A list of free sources for art, books, films, theater, and more in NYC.
Arts and Culture
- CUNY Arts Pass provides free access to many museums and other cultural institutions in New York City. Scroll down to the bottom of the page to find a list of cultural institutions that provide free access to CUNY students, faculty, and staff. There are also many museums and cultural institutions that are always free or allow visitors to pay what they wish.
- Culture Pass
Explore local museums & attractions with Culture Pass! If you have a library card from the Brooklyn Public Library, Queens Public Library, or New York Public Library (serving the Bronx, Manhattan, and Staten Island), you can reserve free passes to 80+ cultural institutions across NYC. - El Museo del Barrio (Free admission to CUNY students, faculty, and staff!)
“The mission of El Museo del Barrio is to present and preserve the art and culture of Puerto Ricans and all Latin Americans in the United States.” - Frick Museum (Free admission to CUNY students, faculty, and staff!)
“The Frick is known for its distinguished Old Master paintings and outstanding examples of European sculpture and decorative arts” Check out these short talks by curators on great masterpieces in their collection. - Google Arts and Culture – Become a virtual museum explorer!
- Museum of the City of New York (Free admission to CUNY students, faculty, and staff!)
Documents and preserves the history of New York. Explore New York’s past virtually through over 250,000 objects from the museum’s collection. - Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) (Free admission for CUNY students, faculty, and staff!)
The MOMA provides modern and contemporary art, sculptures, and films. Also check out MOMA’s Coursera site for innovative (free!) courses on art. Also check out MoMA on YouTube. - Whitney Museum of Art (Free admission to CUNY students, faculty, and staff!)
“The Whitney presents the full range of twentieth-century and contemporary American art, with a special focus on works by living artists.” View the Whitney’s artport site which provides access to original art works commissioned specifically for artport by the Whitney, documentation of net art and new media art exhibitions at the Whitney, and new media art in the Museum’s collection.
E-Books, Anime, Comics, and Fanfiction
- E-Books at BMCC*
Search CUNY’s hundreds of thousands ebooks - Archive of Our Own (AO3)
A nonprofit open source repository for fanfiction and other fanworks contributed by users. Archive of Our Own hosts over 6 million works in over 40,000 fandoms. - Brooklyn Public Library (BPL)
Access to thousands of ebooks, audiobooks, magazines, movies, and more! Get a library card! - Crunchyroll
Massive streaming library of anime. The site is free but a premium subscription lets you watch without the ads. - HathiTrust
Partnership of academic and research institutions, offering a collection of millions of titles digitized from libraries around the world. To access their archives, log in as a Guest. - New York Public Library (NYPL)
Download the Simply-E or Libby app to access millions of audiobooks and e-books in all genres. Get a library card! - Open Library from Internet Archive
An open, editable library catalog, building towards a web page for every book ever published. Requires free registration to “check out” a book. - Project Gutenberg
Over 60,000 out of copyright books. - Queens Public Library (QPL)
Access to thousands of ebooks, audiobooks, magazines, movies, and more! Get a library card! - Shonen Jump
Many popular manga titles, with a strong back catalog and new chapters the same day as Japan. - Viki.com
Asian TV shows and movies online for free. Premium access provides access to additional content and removes ads. - Webtoons
Contains thousands of creator-owned content in many genres from around the world.
Movies
- MUBI
A streaming service for film enthusiasts. MUBI offers contemporary and classic films from around the world. Students can sign up for a 30 day free trial. - Swank*
Over 150 popular films such as Black Panther, The Godfather, Wonder Woman, and more. - For more film databases through BMCC see our video databases page.
- A list of free film databases can be found in the “Find Films” section of this guide from the Graduate Center.
Music
- Naxos Music Library*
Streaming music library of mainly classical and world music. Includes some pop and rock, choral, instrumental, gospel, poetry, spoken word, and relaxation music.
Newspapers
- CUNY Libraries provides access to two of the most respected newspapers in the country!
- New York Times
- Wall Street Journal (use your student email to create a free account)
For more newspapers see our newspapers page.
Performing Arts
- Digital Theatre+*
Provides unlimited access to over 1000+ full-length productions and educational resources. - Lincoln Center Summer for the City
Hundreds of free events including dancing, music, film screenings, wellness, and more. (A few events are not free but you can pay what you wish.) - Shakespeare in the Parks – hosted by the NYC Parks Department, Shakespeare plays performed in parks across the city for free!
- Summerstage in Central Park – mostly free concerts held at the Rumsey Playfield in Central Park
- Theatre Development Fund (CUNY students, faculty, and staff can join for free!)
All tickets cost only $20 or $40 for nearly two dozen Broadway shows.
Parks and Nature
- Bronx Zoo Live Cams (Admission to the Bronx Zoo is free to NYC undergraduate college students.)
Includes fan favorites such as the Spiny Forest in Madagascar, JungleWorld, the Sea Lion Pool, and Ocean Wonders: Sharks. The cams are live daily from 10am to 4pm EST. Tune in for regular animal feedings. - National Geographic Virtual Library*
The complete archive of the National Geographic Magazine from 1888 to the mid-1990s. - New York City Parks – the Parks Department hosts many free events throughout the five boroughs including movie screenings, yoga, live music and theater, and nature tours.
- San Diego Zoo Live cameras
Includes the penguin cam, hippo cam, elephant cam, tiger cam, and many more!
*BMCC databases. Login with your CUNY login – what you use for Blackboard and CUNYFirst. If you are not able to access any of the BMCC databases, please contact us via the chat box on the right hand side of the page or email us.
