Saved big bucks on museum memberships

[Gerard]

I go to many museums and art galleries when I travel, including/especially to the ROM and AGO in Toronto. Both museums sell "advanced" memberships that offer reciprocal privileges (i.e., you get in free to hundreds of other museums that belong to their networks). But (a) they cost between $189 and $300 a year and (b) they exclude other Toronto museums (i.e., the ROM won't let you in free with an AGO membership).
So, while in Buffalo the other day, we bought an associate-level membership in the Albright-Knox art gallery, for $150. It gives me and the people with me admission to both the ROM and the AGO, plus all those hundreds of other museums (basically anything in North America with the words "contemporary" or "modern" in the name). One trip with an accompanying adult and student to the ROM ($46-$75) and the AGO ($49 up), plus the visit to the Albright-Knox itself, which is a pretty good gallery ($36), and it's pretty well paid for itself! And now I and friend(s) get in free to at least one museum in every city I visit for the next year.
So the trick is, (a) find museums that participate in reciprocal arrangements with museums you like, and (b) become a member (at the right level) of the cheapest one. It might not be in your home town, and it very likely won't be Canadian...

[BZB]

very cool idea! Thanks for posting! I have a long-term goal of visiting all the best art museums in the US. This post made me start thinking how I could hack it the cheapest way.

[dragoncar]

Wow I never knew this!  It looks like special exhibitions are typically restricted.  Have you run into any other restrictions?  We should try to crowd source this to find the cheapest NARM membership:

https://sites.google.com/site/northamericanreciprocalmuseums/north-american-reciprocal-museum-listing

Edit:  if you start a search, try to post the best price for a given state.

Best I found for Alabama:

Gadsdenmuseum.com - $25 individual membership or $10 for students!

[SavingMon(k)ey]

I didn't know museums did that, but I know Denver Botanic Gardens is part of a network where I can get in many other botanic gardens with my membership. I haven't had a chance to use it, yet, but will definitely try.

[gooki]

You have to pay to go into museums and botanic gardens?

[nico demouse]

Just be careful, I've seen text on some museum websites where the reciprocity is limited to a minimum distance outside of your home address -- so in theory if I bought a children's museum membership in Madison but live in Chicago, the Chicago museum could deny the reciprocity because I am not a sufficient distance from my home base. Very highly YMMV on this, of course.

Another way to do museum visits cheap -- I volunteered for a while at a big city aquarium. My volunteer ID got me free entry to the aquarium I volunteered at plus all the other city museums. I volunteered only once every other week and loved the work, so it was totally worth it.

[seattlecyclone]

I've done this. The Museum of Flight in Seattle is a member of the ASTC passport program. Buy a membership in any of these museums and you get free admission to any of the others (as long as they're at least 90 miles from your house and the museum whose membership you bought). With this program we've gotten into museums in Honolulu, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Vancouver, and a couple other places.

[Gerard]

Nico's point about distance is important... I have the same issue here, where the Toronto museums restrict reciprocity to museums more than 15 km away.

Also, be really careful that you check the privileges for each level of membership, as the basic and student memberships usually *don't* include reciprocity... or they include it for only one group of museums. For the Albright-Knox, the basic membership only gets you into other NY State regional museums. I had to shell out for the "associate" membership to get into MOCA(LA) and the Frick and all those others.