NEW YORK, Aug 27 — Imagine spending hours looking at art without spending a single dollar. That will be possible on September 18 with the new edition of the Smithsonian Magazine Museum Day. Hundreds of cultural institutions in the United States will offer free admission on the occasion. 

Tickets for this year’s Smithsonian Magazine Museum Day are already available on the publication’s website. Each ticket grants free access for two people to any of the hundreds of participating museums, zoos and cultural centers across the United States. 

Culture buffs are bound to find an institution to visit on September 18, with topics ranging from general history to art, science as well as air and space. While some museums like the National Museum of African American History and Culture already offer free admission, this initiative offers the possibility to visit offbeat treasures that are not normally free. Among them are the AKC Museum of the Dog in New York City, the Cahoon Museum of American Art in Cotuit, Massachusetts and the Southern Tenant Farmers Museum in Tyronza, Arkansas.

The full list of participating museums can be viewed on the Smithsonian magazine’s website, with new institutions signing up every day. The theme of the 17th edition of the Smithsonian Magazine Museum Day is "Experience America,” in order to celebrate the reopening of museums after a year of extended closures due to covid-19.

"Museum Day represents a national commitment to access, equity and inclusion, and after a rough year and a half, we’re excited for museums to open their doors and offer these educational and cultural experiences to the public for free this Museum Day,” Amy Wilkins, chief revenue officer at Smithsonian Media, told USA Today. 

The 2020 edition of the annual Smithsonian Magazine Museum Day was canceled as a result of the pandemic. More than 324,920 tickets were downloaded the year before, according to USA Today. — ETX Studio