After five months of pandemic-induced closures, the museums of New York City are finally allowed to reopen as of August 24. While some cultural institutions—elsewhere in the country and internationally—have been open for months already, those in New York are among the last to welcome guests once again.
Along with schools, workplaces, restaurants, and performance venues, policies for visiting museums have been overhauled as a result of COVID-19, and new State guidelines enacted. Cultural institutions must now use advanced ticketing systems with designated visiting times for each guest, all while capping building capacities at 25 percent. Masks are also required. Some museums, like the Metropolitan Museum of Art, will require temperature screenings, while others, such as the Whitney, will employ new circulation routes to ensure optimal social distancing.
However, some institutions will continue to rely on online programming for the foreseeable future, as they have throughout the pandemic.
Read on for a list of New York City museum reopening dates:
- MoMA, August 27
- The American Folk Art Museum, August 28
- The Metropolitan Museum of Art, August 29
- The Whitney, September 3
- American Museum of Natural History, September 9
- David Zwirner New York galleries, September 10-15
- Met Cloisters, September 12
- New Museum, September 15
- MOMA PS1, September 17
- The Guggenheim, October 3
