Has anyone else been made aware that New Yorkers are entitled to free admission to 17 arts and cultural institutions located in New York City parks? I certainly wasn’t, and my checking account is rightly watching me about my last three visits to the Bronx Zoo. Now, a New York native is seeking to defend New York residents’ free admission, a perk of living (and paying taxes) in the Big Apple that institutions don’t always make clear.
by Pat Nicholson FREE ENTRANCE the campaign refers to mid 1800s law allocating free rent on park land to the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) in exchange for free admission for New York residents as part of a “park education campus” that has been more late changed over the next century to incorporate 16 additional state-funded institutions. These include the Brooklyn Museum, the five sites of the New York Zoological Society (AKA Wildlife Conservation Society), the New York Botanical Garden, and more. A full list of institutions is included at the end of this article.
Apparently all or some New Yorkers (generally identified as public educators and students) must be granted free admission to institutions within the park due to the fact that our tax dollars subsidize their rent and maintenance costs. Unfortunately, many of us don’t recognize that this is the case, as the majority of institutions refer to ticket policies for New Yorkers as “pay as you wish” rather than “free admission”, or otherwise use language that may be confusing to some visitors.
For example, the Brooklyn Museum is free for all visitors – not just New Yorkers – and its ticketing site indicates that admission prices are suggested and not fixed, but anecdotally, several Hyperallergic staff members recall being told bluntly at the museum that general admission was a specific fare without being told it had been suggested.
When reached for comment, a Brooklyn Museum spokesperson apologized and confirmed the institution’s free admission policy. “We strive to make our communication about ticket prices as clear as possible in front of the house, that general admission prices are suggested, our museum is donation-based and you pay as you wish,” he said. she declared.
The Free Admission campaign took off in 2012, when Nicholson filed a trial against the Metropolitan Museum of Art regarding its admissions policies. The judge dismissed the case, but another similar lawsuit resulted in a settlement in 2016 in which the museum changed the language of its signage from “recommended” to “suggested” in order to better communicate on free admission opportunities.
Wanting New Yorkers to know and enjoy their right to free admission, Nicholson launched his campaign and fights for two bills orchestrate state-funded studies examining how these institutions comply with the free admissions policy and codify existing law and its amendments for better institutional compliance.
“For each institution, there is a different measure of ‘free’ that applies, as outlined in their founding legislation, statutes, and contracts,” Nicholson explained to Hyperallergic. “In some cases, free access and education must be provided every day of the year, others during all opening hours, some only for public and private schools.”
Excluding AMNH, The Met, and Brooklyn Academy of Music due to their explicit compliance, Hyperallergic contacted the other institutions for clarification regarding free admission in accordance with state and city laws referred to by Nicholson in his resource page. The Brooklyn Botanic Garden (BBG) has been the only institution to respond so far, noting that since 2020, 20% of daily general admission tickets have been offered free to visitors without requiring proof of New York address. These so-called “Community ticketsare referenced on BBG’s website, but the institution’s spokesperson did not acknowledge that the law requires free admission for all New Yorkers. BBG offers free tours for school groupsbut.
Not everyone agrees with Nicholson’s efforts. The Met’s senior vice president for external affairs, Ken Weine, said Hyperallergic that he thinks the current suggested admissions system is in place for a reason.
“New York is New York because we have museums that can thrive – which is made possible by the compensation policies you wish generations of city leaders have designed and that provide unparalleled cultural access to all New Yorkers. -Yorkers,” Weine said.
Nicholson is seeking support for his free admissions campaign and two bills to gain more traction through a online petition raise awareness of New Yorkers’ rights to culture and education. Dozens of city residents who signed the petition expressed their frustration at being deprived of prizes at beloved museums and cultural institutions and demanded free access as city ratepayers. The shared sentiment is particularly salient as Governor Hochul signed an invoice last July repealing the New York Botanical Garden’s free obligation for New York City residents by 2025 to “help support the organization’s botanical operations and exhibits”.
The institutions cited in Nicholson’s Free Admission campaign are:
- American Museum of Natural History
- Brooklyn Botanical Garden
- Brooklyn Academy of Music
- Brooklyn Children’s Museum
- Brooklyn Museum
- Museum of the City of New York
- New York Botanical Garden
- New York Science Hall
- Staten Island Museum
- Staten Island Zoo
- The Metropolitan Museum of Art
- wave hill
- Bronx Zoo
- Central Park Zoo
- New York Aquarium
- Prospect Park Zoo
- Queen’s Zoo
