Area Attractions: Free Fun Fridays (Massachusetts)

The Highland Street Foundation just announced its sixth annual “Free Fun Fridays” initiative, a summer program that opens doors at no cost to visitors to many of the most treasured cultural venues in Massachusetts. This year, 66 museums and cultural institutions will participate in the program, an increase from the 60 venues that participated in 2013. Beginning June 27^th through August 29^th, between five and seven venues will be open free-of-charge every Friday for 10 weeks this summer.

 

The Highland Street Foundation provides grants to participating venues to cover the cost of opening their doors for free.  It has invested more than $650,000 to support the 2014 “Free Fun Fridays” program. Celebrating its 25^th anniversary this year, Highland Street Foundation has proudly donated more than $150 million to 950 groups since its inception in 1989.

 

This year, the program welcomes back favorite sites like the Museum of Fine Arts, and the Peabody Essex Museum, along with new venues, including the MIT Museum and the Sandwich Glass Museum. A complete list of all participating venues and dates is below.

 

To learn more about the Free Fun Fridays, visit facebook.com/HighlandStreet and @HighlandStreet.

 

The following institutions are participating in Free Fun Fridays 2014:

Friday, June 27, 2014

Franklin Park Zoo (Dorchester)

Cape Cod Maritime Museum (Hyannis Port)

Worcester Art Museum (Worcester)

Tanglewood (Lenox)

The Sports Museum (Boston)

Mass MoCA (North Adams)

MIT Museum (Cambridge)

 

Friday, July 04, 2014

Heritage Museums & Gardens (Sandwich)

Edward Gorey House (Yarmouth Port)

Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival (Becket)

Amelia Park Children’s Museum (Westfield)

Falmouth Museums on the Green (Falmouth)

 

Friday, July 11, 2014

John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum (Boston)

Peabody Essex Museum (Salem)

Worcester Historical Museum (Worcester)

Fruitlands Museum (Harvard)

Cape Cod Children’s Museum (Mashpee)

New England Historic Genealogical Society (Boston)

Pilgrim Hall Museum (Plymouth)

 

Friday, July 18, 2014

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (Boston)

Ocean Explorium (New Bedford)

The Eric Carle Museum (Amherst)

Larz Anderson Auto Museum (Brookline)

Springfield Museums (Springfield)

Mass Audubon’s Boston Nature Center (Boston)

Sandwich Glass Museum (Sandwich)

 

Friday, July 25, 2014

The Freedom Trail Foundation (Boston)

Battleship Cove (Fall River)

Children’s Museum in Easton (Easton)

Tower Hill Botanic Garden (Boylston)

Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University (Boston)

Cape Cod Museum of Art (Dennis)

Danforth Art (Framingham)

 

Friday, August 1, 2014

Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum (Boston)

Commonwealth Shakespeare Company (Boston)

American Textile History Museum (Lowell)

The Discovery Museums (Acton)

Hancock Shaker Village (Pittsfield)

Concord Museum (Concord)

Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center (Great Barrington)

 

Friday, August 8, 2014

Boston Harbor Islands National Park (Boston)

Clark Art Institute (Williamstown)

Wenham Museum (Wenham)

USS Constitution Museum (Charlestown)

Children’s Museum at Holyoke (Holyoke)

Volleyball Hall of Fame (Holyoke)

Fuller Craft Museum (Brockton)

 

Friday, August 15, 2014

The Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston (Boston)

Plimoth Plantation (Plymouth)

Garden in the Woods (Framingham)

Museum of Russian Icons (Clinton)

Fitchburg Art Museum (Fitchburg)

Historic Deerfield (Deerfield)

Reagle Museum Theatre (Waltham)

 

Friday, August 22, 2014

Boston Children’s Museum (Boston)

Museum of African American History (Boston)

New Bedford Whaling Museum (New Bedford)

Old Manse, Trustees of Reservations (Concord)

Berkshire Museum (Pittsfield)

Emily Dickinson Museum (Amherst)

 

Friday, August 29, 2014

Buttonwood Park Zoo (New Bedford)

EcoTarium (Worcester)

Cape Cod Museum of Natural History (Brewster)

Norman Rockwell Museum (Stockbridge)

The Mount: Edith Warton’s Home (Lenox)

Griffin Photography Museum (Winchester)