the Seattle Art Museum, the Museum of Flight, the Woodland Park Zoo, and many more. The participating hotels range from budget to swanky.
February is off-season in the Emerald City and there are already great hotel deals pretty much everywhere. Add in a pass that gets you half-off many of the museums and attractions in Seattle and other cities in the region and it’s just a super great deal.
That goes for locals seeking a ‘staycation’ or anyone considering a visit.
San Diego Museum Month
San Diego Natural History Museum – Fossil Mysteries
This year the popular program has more than 60 museums historic sites, gardens, aquariums, and other cultural destinations and attractions throughout San Diego County offering half-priced admissions all month.
In San Diego, the list of participating museums includes the Comic-Con Museum, the San Diego Natural History Museum, the San Diego Air & Space Museum, the Maritime Museum of San Diego, and dozens more.
The free San Diego Museum Month pass can be downloaded here.
Public libraries in San Diego County also have passes to distribute.
Each Museum Month pass can be used for up to four half-priced admissions at any of the participating museums until February 28, 2023.
Most museums around the country are open again and waiting for your visit. And while you will still want to wear a mask and keep your distance from other patrons when you do stop in, on Saturday, September 18 you may be able to visit your favorite museum for free.
Saturday is Smithsonian magazine’s Museum Day, when many museums, attractions, and gardens around the country offer admission for free to anyone who has downloaded a free ticket.
For The Points Guy site, we put together this list of Air & Space museums on the free-ticket list that are certain to please avgeeks. You can read more about the museum in the article and search the Museum Day website for a participating museum near you.
Seattle, WA: The Museum of Flight (regular adult admission: $25) welcomes Museum Day ticket to the museum’s new exhibit, Stranger Than Fiction – The Incredible Science of Aerospace Medicine, and everything else in their vast collection.
Titusville, FL: American Space Museum (regular adult admission: $10): Exhibits include everything from spacecraft parts to astronaut suits and Soviet cosmonaut mementos.
Hutchinson, KS: Cosmosphere (regular adult admission: $24.50) In addition to having the largest collection of Russian space artifacts outside of Moscow, this museum boasts a collection of U.S. space artifacts that it claims is second only to the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum.
Dallas, TX: Frontiers of Flight Museum (regular adult admission: $10). This museum on the southeast corner of Dallas Love Field and has more than 40 air and space vehicles, 20 galleries (including the Braniff Gallery, the Golden Age Gallery, and a gallery devoted to the history of Southwest Airlines).
New York, NY: Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum (regular adult admission: $33) is a legendary aircraft carrier and a National Historic Landmark that is big enough to house 28 aircraft, the space shuttle Enterprise, a British Airways Concorde, and Growler, the only guided missile submarine open to the public.
[This is a slightly different version of a story we prepared for USA TODAY ]
As communities begin lifting COVID-19 restrictions, many museums around the country are finally able to reopen their doors.
Reserve a ticket, venture in, and you will find that your favorite artifacts have been waiting patiently for your return. And that museum staff have used their ‘time off’ to mount new exhibitions and create new experiences.
Many free museum admission programs are back too.
“While the museum visit may look a little different, whether that be enhanced cleaning procedures or wearing masks,” says Laura Lott, President and CEO of the American Alliance of Museums (AAM). “Visitors can expect a safe experience in which their curiosity is sparked, and they feel reconnected to their communities.”
Here are some museums where you can start getting reconnected.
Pawns and Passports at the World Chess Hall of Fame in St. Louis, MO
Courtesy World Chess Hall of Fame
To inspire travel planning, the World Chess Hall of Fame in St. Louis, MO makes a move with “Pawns and Passports.” The exhibition features more than 50 chess sets celebrating the popular culture of different regions. Included is a Russian chess set made from ancient mammoth ivory and an elegant Chinese puzzle ball set, with carved concentric spheres. Exhibition dates: June 3, 2021 – January 30, 2022. Bonus: A virtual tour of the exhibit will be available.
