Take advantage of FREE museum admission on the first full weekend of each month and on the first Thursday, Friday and Saturday of each month.
Add these “firsts” to add to your monthly NYC “to do” list, and enjoy FREE museum admission this first full weekend of the new month in New York City.
FREE admission year-round at these NYC museums
FREE museum admission with NYC library card
NEVER pay admission at these NYC museums
NYC FREE First Thursday of the Month
First Thursday Gallery Walk
Head to DUMBO the first Thursday of the month for special events and exhibits, including gallery openings, live performances, and meet and greet opportunities with the artists. DUMBO galleries stay open late to accommodate. 6pm to 9pm
FREE Museum Admission First Friday of the Month
Schomburg Center, Harlem
There is a different program each First Friday, including music and dance performances.
Children’s Museum of Manhattan
- Upper West Side, 5pm to 8pm
Neue Galerie
- Museum Mile, Upper East Side, 6pm to 8pm
The Noguchi Museum
- Astoria, Queens
The Frick Collection
- East Side, 6pm to 9pm (except January)
Bronx Museum of the Arts
- 1040 Grand Concourse (B or D train to 167th St., one stop from Yankee Stadium)
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FREE Museum Admission First Saturday of the Month
Brooklyn Museum
- Brooklyn, 5pm to 11pm
- Note that the free admission does not include special shows, such as the recent Frida Kahlo exhibition.
FREE Museum Admission First Full Weekend of the Month
FREE museum admission to more than 1500 museums in NYC and nationwide.
But here’s the catch – it’s only for holders of Bank of America and Merrill Lynch credit cards. This deal is so good you should consider signing up just for the free museum admission perk.
- Get FREE museum admission any time with the ID NYC card, for NYC residents only.
- Get FREE museum admission every day of the week when you take advantage of free museum days
FREE Museum admission with the IDNYC card
- Apply FREE at most NYPL branches.
- Sorry NYC visitors, this perk is only for NYC residents
Be Frugal over Fifty on the first Tuesday of the Month
Senior Savings Day – On the first Tuesday of the month, Walgreens offers customers 55 and older a 20% discount on W brand products and 15% on nearly everything else.
- Seniors also get discounts at supermarkets, retailers, hotels, airlines.
- See our complete list of discounts for Over 50.
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Published each month before the first weekend of the month, and updated monthly.
Evelyn Kanter is a native New Yorker who has written for the NY Times, NY Daily News, NY Post, New York Magazine, and is a former on-air reporter for WCBS Newsradio 88 and WABC-TV Eyewitness News.
I’m also the author of several NYC and Hudson Valley guidebooks, including my latest, 100 Things to Do in NYC Before You Die.
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