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Here's when and how to use Culture Pass for free access to NYC's best attractions

Written by
Oliver Strand
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Update: Culture Pass will resume free admission to these 25 NYC attractions beginning Nov 1. 

Why use Culture Pass?

It's like having a free membership to New York City.

The lineup includes everything from the Intrepid, to the recently-expanded MoMA, to the New York Botanical Garden, to the New York Transit Museum to other amazing family attractions. Not only will you find international headliners such as the Museum of Natural History and the Met, you’ll see local gems such as the Jamaica Center for Arts & Learning and the Wyckoff House Museum.  

Many of the best kids museums in NYC participate, including the Brooklyn Children’s Museum, the Children’s Museum of Manhattan, the Children’s Museum of the Arts and the Sugar Hill Children’s Museum of Art & Storytelling. Others have great family programs, including the Jewish Museum, the Museum of Arts and Design, the Museum of the City of New York, the New-York Historical Society, Wave Hill and the Whitney Museum of American Art. (You'll find a full list below.)

If you haven’t used Culture Pass:

Don’t worry—it’s easy to register and take advantage of the fun things to do with kids in NYC. All you need is a valid library card from the New York Public Library, Brooklyn Public Library or Queens Public Library with an active PIN and to be 13 or older. That’s it.

No library card? No sweat: Go online or visit any branch, and you can get one for free in a couple of minutes. Now you’re ready to take advantage of one of the major perks of living here.

Who participates?

First launched in July of 2018, Culture Pass continues to evolve and improve. Earlier this year, the number of active reservations per Culture Pass holder increased from two to four. The expanding lineup of institutions now includes the Museum of the Moving Image, Second Stage Theater, Kings Theatre, the Bronx Opera Company, the Queens Botanical Garden and the National Lighthouse Museum.

Check out all of the cool spots worth venturing to: 

Alice Austen House

Asia Society

Bard Graduate Center Gallery 

Bronx Opera Company

Brooklyn Botanic Garden

Brooklyn Children’s Museum

Brooklyn Historical Society

Brooklyn Museum

Children’s Museum of Manhattan

Children’s Museum of the Arts

Cooper Hewitt

The Drawing Center

Fraunces Tavern Museum

Hi-ARTS

Historic Richmond Town

Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum

Jacques Marchais Museum of Tibeten Art

Jamaica Center for Arts and Learning

Japan Society

The Jewish Museum

King Manor Museum

Kings Theater

Lewis H. Latimer House Museum

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

MoMA PS1

The Morgan Library & Museum

Museum of Arts and Design

Museum of Chinese in America

Museum of Jewish Heritage - A Living Memorial to the Holocaust

The Museum of Modern Art

Museum of Natural History

Museum of the City of New York

Museum of the Moving Image

National Lighthouse Museum

New Museum

New York Botanical Garden

New York Transit Museum

New-York Historical Society

Noble Maritime Collection

The Noguchi Museum

Peoples’ Symphony Concerts

Poster House

Queens Botanical Garden

Queens Historical Society

Queens Museum

The Rubin Museum of Art

SculptureCentner

Second Stage Theater

The Shed

Skyscraper Museum

Society of Illustrators

Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum

Sugar Hill Children’s Museum of Art & Storytelling

Swiss Institute

Van Cortlandt House Museum

Wave Hill

Whitney Museum of American Art

Wyckoff House Museum

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