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Best Free Things to Do In NYC From Museums to Attractions

TripBlog
TripBlog
Feb 14, 2020

Contents

  • Museums
  • I Museums sometimes free
    • 1.Brooklyn museum
    • 2.Museum of arts and design
    • 3.Museum of the modern art
    • 4.Brooklyn’s children’s museum
  • II.Museums always free
    • 1.American folk arts museum
    • 2.The bronx museum of arts
  • III.Botanical gardens and parks
    • 1.Brooklyn botanical garden
    • 2.Queens botanical garden
    • 3.The high line
  • IV.Art galleries
    • 1.Chelsea art gallery
    • 2.Bushwick galleries
  • Show more

If you are an ardent museum enthusiast, whether escaping the summer heat or winter cold, you can indulge in your classic vacation activity by paying a visit to the famous art museums in NYC. New York City has more than 100 big museums out of which more than half can be classified as art museums. Many of the museums charge some amount for entry tickets. Apart from the museums, New York City has tens of hundreds of art galleries of which many of them are free art galleries in New York City where entry tickets are not required. To save on the entry tickets fee, there are many ways to find out the entry schedule of the museums and art galleries and visit them free. Some museums are entirely free, some are free on certain days of the month, some museums have free entry clubbed with some other offer, and you can find dozens of such museums if you take pains to get into details.

To help you out in this endeavor we have listed out a few of such free art exhibits in New York which allow you free entry.

Here we organize the places for listing out some of the best art museums in NYC for getting free art in New York City, based on the following criteria.

Many of the art museums in NYC offer a designated time either weekly or monthly for free entry, either for a limited period of the day or even for a whole day. Sometimes these hours are also called “Pay what you wish.” If you like what you see in the preview, you can have a full visit to some of the Brooklyn Museums offering this free time as listed below.

This lovely museum is free during weekdays in winter. It is always free for children age 12 years and under. This museum is closed on Mondays and Tuesdays.

The Brooklyn Museum is located in a place with high tourist footfall, surrounded by many other places of interest like Brooklyn botanical garden, library, Prospect Park, and zoo in the nearby areas. You also find many cafes and restaurants serving delicious food nearby to tickle your palate.

You can conveniently visit this museum by any public or private mode of transport, like the metro, bus, car, or taxi. Brooklyn Museum has a vast treasure of art collection, but as is normal in most art museums, not all works are on display at any single point of time. It also conducts art classes for all age groups all around the year. A number of exhibitions and events will be organized regularly on different art themes. You can view the exquisite collections which are organized in various galleries based on their place of origin like in Egyptian, American, European, Korean, Islamic world sections or based on themes like feminist art, family sculpture and decorative art galleries in different floors of the huge Brooklyn Museum.

Best Free Things to Do In NYC From Museums to Attractions

This is a museum that has a pay-what-you-wish admission policy on all Thursdays in the evening hours between 6:00 PM and 9:00 PM.

This Museum of Arts and Design based in the upmarket Manhattan area of New York, collects, displays and interprets objects that document historica or contemporary innovation in art, design, and craft. You might be interested to learn that 95% of the collection in the museum is available online as high-resolution images which you can access by registering onsite. Regular educational programs for various groups like internships, summer camps, teens, and even teacher development programs to enrich their knowledge of art, craft, and design to promote the art are held here. Apart from this, exhibitions on various themes are regularly held here, but an entry for such events are normally charged.

Best Free Things to Do In NYC From Museums to Attractions

This famous Museum of Modern Art was conceived and opened in 1929, and its initial board of trustees had some very famous personalities associated with it. This museum, MOMA as it is known, is one of the most influential museums of modern art and plays a major role in developing and collecting modern contemporary art. Its large variety of collections in art, paintings, sculpture, design, drawings, architecture, photography, art books, film, and even electronic media offers a broad overview of modern and contemporary art.

The admission here is completely free on Friday evenings between 4:00 PM and 8:00 PM. This includes admission to all galleries, exhibitions, and film. All visitors 18 years and below are allowed free. The archives here primarily hold source material related to the history of modern and contemporary art. Its library has a massive collection of books, catalogs, periodicals and the like to make it a major source for reference for artists, students, teachers, and art-lovers alike.

