Friends of East Providence Public Library
Louise Paiva, Board Member
401-742-2751
Museum Passes – Family Fun at Affordable Prices
Have you ever seen a Picasso painting up close and personal? Walked on the deck of a World War II PT boat? Had a conversation with a 17th century farmer? These experiences and more are available to you and your family through the museum pass program of the East Providence Public Library. Funded by the Friends of East Providence Public Library, a volunteer organization, the passes provide an affordable way to learn through experience. All you need is a library card.
“We encourage families to take advantage of these exciting and educational opportunities,” noted Cheryl Muth, president of the Friends. Fifteen sites in Rhode Island and nearby Massachusetts and Connecticut are included in the program. The Friends pay an annual fee for each site which provides a significant discount off the cost of admission. For some passes, such as the Audubon Nature Center and Aquarium in Bristol and Rhode Island School of Design Museum, the discount amounts to free admission. Many provide a 50% discount or more.
Why visit a museum? These museums and living history sites provide a chance for people of all ages to learn about the past and to learn from the past. They bridge generations and cultures and bring learning to life through interactive and hands-on exhibits.
What can you expect? See a Rembrandt, a room from a Scottish palace, or jewelry from Egyptian broadcollars to contemporary pieces at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Museum passes provide admission for up to two people at $10 each, reducing the cost for two adults from $54 to $20.
View a colossal 9’ tall Buddha, one of the largest Japanese Buddhas in the United States, dating to the 12thcentury, at the Rhode Island School of Design Museum. Passes provide free admission for two. Watch maple syrup being made from tree to table in a recreated 1830s New England town at Old Sturbridge Village. Passes offer a 50% discount for up to 4 people, so the cost of two adults and two children is $39, instead of $78.
Talk to first-person interpreters who speak, dress and act as the early settlers of Plymouth Colony in the 1620s at Plimoth Patuxet. With 50% off museum passes, the admission price for two adults and two children is $51, rather than $102.
Just over the Braga Bridge at Battleship Cove, experience firsthand what it was like to serve on a Navy warship in WWII and the Vietnam War. Explore five historically preserved ships and other vessels. With museum passes, admission for two adults and two children is only $12, rather than the regular $80.
For more details and to reserve museum passes with your library card, visit the East Providence Public Library website at
https://www.eastprovidencelibrary.org/museum-passes/
Thanks to funding by the Friends of East Providence Public Library, the following passes are available: Audubon Nature Center and Aquarium, Bristol; Battleship Cove, Fall River, MA; Blithewold Mansion, Bristol; The Breakers, Newport; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA; Museum of Science, Boston, MA; Mystic Seaport, Mystic, CT; New Bedford Whaling Museum, New Bedford, MA; New England Aquarium, Boston, MA; Old Sturbridge Village, Sturbridge, MA; Plimoth Patuxet, Plymouth, MA; Providence Children’s Museum; Rhode Island School of Design Museum, Providence; Roger Williams Park Zoo, Providence; and Save the Bay’s Hamilton Family Aquarium, Newport.