Several museums nationwide offer free admission during specified hours or days of the week. Visit the website of your favorite museum to see if they feature something like this. Several museums offer free events as well.
As an example…The Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles offers free fun-filled Sunset Concerts on Thursday nights in the summertime, and Pacific Science Center in Seattle boasts a terrific (and completely free) science cafe, which takes place on the first Tuesday of each month. Bank of America’s program, Museums on Us allows cardholders free admission to 54 museums on the first weekend of each month, and folks living in California, New York or Seattle can check out this website for a list of free museum events in the area.
Also, take a look at museum membership rates. Often, a membership pays itself off in as few as three annual visits to the museum. Often museum memberships come with a few free passes for guests and subscriptions to relevant publications. Museums such as the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County even offer increased opportunity for community engagement with museum membership, highlighting a haunted house, museum scavenger hunts, and other educational activities– along with free annual admission.
Submitted by Vera Prisacari, Community Advisor, Iowa State University