This is a museum that has a pay as you wish policy on all Thursdays in the evening hours between 2:00 PM and 6:00 PM.

This Brooklyn’s Children’s Museum has a big collection of around 30,000 historical artifacts that can be enjoyed by the entire family. The main attraction of this museum is that it has something for kids of all ages and likings. The thousands of educational exhibits help children learn about world history, science, nature, culture and for children below five years, it has a special area where they can be engaged in special educational activities to groom their curiosity and talents.

There are a large number of art museums in NYC that are always thrown open free to the public. There are more than 20, such as museums, galleries, and gardens that are open to visitors.

The American Folk Arts Museum in New York has collections of folk arts from the 18th century to the present day. The Museum collections include works from the famous gain weather vanes to Amish quilts. It also houses creative artworks from contemporary self-taught artists from around the world.

This lovely art museum is open free to the public on all days, and you need to definitely take advantage of this opportunity to visit the place.

This museum houses a decent collection of contemporary arts from various diverse cultures, apart from those belonging to the Bronx itself. It also organizes many educational programs for the art community.

This lovely art museum is free to the public on all days, and you can take advantage of this to see some of its good collection.

There are a large number of botanical gardens and parks in New York City, and some even are having some artworks installed in them as attractions. Many of them offer free entry to visitors

The admission to the lovely Brooklyn Botanical Garden is free on Tuesdays. You can just come here and relax, away from the busy city traffic and life. It is located to the north-east of the Prospect Park and has attractions like a Zoo, Lefferts historic house, and LeFrak center near the lake.

The admission to Brooklyn Botanical Garden is free from March to November before noon on all Fridays. It is also free between December and February, on weekdays from Tuesday to Friday.

If you feel the necessity to spend some time with nature and enjoy the serenity, while at the same time learn a lot about nature and its conservation in this era of rapid climate change, then Brooklyn Botanical Garden is the ideal place for this activity. It has an amazing collection of around 18,000 kinds of plants from across the world in its 52 acres of extraordinary beauty. Its educational value can be seen in its bonsai trees, indoor tropical gardens, and also its seasonal plants.

Best Free Things to Do In NYC From Museums to Attractions

The Queens Botanical Garden is free on every Wednesday. The entry is completely free on all Wednesdays full day from November to March. For the other seven months from April to October, the entry is free only from 3:00 PM to 6:00 PM. This garden is also free to all on all Sunday mornings from 9:00 AM to 11:00 AM, between April and October. In addition, it is free from December to February, Tuesday to Friday.

The Queens Botanical Garden is a lovely large 40-acre green land where you can relax in its pristine natural beauty and fragrance. One of the main attractions here is the delightful fragrance walk in the garden, which will be a treat for your olfactory senses. It also has an awesome busy Bee Garden which you and your lovely little ones are sure to enjoy. Here, several small gardens, with each one is having plants dedicated to certain world culture and showcasing them. Even though winters can be very chill, especially in the gardens, you can take your customary walk here to enjoy nature.

Best Free Things to Do In NYC From Museums to Attractions

This is a free elevated park in Chelsea along an old freight rail line where you can go for a stroll or customary walk. It is a 1.45-mile-long park created on the western side of Manhattan, fully wheelchair accessible with many entry points. The park’s featured plant is Queen Anne’s Lace, the irresistibly attractive aggressive plant. The main art attraction is the black beauty, Simone Leigh’s Brick House which is a 16 foot-tall bronze statue of a black woman with the torso resembling a skirt and a clay house. This is the first in his anatomy of architecture series where he combines the human body with the architecture of different regions. This park elevated over Manhattan streets was opened to the public in 2009 and enables visitors to experience nature, art, and design. As you take a walk in the park, you can enjoy many lovely views of nice locations from vantage points along the spur.

