Cheap culture – museums

While my week in Paris may have included the Louvre and the Musée D’Orsay, as well as an incredible concert at the Church of la Madeleine, I don’t go to museums and galleries,as often when I’m home. Don’t ask me why, I used to. Maybe I just get a bit lazy. When I lived in RI I was a  member at RISD and other museums. The membership brought allowed me entry into not only the museum, but lectures, concerts, private shows, meet & greet with the artist and more…and it wasn’t expensive.

Even if you don’t have a penny to spare, you can still enjoy these WONDERFUL museums.

Free Museums. There are an abundance of museums that have NO admission fee (or just a suggested one).

BOSTON

Art Complex Museum
Boston Children’s Museum  $1 – on Friday from 5-9pm.
Boston University Art Gallery
Davis Museum and Cultural Center
Fuller Craft Museum Free – on Wednesday from 5-9pm.
Institute of Contemporary Art  Free – on Thursday from 5-9pm, and the last Saturday of every month for families.
Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum  Free – for those 18 and under or if your first name is Isabella.
Harvard Art Museum  Free – for MA residents, and every Saturday from 10am-12.
MIT Museum Free – every Sunday 10am-12, and the second Friday of every month 5-8pm.
Museum of Bad Art
Museum of Fine Arts Free – check calendar for free days. You can pay What You Wish – every Wednesday from 4-9:45pm.

NEW YORK
American Folk Art Museum
American Museum of Natural History  Pay What You Wish
Brooklyn Museum Pay What You Wish and free on the first Saturday of every month from 5-11pm.
Children’s Museum of Manhattan  Free -on the first Friday of every month from 5-8pm.
El Museo del Barrio Free – on the third Saturday of every month, every Wednesday from 6-9pm. Otherwise it’s Pay What You Wi
Frick Collection Pay What You Wish – and free every Sunday from11am-1pm.
Guggenheim Museum Pay What You Wish – and free every Saturday from 5:45-7:45pm.
Hispanic Society of America
Jewish Museum Free – every Saturday.
David Rubenstein Atrium at Lincoln Center  Free – every Thursday from 8:30pm and the first Saturday of every month beginning at 11am.
Metropolitan Museum of Art  Pay What You Wish – always
Morgan Library and Museum  Free – every Friday from 7-9pm.
Museum of Arts and Design  Pay What You Wish and free every Thursday & Friday from 6-9pm.
Museum of Chinese in America  Free – every Thursday.
Museum of Modern Art  Free – every Friday from  4-8:30pm.
Museum of the City of New York  Pay What You Wish
National Museum of the American Indian
New Museum of Contemporary Art  Free – every Thursday from 7-9pm and  always for ages 18 and under.
Noguchi Museum Pay What You Wish on first Friday of every month.
Queens Museum of Art  Pay What You Wish
Rose Center for Earth and Space Pay What You Wish
Rubin Museum of Art  Free – every Friday from 6-10pm and the first Monday of every month for those ages 65 and over.
South Street Seaport Museum  Free – third Friday of every month from 6-8:45pm.
Studio Museum in Harlem Free – every Sunday.
Whitney Museum of American Art  Pay What You Wish – every Friday from 6-9pm.

LOS ANGELES

Autry National Center of the American West  Free – the second Tuesday of every month.
California Science Center
California African American Museum
Craft and Folk Art Museum  Free – the first Wednesday of every month.
Fowler Museum at UCLA
Griffith Observatory
J. Paul Getty Museum
Hammer Museum at UCLA Free – every Thursday.
Huntington Library Free – on the first Thursday of every month.
Japanese American National Museum  Free – every Thursday from 5-8pm and third Thursday of every month.
Los Angeles County Museum of Art  Free – the second Tuesday of every month and holidays that fall on Monday. Also, Every weekday for residents from 5pm-close
Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles  Free – every Thursday from5-8pm.
Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County
Norton Simon Museum Free – the first Friday of every month from 6-9pm.
Pacific Asia Museum  Free – the fourth Friday of every month.
Page Museum La Brea Tar Pits  Free – the first Tuesday of every month.
Travel Town Museum
USC Fisher Museum of Art

CHICAGO

Adler Planetarium – IL residents
Art Institute of Chicago Free – first and second Wednesday of every month – IL residents
Chicago Children’s Museum  Free – every Thursday from 5-8pm, and the first Sunday of every month for  ages 15 and under – IL residents
Chicago History Museum – check calendar
DuSable Museum of African American History  Free – every Sunday.
enosha Public Museum & Dinosaur Discovery Museum
Field Museum  check calendar – IL residents
a title=”International Museum of Surgical Science Homepage” href=”http://www.imss.org/”>International Museum of Surgical Science  Free – every Tuesday.
Jane Addams Hull-House Museum
Museum of Contemporary Art  Free – every Tuesday for IL residents
Museum of Contemporary Photography
Free – always.
Museum of Science and Industry
Free – check calendar (IL residents only).
National Museum of Mexican Art
Free – always.
Oriental Institute
Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum  Free – every Thursday for IL residents only
Shedd Aquarium  Check calendar for IL residents

There are many more around the country. Many of them are listed in the entertainment section of the newspaper or online.  Don’t let finances keep you from enjoying a little culture in your life!