The annual Museum Mile Festival will return to NYC next Tuesday, June 14 from 6 to 9 p.m. During this time, over eight museums will be completely free to enter for New Yorkers and visitors alike.
As usual, Fifth Ave will be completely shut down to traffic from 82nd Street to 105th Street so New Yorkers can easily stroll along and pop in and out of their favorite cultural institutions. There are also other outdoor activities, from street musicians to art-related activities for children to food vendors and more. It will be a complete walker’s paradise!
This year the event kick-off host is the Metropolitan Museum of Art. While the Met is pay-as-you-wish for NY residents, spots like the Guggenheim, Neue Galerie and Museum of the City of New York can cost upwards of $25 for admission, so this is a great chance to get in for free! Plus, they’re open later than usual.
Here are the rest of this year’s participants:
Participating Museums
- The Metropolitan Museum of Art: 1000 5th Avenue at 82nd Street (212) 535-7710
- Neue Galerie New York: 1048 5th Avenue at 86th Street
- Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum: 1071 5th Avenue at 89th Street
- Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum: 2 East 91st Street btw 5th Avenue & Madison Avenue
- The Jewish Museum: 1109 5th Ave at E 92nd Street
- Museum of the City of New York: 1220 5th Avenue at 103rd Street
- El Museo del Barrio: 1230 5th Avenue at 104th Street
- The Africa Center: 1280 5th Ave at 109th Street
Junior Members
- New York Academy of Medicine
- Church of the Heavenly Rest
The first festival ever was held in 1978, so there’s some rich history here, not only inside the museums themselves! The total visitors since then has surpassed over one million since the festival first started.
It will occur in rain OR shine, so just bring an umbrella if it’s drizzling! This year, the event is also part of the Festival of New York, where 300+ organizations across all 5 boroughs will hold free events ranging from musical performances to food exhibitions.
Find out more info here.