With standard adult museum tickets in Manhattan now hovering around $30, an impromptu afternoon of art can quickly start to feel like a luxury splurge. Fortunately, thanks to municipal land charters, civic endowments, and corporate sponsorships, nearly every major cultural institution in New York opens its doors for free—or for a single dollar—if you know the schedule.

Start with the power of a New York library card or local ID. At the Metropolitan Museum of Art (1000 Fifth Ave), the American Museum of Natural History (Central Park West & 79th St), and Brooklyn Botanic Garden, anyone who lives, works, or attends school in New York shows proof of residency to unlock Pay-What-You-Wish admission every single day of the week—meaning you can legitimately pay $1 at the ticket counter.

Better yet, if you hold an NYPL, Brooklyn Public Library, or Queens Public Library card, you can log into Culture Pass (culturepass.nyc) and reserve 100% free passes for up to four people at over eighty museums, including the Guggenheim, the Intrepid Museum, the Cooper Hewitt, and the New-York Historical Society.

Friday evening is the undisputed golden window for everyone—residents and visitors alike. Every Friday from 5:00 PM to 10:00 PM, the Whitney Museum of American Art (99 Gansevoort St in the Meatpacking District) hosts Free Friday Nights with open access to all exhibitions, rooftop terraces overlooking the High Line, and a lobby bar. Across town in Murray Hill, The Morgan Library & Museum (225 Madison Ave) opens Pierpont Morgan’s jaw-dropping 1906 Renaissance library vault for free every Friday from 5:00 PM to 7:00 PM with an advance online timed reservation.

Also on Fridays from 5:30 PM to 8:30 PM, the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA, 11 W 53rd St) offers free UNIQLO Friday Nights exclusively for New York State residents, while the Rubin Museum’s programs and the Poster House in Chelsea (119 W 23rd St) make every single Friday completely free for all guests all day long.

Across the East River, MoMA PS1 in Long Island City (22-25 Jackson Ave) is free year-round for all New York State residents, the Bronx Museum of the Arts on the Grand Concourse is 100% free for everyone every day it is open, and the Brooklyn Museum (200 Eastern Pkwy) throws its legendary free First Saturdays festival on the first Saturday of each month from 5:00 PM to 11:00 PM with live music, curator talks, and late-night gallery access.