Driven to Win: Racing in America at the Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation. Dearborn, MI
Driven to Win: Racing in America celebrates stock cars, sports cars, drag racing, land-speed racing, and more, with plenty of interactive displays, historic race cars, and racing simulators.
The 80-acre outdoor Greenfield Village reopened April 17, but only Thursday-Sunday for now, due to the pandemic.
Bonus: The longing running Motor Muster in Greenfield Village returns on Father’s Day Weekend (June 19-20) in Greenfield Village.
Kusama: Cosmic Nature at the New York Botanical Garden. Bronx, NY
A celebration of the wonderfully imaginative artwork of Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama, who has a lifelong fascination with, and whimsical view of nature, runs through October 31, 2021, across the 250-acres of the New York Botanical Garden. The Kusama takeover includes new, monumental sculptures, expansive floral installations, and soon, a new Infinity Mirrored Room experience.
SOLDIER/ARTIST: Trench Art in World War II at the National WWII Museum, NewOrleans
Courtesy National WWII Museum
In New Orleans, the National WWII Museum‘s exhibit “SOLDIER |ARTIST: Trench Art in World War II” presents more than 150 artifacts exploring the unique military pastime of creating art, souvenirs, and tools out of the discarded materials and waste of war.
The collection ranges from ashtrays and jewelry to radios and musical instruments made by prisoners of war. Through January 2, 2022.
Bonus: The art deco Higgins Hotel, on the museum campus, helps tell the WWII story with artifacts, artwork, photography, and personal story plaques.
The American Struggle, by Jacob Lawrence, at the Seattle Art Museum
Jacob Lawrence’s revolutionary, 30-panel series, “Struggle: From the History of the American People,” painted between 1954-1956, is reunited for the first time since 1958 in a touring exhibition at the Seattle Art Museum (SAM) through May 23, 2021.
The modernist paintings depict pivotal moments from the American Revolution to westward expansion, with Black, female, and Native Americans in central roles. This is the only West Coast venue for the show. It moves on to the Phillips Collection, in Washington, D.C. from June 26 to September 19, 2021.
Bonus: SAM has paired this exhibition with artwork by contemporary young artists that responds to Lawrence’s work and addresses the ongoing American struggle.
#HastagTheCowboy at the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum, Oklahoma City
Courtesy National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum
During the shutdown, the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City handed over the reins of its social media account to the facility’s head of security, Tim Tiller.
The internet went wild.
“People from all around the world were drawn to Tim’s positive messages and a chance to learn something about the history and art of the American West,” says museum president and CEO Natalie Shirley.
Now that the museum has reopened, there’s a #HashtagTheCowboy exhibit that includes Tiller’s selfie-famous coffee mug and some of the gifts and art sent in by fans.
Bonus: The museum will be holding its annual Chuck Wagon Festival May 29-30, 2021, with chuck wagon and Native food samples, artist demonstrations, Western reenactors, and more.
Virtual museum experiences not going away
During the pandemic, virtual exhibitions and experiences were the only way many museums could connect with their audiences. There were challenges and some upsides.
“Responding to the challenge of the pandemic, we reached 7 million virtual visitors through live, guided programs and on-demand content in 2020,” said Kyle Young, CEO of the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in Nashville. “This is something we will continue to do.”
Photo by Bob Delevante. Courtesy Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum).
In fact, the museum just unveiled two new free-to-access online exhibitions.
Dylan, Cash and the Nashville Cats: A New Music City explores Bob Dylan’s 1960s Nashville recordings, the role Johnny Cash’s groundbreaking television show had in expanding the perception of Nashville, and the ace session musicians, known as the “Nashville Cats.”
Bonus: The museum is offering a variety of educational programming, including a collaboration with Nashville Fashion Week. Check the website for details.
Free Museum admission
Although the pandemic made deep dents in non-profit budgets, many museums reopen with their free admission and discount programs intact.
Others continue to participate in programs offering free museum passes.
