July 17, 2018 By Nathaly Pesantez

A newly launched program will allow Queens Library cardholders free access to over 30 museums, gardens, zoos, and and other cultural sites around New York City.

The Culture Pass, announced yesterday by the Queens, Brooklyn, and New York Public Library systems, allows patrons from these three libraries to visit cultural institutions ranging from the Whitney Museum, the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, and the Noguchi Museum with a free day-pass.

Registered users in the Queens Library system, for example, can reserve a day-pass online for a participating cultural institution and simply show the pass to gain free entry. Cardholders can also bring between one to three guests depending on the institution.

The 33 participating cultural organizations donate passes to the program on a monthly basis for people ages 13 and up. Passes can be reserved using the online Culture Pass website, with users browsing for passes by date or venue.

“Culture Pass is going to be one of the hottest tickets in town for New York City’s public library cardholders,” said Dennis M. Walcott, Queens Library President and CEO. “We are grateful to…all of the participating cultural institutions for opening up new avenues of wonder, discovery, and learning for all. This initiative also presents a tremendous opportunity for libraries to deepen partnerships with our city’s museums, gardens, and repositories of local history, and together build even stronger communities.”

The passes will be released two months in advance on the first of every month, and users can reserve one pass per cultural institution per year. Only two active reservations can be made per library card.

“Everyone should have access to the arts and culture,” said Jimmy Van Bramer, Chair of the City Council’s Committee on Libraries and Cultural Affairs. “New York City’s cultural offerings are what make our City the greatest in the world. Our libraries are leading the charge in making sure that everyone can have access to the life changing programming that our cultural organizations provide.”

For more information on the Culture Pass and to reserve a pass, visit the Culture Pass webpage.

List of participating institutions as of July 16:

· Brooklyn Botanic Garden

· Brooklyn Children’s Museum

· Brooklyn Historical Society

· Brooklyn Museum

· Children’s Museum of Manhattan

· Children’s Museum of the Arts

· Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum

· The Drawing Center

· The Frick Collection

· Historic Richmond Town

· International Center of Photography

· Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum

· Jacques Marchais Museum of Tibetan Art

· The Jewish Museum

· Louis Armstrong House

· The Metropolitan Museum of Art

· The Morgan Library & Museum

· Museum of Modern Art, MoMA PS1

· Museum of Chinese in America

· Museum of Jewish Heritage – A Living Memorial to the Holocaust

· Museum of the City of New York

· New York Transit Museum

· Noguchi Museum

· Queens Historical Society

· Queens Museum

· Rubin Museum of Art

· SculptureCenter

· Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian

· Society of Illustrators

· Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum

· Sugar Hill Children’s Museum

· Wave Hill

· Whitney Museum of American Art