Museum Month: Because the World Doesn’t Accept SeaLion Dollars

This month, you can get into over 40 San Diego museums for half the price.

Museums aren’t just for your grandparents. Museums also don’t have to break your wallet. With the Museum Month pass, you can experience San Diego museums at a price that won’t make it look like you’ve been chopping onions.

Museum Month passes are free and can be picked up at numerous San Diego libraries, including Point Loma/Hervey Library and Ocean Beach Library, both a ten-minute drive from the Point Loma Nazarene University campus. With a pass, up to four people can get into a participating museum for 50% of the normal price.

Of more than 40 participating museums, several are close to our cliff side home. Easily accessible by shuttle, the New Americans Museum and Visions Art Museum are located in Liberty Station and accept the Museum Month pass.

If you’re feeling spontaneous, visit Balboa Park and museum hop for the day! Over seven museums are located in Balboa Park, all accepting the pass, including the Museum of Photographic Arts and the San Diego Air & Space Museum.

Executive Director of the San Diego Museum Council, Nicole Miller, encourages students to get involved, despite any stereotypes surrounding museums. She explained that many of these establishments are contemporary, some with artists from the across the border, creating art that reflects our current world. She said, “It is essential that young people have their voices and viewpoints reflected in museum worldviews.”

When it comes to stereotypes, sophomore history major Kaden Matheson said, “The false stereotypes surrounding museums are reflections of a culture which is so future-oriented that it forgets what actually shapes the future: the present.”

There is a place for every student, regardless of major. Miller suggests checking out the Air and Space Museum and the Fleet Science Center specifically for STEM majors, which offer several volunteer opportunities. Matheson agreed with Miller, saying that if you haven’t found a museum you like, you just haven’t been to the right one yet. She said, “History is the study of humanity within time, which means that it covers every aspect of human existence: business, engineering, physics, graphic design, language, music, journalism…the list goes on.”

Miller reminds students that museums are part of the history we’re creating every day. “They don’t belong to the executive directors or the staff, they belong to the public,” she said, “That’s the most interesting part about museums, that this is our stuff, this is our culture. We own this.”

Check out all participating museums and Museum Month pass

pick-up spots at www.sandiegomuseumcouncil.org.