Comments on: Here’s the Thing About Museums

By: mamacita

mamacita — Tue, 21 Aug 2012 22:54:08 +0000

A suggestion: get a membership for one year at any particular museum. Go at regular intervals and see everything on view in the permanent collection. [Depending on the museum, this could mean pretty frequent visits. And of course the overhead of the visit--parking fees, transit time, likelihood of being sucked into the cafe, etc.--will also factor in to the frequency.]

So set your schedule, and you get as much out of your one-year membership as humanly possible. Definitely go see all of the associated house museums or sculpture gardens or whatever. Take advantage of any movie tickets or discounts, and hit the museum shop just before Mother’s Day with your member discount. Milk it for all it’s worth for one year.

Then don’t renew. Find another museum. Do the same thing there. The point is to get acquainted with all of the really spectacular things that live in your city full-time. Eventually you rotate back around to where you started and go see the first museum again to see what they’ve changed.

And never, ever give to their annual fund drives. Or tell yourself that you will as soon as Sallie Mae is off your back.

Other visit tips: wear headphones so you don’t have to hear people telling each other erroneous nonsense about the art. [I am old--wear earbuds or spacepods or whatever they're called now.] Never, EVER go on the free night, and weekends aren’t ideal either. The best days to visit are national holidays, when that’s feasible–you will have the place to yourself if they are open on July 4.

By: fictitious

fictitious — Mon, 20 Aug 2012 17:22:44 +0000

Free museum trips can be had at many public libraries– there are passes that you can reserve to go. Some you don’t even need to step foot in the library and can print from home. Warning, since weekends are more popular you may have to reserve a pass for your planned date several weeks in advance.

By: pekoe

pekoe — Mon, 20 Aug 2012 16:48:44 +0000

But but but… AMNH is awesome! It’s so labyrinthine and so full of amazing things! There are things I saw there years ago and have yet to find again (because I keep getting distracted by other wings, etc.)

A protip: Go in through the hidden basement entrance that leads directly from the B/C subway. The line is much shorter (and frequently non-existent) there. I get my $1 tickets there all the time.

By: kellyography

kellyography — Mon, 20 Aug 2012 12:37:25 +0000

@BananaPeel Yes! One summer when I was in high school, I went to the SLAM every single day. When I first heard about/saw the new wing in construction, I was against it, but I met a girl this summer who works in development (or something similar) and she swears that it’s going to be awesome.

More relevantly: I also used to work at a major NYC museum and even now, I don’t feel guilty if I don’t pay the full “suggested donation” at places like AMNH or the Met.

By: Franny

Franny — Sat, 18 Aug 2012 14:31:28 +0000

Tips from someone who works at a museum:
1. Do research beforehand. Some museums are suggested donation/free all the time. Some are not. Some are only free sometimes ex. The Frick. Show up to the Frick RIGHT BEFORE suggested donation time ends (around noon), you get in for free-ish and then everyone leaves.
2. Show up to the museum when it opens. Its a pain and no one likes to wake up early blah blah blah but especially if you want to go on a weekend get your but uptown at 9:30 and look at things until it gets crowded (around 11) by then, you will want brunch anyway.
3. Tuesdays. This only works if you are unemployed/freelance but Tuesdays are generally pretty empty museum days.
4. Befriend someone who works at a museum. Not only can they get you into their museum for free but they can also get in free to any other museum they want with their work id. Often they can get in other people for free with their work id as well.

By: Nick

Nick — Sat, 18 Aug 2012 13:35:06 +0000

@stuffisthings If only it were the other way around.

By: forget it i quit

forget it i quit — Fri, 17 Aug 2012 23:57:22 +0000

Here’s a tip. Befriend someone who works at a bank as they are some of the biggest contributors to museums (they’re not completely evil!). The last one I worked at was a corporate sponsor for basically every museum in NYC. So one of the lesser known benefits was that I had free access to every museum in the city.

By: DillyBean

DillyBean — Fri, 17 Aug 2012 23:52:13 +0000

@heebee Yes! And your tips apply to many museums that attract children. In sum, they will be busy:
- Federal holidays
- Snow days
- Rainy days (particularly on weekends)
- The day after Thanksgiving (oh my god)
- The summer

If you are not the owner of your own small child, or very familiar with small children, you may not really understand what “busy” means in the context of a rainy Saturday at a children’s/science/natural history museum. If that’s not a world you’re familiar with, it’s better to keep your distance.

September tends to be really quiet, and weekday mornings tend to be good.

And memberships are often really good deals!

By: The Dauphine

The Dauphine — Fri, 17 Aug 2012 23:04:48 +0000

@gna207
fellow NYC Museum Employee here hollaaaa.

Come see the museum, don’t pay to get in, it’s whatever gets people in the door and excited about the exhibitions. If someone is really concerned about museums not getting enough revenue, they can buy a membership and then use that membership to get in free at a bazillion other museums too!

By: Megano!

Megano! — Fri, 17 Aug 2012 22:58:27 +0000

So I dunno if it’s just I am always pretty lucky about going when it’s not busy, but like, I’ve been to tons of museums (I used to live in Ottawa, and went on free Thursdays all the time) and like, the children are there, but usually confined to certain areas. Like the Museum of Civilization actually has its own separate children’s museum, and that is where they live for the most part.
I even went to the ROM on my birthday this year, which was on a Saturday, and there was like maybe one room where I was like ACK CHILDREN but that was because there was some kind of craft bonanza going on in there.