Blue Star Museums offers free admission for active-duty military personnel, including the National Guard and Reserves and their families.
Other programs offering free admission include Museums for All (for SNAP program participants), Bank of America’s Museums on Us program (for those with Bank of America or Merrill credit or debit cards), and the North American Reciprocal Museum (NARM) Association, with more than 1000 art and cultural institutions that honor membership cards from other institutions in the network.
Bonus: Smithsonian Magazine Day, which was canceled in 2020, returns on September 18, 2021, with free admission passes to more than 600 participating museums, gardens, zoos, and attractions.
Smithsonian magazine’s Museum Day is coming up on September 21 and we’re celebrating because on that day 1500 museums will be joining in to offer free admission to anyone who downloads a ticket.
Many science centers, aquariums, zoos and gardens will be offering free admission on Museum Day as well.
The free nationwide event presents a great opportunity to stop in and revisit a favorite exhibit at a local cultural institution or visit a museum in a town you’re visiting without worrying about all the admission fees.
Where can you go?
This year, Museum Day is celebrating the Smithsonian Year of Music, with many participating museums offering special music-themed programming.
The Lightner Museum in Saint Augustine, FL, will host a museum-themed scavenger hunt in its galleries. The music will also demonstrate the electric self-playing violin, the Gem Roller Organ and many other early mechanical musical instruments in its collection;
The
Armenian Museum of America in Watertown, MA will have live Armenian music in
the galleries;
In
Missoula, the Montana Natural History City will offer demonstrations and
experiments to show and explain how different animals hear;
In
North Carolina, a high school
Rock Orchestra will play a selection of train related songs at the Wilmington
Railroad Museum;
And in Mumford, NY, the Genesee Country Village and Museum, the state’s largest living history museum will be celebrating early shape-note music with a shape-note sing open to all.
Many all-music-all-the-time museums are participating as well.
Museum Day visitors to MoPOP in Seattle, WA will have full access to galleries and to exhibits dedicated to Jimi Hendrix, Prince, Nirvana, Pearl Jam and more.
Music-fans will also get full access to the music history offered at the Grammy Museum in Los Angeles; to the Birthplace of Country Music Museum in Bristol, VA; and in Memphis, TN, to the Blues Hall of Fame, the Memphis Rock ‘N Soul Museum and the Memphis Music Hall of Fame.
And in Kansas City, MO, the American Jazz Museum
will host a jazz storytelling session that explores the sounds and styles of
jazz and present a screening of “Chasing Trane: The John Coltrane
Documentary.”
TThe full list of museums participating in Museum Day, September 21, can be found here. And Museum Day tickets can be downloaded here.
Only one ticket will be issued per email address, but each ticket is good for admission for two people.
(A slightly differen version of my story about Smithsonian magazine’s Museum Day first appeared on CNBC)
Museums are great, but admission fees can sometimes make you think twice about checking out the exhibitions.
That’s why we love free museum days such as the Museums on Us program sponsored by Bank of America.
The program offers free general admission at more than 225 museums nationwide during the first full weekend of each month to anyone with a Bank of America, Merill Lynch or U.S. Trust credit or debit card.
This weekend, the first full weekend in September, you can get free admission in Chicago at the Alder Planetarium and the Art Institute of Chicago; in Atlanta at the Atlanta History Center and the High Museum of Art; and in San Francisco at the de Young Museum.
Check out the full list of museums offering free admission this weekend here.
Another year-round free entry program to keep in mind is the Every Kid Outdoors Program.
The program provides fourth graders with free, multi-use vouchers to national parks, wildlife refuges, marine sanctuaries, and forests and is a collaboration between the Department of the Interior, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and U.S. Forest Service.
The bonus here is that because fourth graders aren’t likely to drive themselves to these sites, the vouchers not only provide free entry for fourth graders, but to all children under 16 in a group and up to three accompanying adults – or an entire car for drive-in parks.
Find details about getting the pass here. Vouchers are
valid now through August 31, 2020.
