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New York City is so expensive to just exist in, so when we hear about free anything, we’re gungho about taking advantage!
Art and culture fans will then be happy to know that The Whitney Museum of American Art is offering free admission and special programming for visitors every Friday evening from 5–10pm and on the second Sunday of every month beginning on January 12, 2024.
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The Whitney is aiming to make it easier for people to visit and take part in “unique, fun, and welcoming entry points.”
Free Friday Nights, which are made possible through three-year gifts from Whitney Trustee Jen Rubio and Stewart Butterfield and Whitney Trustee Paul Arnhold and Wes Gordon, will include special programs and music as well as food and drinks from the museum’s new restaurant, Frenchette Bakery at the Whitney.
This will definitely give the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Date Nights a run for their money! Spending Friday night at the Whitney would be a great way to hang out with a date, loved one or even your co-workers as a sort of happy hour.
Second Sundays, which is happening thanks to a three-year grant from the Art Bridges Foundation’s Access for All program, launches on January 14. Much like The Brooklyn Museum’s First Saturdays, Second Sundays will be full of fun and free activities for all ages, including art making, tours, classes and other programs tied to exhibitions or community events and holidays.
The inaugural event takes place on Martin Luther King Jr. weekend with activities celebrating Black artists whose work is represented in The Whitney’s collection and in current exhibitions, including “Henry Taylor: B Side.”
Typically, tickets are $30 per adult and $24 per senior or student. Those 18 and under and those who are military or veterans already get in for free. But these new, free offerings at The Whitney are the broadest and most generous in decades, according to Scott Rothkopf, the Alice Pratt Brown Director at The Whitney.
“We know that pricing can be a barrier to access, and that our reduced admissions programs have not only sold out but been enjoyed by younger, less affluent, and more diverse audiences. I’m incredibly grateful to our sponsors, Whitney Trustees Jen Rubio and Paul Arnhold, and the Art Bridges Foundation and Alice Walton,” he said in a statement. “They understand deeply how connecting new audiences with art and ideas is meaningful to our whole society. I could think of no better way to inaugurate my tenure as director than to share our vital and relevant program even more broadly.”
While admission is free for these programs, you’ll still need to book tickets since capacity is limited. They’ll go on sale in early January, and you won’t want to wait because last time the Whitney offered free admission (on Earth Day this year), the event sold out with the majority of tickets reserved by first-time visitors to the Whitney.
Once you have your tickets, plan out your trip. On view in January will be: “Fragments of a Faith Forgotten: The Art of Harry Smith,” “Inheritance,” “Ruth Asawa Through Line“ and “Natalie Ball: bilwi naats Ga’niipci.” Of course, you can always see works on permanent display by artists such as Edward Hopper, Kara Walker, Georgia O’Keeffe, Kevin Beasley, Faith Ringgold, Lee Krasner, Jasper Johns, Alexander Calder, Jacob Lawrence, Carrie Mae Weems, Andrea Carlson and Clarissa Tossin.