If you’re a public library cardholder in the Twin Cities area, you can get FREE or discounted passes to a wide variety of museums, theater productions and other arts experiences!
SmARTpass is a brand new arts access program open exclusively to metro public library users. As a pilot program, smARTpass is a smaller-scale, six-month test to see how a larger-scale program might work in practice (so try it out!).
If you have a library card from any of the eight public library systems in the Twin Cities 7-county metro (Anoka, Carver, Dakota, Hennepin, Ramsey, Scott, and Washington counties, and the city of Saint Paul), you have the opportunity to reserve free and/or discounted admission to a wide range of arts experiences.
The cultural organizations partnering with the metro public libraries have generously agreed to offer a substantial number of free admissions – and they are NOT reimbursed for these!
Some partnering organizations include:
Bell Museum of Natural History
Firefighters Hall & Museum
Hennepin History Museum
Stages Theatre Company
The Ordway
The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra
…and more!
All you need is your library card to get the free passes – but you need to know in advance when you can use the passes. Plus, there are some strict rules – particularly that you can’t change your reservation after you’ve made it, and you get only one pair of admissions/tickets for each program. Learn more on their website.
Have you tried SmARTpass yet? How did it work for you? Leave your feedback in the comments!