Museums Are for Everyone: How We Ensure Access for All Income Levels
By Liz Holden Boatwright
The early childhood years are a crucial foundation for future social and emotional health, learning, and achievement. And free play is one of the most important ways to build that foundation. Free play helps improve kids’ social skills, enhances their curiosity, and can even contribute to higher grades several years later. Play is serious business. And that’s why, at the North Shore Children’s Museum, we’re committed to ensuring that all children can visit and play.
Thanks to the generosity of our sponsor New England Biolabs, we’re a participant in the Card to Culture and Museums for All Initiatives, which allow us to offer discounts to EBT, WIC, and ConnectorCare health plan insurance cardholders. Card to Culture is a statewide initiative of cultural organizations and is run by the Mass Cultural Council, Department of Transitional Assistance, Massachusetts Health Connector, and the Women, Infants, & Children (WIC) Nutrition Program. Museums for All is a national initiative providing SNAP recipients discounted admission to more than 1,300 museums nationwide.
We’ve also partnered with 29 local libraries to offer one pass per day that offers half-price admission for up to five family members. Also for local residents, we frequently host weekends where we offer free or discounted admission by city or town. Follow us on Facebook or Instagram so you don’t miss the next one!
And for educators and other youth group leaders, a field trip can be a great way to access the museum. We offer field trips on Mondays and Tuesdays, when the museum is closed to the public. Thanks to sponsors we have been able to offer some scholarships to help fund field trips for local schools. For more information on school and group field trips, please contact nscminfo@peabody-ma.gov.
For more information and to purchase tickets, please visit our Tickets page. If you would like to purchase a ticket with an EBT, WIC, or ConnectorCare card and tickets are sold out online, we do have walk in tickets available every day, or you can send us an email at nscminfo@peabody-ma.gov or call during business hours at 978-538-5765.