Starting in July, Bay Area residents can attend SFMOMA for free on the first Thursday of every month.
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) is an iconic SF museum that’s worth revisiting each time they put out an exciting new exhibition. Lucky for us, SFMOMA just announced that they are launching monthly free admission days for Bay Area residents, happening the first Thursday of every month from 4-8pm.
According to a caption on the museum’s Instagram, all residents from the nine Bay Area counties may reserve their free spot for first Thursdays, simply by using their zip code as the promo code. July 1st is the first free day, but it’s already sold out – so keep an eye on the SFMOMA website for August’s first Thursday tickets to be released! Keep in mind that some exhibitions will have limited capacity so as to respect social distancing requirements. You may add your party to a virtual waiting list for these exhibitions upon arrival.
SF MOMA is one of the City’s most famous museums, and you’ll find both large- and small-scale exhibitions to help you think critically about contemporary art in today’s society. If fine art isn’t your thing, this museum might change your mind! Some awesome things to check out are Diego Rivera’s Pan American Unity mural on the first floor and Olafur Eliasson’s One-Way Colour Tunnel on the fifth floor. More exhibitions include the following (see the full list here):
- Bay Area Walls (ongoing): Local artists respond to 2020 on large commissioned artworks displayed across 3 floors of the museum.
- Close to Home (until September 5): 7 Bay Area artists present their artistic, emotional, and political responses to the COVID-19 pandemic and other significant social events in 2020.
- Future Histories: Theaster Gates and Cauleen Smith (until July 18): Gates and Smith offer new perspectives on the past with archival photography, music, and video projections.
- Nam June Paik (until October 3): This wildly anticipated exhibition is a mesmerizing immersive experience showing over 200 works from the celebrated Korean American artist. It will be the first major show of Paik’s work in the U.S. in over 20 years.
- Off the Wall (until August 22): Five artists transform photographs into sculpture, with varying interpretations using picture frames, projections, and more.
- New Work: Charles Gains (until September 12): Prominent American artist Charles Gaines examines the Dred Scott Decision with drawings, videos, and a musical composition.
General admission usually costs $25 for adults, so these free admission days are a real treat! Keep an eye on the website for the next one, and be sure to check out these 6 other museums and gardens offering monthly free admission days.
[Featured Image: @bryanolivari via Instagram]