Free hours at NYC museums, zoos and gardens

Very valuable piece of information for all New Yorkers. (via NewYorkology)

Free hours at NYC museums, zoos and gardens: "
New York City’s museums are in a state of flux with some undertaking major renovations (such as the Cooper-Hewitt, the New-York Historical Society and the Museum of the City of New York;) price changes (such as the Met Museum’s increase to $25 from $20 and the Fraunces Tavern Museum’s decrease to $7 from $10;) and others struggling to stay open (such as the mostly closed Seaport Museum and the down-sized American Folk Art Museum.)


Many museums have slowed the pace of new exhibitions and others have cut suggested-admission or free hours. Among those making cuts is the Brooklyn Museum, which last month reduced hours and canceled a high-profile graffiti exhibition. However, the museum is keeping its free First Saturday programs and suggested-admission policy at all other times.


“We are always grateful to visitors who can contribute the full admission price,” Sally Williams, the pubic information officer for the Brooklyn Museum, said of the suggested $10 admission price. “These difficult economic times have had an impact on most non-profit institutions, like the Brooklyn Museum, as they have for our visitors,” she told NewYorkology via email.


Twice a year, NewYorkology surveys the free and suggested-admission policies at the city’s museums, zoos and gardens. The following day-by-day list is for museums that offer free or pay-as-you-like hours only on a weekly or monthly basis. It complements the lists of always-free NYC museums and the always suggested-donation ones.


Museums with free or pay-what-you-wish hours in 2011


Mondays

Museum at Eldridge Street - Free 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. (normally $10)

Yeshiva University Museum - Free 5 to 8 p.m. (normally $8)


Tuesdays

McKim rooms of the Morgan Library & Museum - free 3 to 5 p.m. (full museum access is $15)

Brooklyn Botanic Garden - Free all day (normally $10)

July and August only: Wave Hill - Free all day.; free only 9 a.m. to noon in May, June, September and October. (normally $8)

China Institute Gallery - Free 6 to 8 p.m. (normally $7)

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)

El Museo del Barrio - Free 6 to 9 p.m. (normally a suggested $9)

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)

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)

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)


Fridays

Museum of Modern Art - Free 4 to 8:30 p.m. (normally $20)

Whitney Museum of American Art - Pay-what-you-wish 6 to 9 p.m. (normally $18)

Morgan Library & Museum - Free 7 to 9 p.m. (normally $15)

New York Aquarium - Pay-what-you-wish donation 3 to 6 p.m. (normally $14.95)

International Center of Photography - Voluntary contribution admission 5 to 8 p.m. (normally $12)

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)

Yeshiva University Museum - Free 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. (normally $8)

Through Aug. 26 only: Brooklyn Children’s Museum - Free 5 to 7:30 p.m. (normally $7.50)

Bronx Museum - Free 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. (normally $5 suggested)

First Fridays only Neue Galerie - Free from 6 to 8 p.m. (normally $15)

First Fridays only: The Noguchi Museum - Pay-what-you-wish 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.; after September, the museum closes at 5 p.m. on First Fridays (normally $10)

First Fridays only: Children’s Museum of Manhattan - Free the first Friday of each month 5 to 8 p.m. (normally $11)

Suspended July and August:NY Hall of Science - Free 2 to 5 p.m., from September through June (normally $11)

Suspended July 1 through Labor Day: Asia Society - Free 6 to 9 p.m. (normally $10)


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)

Brooklyn Botanic Garden - Free 10 a.m. to noon (normally $10)

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)

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 6 p.m. (normally a suggested $9)


Sundays

Frick Collection - Pay-what-you-wish 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. (normally $18)

McKim rooms of the Morgan Library & Museum - free 4 to 6 p.m. (full museum access is $15)

July 17 to Sept. 4 only: Rubin Museum of Art - Free entry from 11 a.m. to noon (normally $10)

Studio Museum in Harlem - Free noon to 6 p.m. (normally $7 recommended)

Museum of Biblical Art free 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. (normally $7 recommended)

Queens Botanical Garden - Free admission 4 to 6 p.m. (normally $4)

Suspended July and August: NY Hall of Science - Free 10 to 11 a.m., from September through June (normally $11)


(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, prices and policies.)


All listed prices are the regular adult admission rates. Free hours are sometimes prohibited for big tour groups; please contact the museums for their policies.


Some museums close between exhibitions and the Society of Illustrators closes during August.


Since the prior free-museum hours list was overhauled in November 2010, the following closings and price changes have taken place:


Admission at the Morgan Library & Museum went up to $15 from $12 but it added Tuesday and Sunday free hours to the historic McKim rooms.


Brooklyn Botanic Garden’s regular adult admission climbed to $10 from $8.


The New York Aquarium raised its admission to $14.95 from $13.


The Children’s Museum of Manhattan raised admission to $11 from $10.


The Museum of American Finance ended its free hours.


El Museo del Barrio added free Wednesday night hours but now ends it free Third Saturday programs earlier in the evenings.


In debt, the Folk Art Museum sold its big 53rd Street building and moved into the smaller, but always free, location at 2 Lincoln Square.


The status of the mostly closed Seaport Museum remains uncertain.


The New-York Historical Society is closed until Nov. 11, 2011 due to renovations, except for the free “Remembering 9/11” exhibition opening early on Sept. 7, 2011.


The Japan Society galleries are closed until Sept. 16.


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


Update as of July 29: Added the Museum of Biblical Art’s free Sunday hours.


Image source: Brooklyn Museum’s work of Auguste Rodin (French, 1840–1917). Pierre de Wiessant, Monumental Nude (Pierre de Wissant, nu monumental), 1886, cast 1983. Bronze, 78 1/4 × 44 3/4 × 36 1/2 in. (198.8 × 113.7 × 92.7 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of the B. Gerald Cantor Collection, 86.310

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