Best Free Things to Do In NYC From Museums to Attractions

There are hundreds of galleries located in Chelsea. They are always free to visit during opening hours. Many galleries have on display exhibits of museum-quality during this period. Some even serve complimentary beer or wine during opening nights. Most of the galleries will be conducting regular exhibitions of the art of different themes. Many of the gallery exhibitions display high worth museum-quality exhibits many times, and you will have a great opportunity to view them if you have missed a visit to a museum. Many of the galleries have helped young artists to find their feet and make a name in the field. This is one of the popular art museums in New York City.

Some of the best known and famous art galleries in Chelsea are listed below

David Zwirner Gallery” This is one of the best in this city and a must-visit if you are an art lover.

Gagosian Gallery: This has a huge space, and frequently its shows are of high museum-quality exhibits. You need to visit this gallery when you are in New York.

Best Free Things to Do In NYC From Museums to Attractions

Hauser and Wirth exhibit amazing art and have moved to a new spacious location.

Marianne Boesky Gallery: Their sculpture exhibits are with gothic and renaissance influences and also with exciting new artists.

Taglialatella Galleries exhibits many masterpieces that leave you wondering why this gallery if free to the public.

Best Free Things to Do In NYC From Museums to Attractions

Aperture Foundation is a bookstore with many interesting books and also a gallery with nice exhibits

Metro Pictures is in business for more than 30 years and has made a mark with the art lovers with some very good collections.

Pace Gallery is one of the must-visits with some lovely collections in Chelsea.

Gladstone Gallery has large space and hosts some amazingly good shows.

Agora Gallery is an amazing fine art gallery with some great collections

Lehman Maupin Galleries are helping many upcoming artists to move up even though they entered the field only recently.

Ricco Maresca Gallery which opened in 1979, is promoting self-taught artists.

Garth Greenan Gallery is keenly promoting artists who have been underexposed.

Paula Cooper art gallery first opened in 1969 by the legendary art dealer is now taking the gallery world by storm by building a gallery temple in Chelsea.

Mitchell Inns & Nash has a reputation for exhibiting high-quality arts and is promoting contemporary art.

This is one place where you will find free art galleries in NYC every corner. This new york’s industrial neighborhood has become the epicenter of alternative art and has seen many galleries come up and flourish in the recent decade. Some of the best galleries are listed below.

Robert Henry Contemporary art gallery which opened in 2009 focuses on abstract and conceptual work. Their commitment to promoting art and artists has earned them laurels from art lovers and experts.

Signal is a relative newcomer who has already made a name for itself in New York

NURTUREart is making an attempt at creating space and opportunities for young artists.

Norte Maar is another art gallery which is promoting art and artists by connecting artists, choreographers, composers, and writers to bring them closer and make things easier for the larger artists’ community.

INTERSTATE has made a name for itself by promoting new themes by experimental, bold young artists in a large space in Brooklyn.

Microscope Gallery promoted in 2010 focuses on work related to moving image art, sound and digital. It holds regular exhibitions and encourages discussion on art-related issues.

Luhring Augustine Bushwick is a heavy-weight in the field. This gallery which opened in 1985 holds works by some best-known artists of contemporary art

Pioneer Works, founded in 2012, holds some of the best exhibitions, performances, and classes for the artist community.

There are a few other methods by which you can try to get to see some art museums in New York at a big discount, if not completely free, and club it with sight-seeing. One is buying the Go New York Passes, which are of two types. Here you can either go for Explore pass or build your own pass which allows you to visit a certain number of attractions within 30 days at a discount of up to a big 50%. Around 90 attractions are included in the list.

With a large number of very famous art museums in New York City attracting a large number of visitors throughout the year, every bit of information with proper planning can be very helpful to save on entry fees and skip-the-lines to save on time. The first trick you need to employ is to look for the details of free entry dates and time sufficiently in advance before your planned visit. A large number of museums, art galleries, and even botanical galleries allow free entry either a full year or on some days in particular seasons. You can utilize these to get to free art galleries in NYC while you are here and combine with your other sight-seeing programs to save big on the money.

The art museums in NYC are worth visiting, especially if you are an art student or an art-lover and should be on your priority list of places to visit when you are in the city. You can also get all the information you need from trip.com to finalize and fine-tune your trip to combine a vacation with pleasure, fun and also an educative tour to make it a delightful and remarkable one to treasure for a long time.



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