Did you know there is a way to get two free tickets to dozens of museums and arts organizations across the state? With spring break and summer vacation on the horizon, parents often worry about how to keep kids busy and off electronics during the extended time off from school. The Act One Culture Pass is the perfect solution to this conundrum. 

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The Act One Culture Pass provides access for students, seniors and under-resourced families to visit many of Arizona’s arts and cultural treasures at no cost.  

“Families looking to explore Arizona are in luck,” says Anne Osborne, Act One Culture Pass manager. “Not only do we have exciting activities to explore in the Valley, but we also have excellent community partners across the state from as far north as Flagstaff to as far south as Tucson and everything in between.”

“There are so many opportunities to take day trips and discover everything these cultural centers and museums have to offer all for the cost of just a tank of gas,” Osborne adds. 

This year there are 26 arts and cultural venues and 16 performing arts organizations that are part of the program. In Metro Phoenix, the culture pass can be used at dozens of well-known establishments including the Desert Botanical Garden, Heard Museum, and the Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art. It also includes smaller and lesser-known facilities in the Valley like the River of Time Museum, the Desert Caballeros Western Museum and the Gilbert Historical Museum. 

Those interested in exploring Northern Arizona can embrace the pines at the Arboretum at Flagstaff or spend the day with red rock art and culture at the Sedona Heritage Museum. In Southern Arizona, community partners include the Tucson Botanical Gardens, the Tucson Museum of Art, the University of Arizona Museum of Art and many others.

“Using the Act One Culture Pass is simple, all you need is a library card and a desire to explore our great state,” Osborne says. “Arizona residents can stop by one of the more than 175 libraries statewide to “check out” the Act One Culture Pass. Passes are good for free admission for two individuals to the arts and cultural institutions in their local area and throughout the state.” 

The Act One Culture Pass is also good at more than a dozen Phoenix and Tucson performing arts organizations, including the Arizona Opera, The Phoenix Symphony and programs at the Chandler Center for the Arts. 

The program offers more than 500,000 passes annually in 13 of 15 counties. Currently, 87 library branches in Central Arizona support the Act One Culture Pass along with 51 in Southern Arizona and 32 in Northern Arizona, and new locations are being added regularly. Each library has a designated number of passes for the public. Once individuals check out a pass at a local library, they have seven days to redeem the tickets at the location.

Since taking over management of the Culture Pass in 2013, Act One has offered more than 3 million passes to Arizona families.

To find a library that hosts the Culture Pass program, visit https://act1az.org/culture-pass.