Museums Free to Military Personnel and Their Families

The Metropolitan Museum, the Guggenheim and the New Museum are among the roughly 40 museums in New York City that will offer free admission to active-duty military service members and their families — including those active in the Reserves and the National Guard — this summer.

The offer runs from Memorial Day until Labor Day. More than 1,600 museums are participating nationwide in the annual program, which has more than doubled in size since 2010.

“We are honored to once again welcome U.S. service members and their families to the Metropolitan Museum,” said Emily Rafferty, president of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, in a statement. “The Museum is an American treasure, and we are grateful to share it with those who have given so much to our nation.”

The expanded Blue Star Museums initiative was announced at the Met on Monday. The program began two years ago as a partnership between the National Endowment for the Arts, Blue Star Families and the Defense Department. Three hundred new museums are participating this year -- including 28 New York institutions, seven New Jersey museums and five in Connecticut.

Here's a list of some of the Tri-State area museums offering free tuition for active duty military personnel and their families this summer.

Note: Some city museums, including the Bronx Museum of the Arts, the Museum of Arts and Design and the Museum of Modern Art, are free year-round to military servicemembers and their families. See that list here.

New York City - Brooklyn

• Brooklyn Children's Museum
• Brooklyn Historical Society
• Brooklyn Museum
• New York Transit Museum
• Promote Art Works, Inc. (a.k.a Micro Museum)

  New York City - Manhattan

• American Folk Art Museum
• American Museum of Natural History
• Asia Society Museum
• Children's Museum of Manhattan
• El Museo del Barrio
• Grey Art Gallery, New York University
• International Center of Photography
• Japan Society, Inc.
• The Jewish Museum
• The Metropolitan Musuem of Art
• Mount Vernon Hotel Museum & Garden
• Museum of Arts and Design
• Museum of Chinese in America
• Museum of Jewish Heritage - A Living Memorial to the Holocaust
• The Museum of Modern Art
• Museum of the City of New York
• National Museum of the American Indian, Heye Center
• New Museum
• New York City Fire Museum
• New York Public Library for the Performing Arts
• Society of Illustrators
• Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum
• The Studio Museum in Harlem
• The Ukrainian Museum

  New York City - Queens

• Greater Ridgewood Historical Society
• King Manor Museum
• Queens Historical Society at the Kingsland Homestead
• Queens Museum of Art

  New York City - Staten Island

• Alice Austen House Museum
• Jacques Marchais Museum of Tibetan Art
• Noble Maritime Collection
• Staten Island Children's Museum
• Staten Island Museum

  New York City - The Bronx

• Derfner Judaica Museum + The Art Collection at The Hebrew Home at Riverdale
• New York Botanical Garden
• Van Cortlandt House Museum/NSCD in NY
• Wave Hill

New Jersey -   Newark

• Newark Museum

New Jersey - Jersey City

• Liberty Science Center

New Jersey - Montclair

• Montclair Art Museum
• Montclair Historical Society

New Jersey - New Brunswick

• Zimmerli Art Museum

Connecticut - Stamford

• Stamford Museum & Nature Center

Connecticut  - Fairfield

• Bellarmine Museum of Art
• Fairfield Museum and History Center

With The Associated Press