Bank of America Museums on Us Review (Free Dates) [2021]

For over 20 years Bank of America has offered special privileges for getting into museums across the country. The program is known as the “Museums on Us Program” and it allows you to get into museums all around the US for free.

In this article, I will tell you everything you need to know about the program, including which cards are eligible and which weekends are free. I also have a full list at the end of the article with every participating museum.

Table of Contents

What is the Bank of America Museums on Us Program?

The Bank of America Museums on Us Program is a special program that allows Bank of America customers to visit museums all around the US free of charge on a select weekend each month. Keep reading below to see exactly which customers have access and what weekends are free. 

What Bank of America cards are eligible for the Museums on Us Program?

You can get free entry into select museums with the credit cards or debit cards from the following institutions: 

  • Bank of America
  • Merrill Lynch
  • U.S. Trust

Note: (Business cards or personal cards should work).

You will also need to show a photo ID when you use your card to get in for free (although not always). Also, you can only get free entry for the cardholder — guests must pay separate entrance fees. If you add an authorized user they should be able to get in for free.

I’ve also seen parents add their kids to their checking accounts so they have their own debit cards but have read mixed reports with the success of doing that so be warned that it might not always work (even though it appears that it should). 

Bank of America has some pretty solid credit cards you might want to pick up like the co-branded Alaska Airlines credit card, Virgin Atlantic card, and Asiana card. (Since some of these cards are less common and don’t have the Bank of America logo on them in obvious fashion, you might have to take a little bit of extra time to show the museum that these cards are eligible.)

Here are a couple of their other cards you might be interested in:

Bank of America Premium Rewards

  • Earn unlimited points – 2 points for every $1 spent on travel and dining purchases and 1.5 points per $1 on all other purchases Calculate Rewards
  • 50,000 bonus points – a $500 value – after you make at least $3,000 in purchases in the first 90 days of account opening
  • Get up to $200 in combined Airline Incidental and TSA Pre-Check /Global Entry Statement Credits

The Bank of America Premium Rewards Credit Card comes with no annual fee so with a card like this you’re able to hold on to the museum benefit for free. Of course, since debit cards also work you might just stick with your debit card if you already have an account with Bank of America.

Tip: Use WalletFlo for all your credit card needs. It’s free and will help you optimize your rewards and savings!

Bank of America Cash Rewards

  • Earn 3% cash back in the category of your choice: gas, online shopping, dining, travel, drug stores, or home improvement/furnishings 
  • Plus, earn 2% cash back at grocery stores and wholesale clubs, and unlimited 1% cash back on all other purchases Calculate rewards
  • Earn 3% and 2% cash back on the first $2,500 in combined choice category/grocery store/wholesale club purchases each quarter, then earn 1%

Before applying for these cards, just make sure you are aware of the credit card application rules.

What 2021 weekends are free? 

With the program, you can enjoy free admission on the first full weekend of every month. So the first Saturday and Sunday of a given month are eligible when both the Saturday and the Sunday fall in that month. Here’s a list of all of the free weekends for 2021 below.   

  • January: 2 & 3
  • February: 6 & 7
  • March: 6 & 7
  • April: 3 & 4
  • May: 1 & 2
  • June: 5 & 6
  • July: 3 & 4
  • August: 7 & 8
  • September: 4 & 5
  • October: 2 & 3
  • November: 6 & 7
  • December: 4 & 5

If you don’t want to keep track of which weekends are the free dates then you can sign up for email reminders. These should arrive in your inbox every month and you can sign up for them here.

There are some reports of people getting turned away when special events are taking place. These don’t appear to be that common but it’s something that you want to be on the lookout for when the special event doesn’t have an exclusive entrance. In those cases, you can try to reason with the ticket desk and just assure them you won’t be entering in the special exhibition but YMMV. 

Tip: Many museums offer free entry on certain days of the week/month/year so always be on the lookout. You can search for some free days here. Just be warned that free days at museums sometimes have ridiculously long lines so you might want to avoid them if you don’t like dealing with crowds. By the way, you might want to read my tips for visiting museums.

What type of admission do you get? 

The Museums on Us Program will grant you general admission into these museums. Thus, if there is a special exhibit which requires you to pay for entry, you likely won’t get free access to that exhibit. Also, some museums have fast-track lanes and you likely won’t get access to those either (though it never hurts to ask). 

The price of admission to these museums will vary but it’s not uncommon to get about $15 to $25 worth of value from a free general admission ticket. Some museums may try to up-sell you to more expensive tickets (at a discount) when you enter so be prepared for that. 

What type of museums participate?

I have a full list of all of the museums in the program below, but you can expect a wide variety of museums in this program. Some museums are very well known like the Art Institute of Chicago, the Met in New York, etc. 

However, you will also find a lot smaller museums that you probably have never heard of. The great thing about those museums is that even if you’re not in love with them when you visit, at least you can get into them for free. And without a doubt, some of them will be hidden gems with some interesting art and artifacts to check out. 

List of Bank of America free museums

Below is a list of all of the museums that participate in the program. Keep in mind that they are constantly adding new museums so you should always check to see what the latest museums are. I will try to keep this list as updated as possible but if you want to check your self you can do that here.

Update: It appears that Bank of America no longer publishes the entire list of eligible museums and you have to search for them individually based on your region. Still, the list below could be helpful in finding potential museums to visit –just be sure to verify that they are still in the program.

Alaska

Anchorage

Arizona

Phoenix

Scottsdale

Tucson

Arkansas

Little Rock

California

Bakersfield

Fresno

Laguna Beach

Long Beach

Los Angeles

Mountain View

Oakland

Orange County

Palm Desert

Palm Springs

Redlands

Riverside

Sacramento

San Diego

San Francisco

San Jose

San Luis Obispo

Santa Barbara

Yountville

Colorado

Denver

Connecticut

Fairfield

Greenwich

Hartford

New Britain

Waterbury

Delaware

Wilmington

District of Columbia

Washington

Florida

Bradenton

Coral Gables

Daytona Beach

Fort Lauderdale

Islamorada

Jacksonville

Jensen Beach

Miami

Miami Beach

Naples

Orlando

Sarasota

St. Petersburg

Tallahassee

Tampa

Vero Beach

West Palm Beach

Georgia

Atlanta

Augusta

Cartersville

Savannah

Idaho

Boise

Illinois

Chicago

Lisle

Skokie

Indiana

Fishers

Indianapolis

Yountville

Iowa

Davenport

Des Moines

Kansas

Wichita

Maine

Portland

Rockland

Maryland

Baltimore

Massachusetts

Boston

Concord

Hyannis

Lenox

Springfield

Worcester

Michigan

Dearborn

Detroit

Flint

Grand Rapids

Minnesota

Minneapolis

St. Paul

Missouri

Kansas City

Nevada

Las Vegas

Reno

New Hampshire

Manchester

New Jersey

Cherry Hill

Clinton

Millville

Montclair

Morristown

Newark

New Mexico

Albuquerque

Santa Fe

New York

Albany

Brooklyn

Buffalo

Centerport

Garden City

Huntington

Kingston

New York

Riverhead

Rochester

Roslyn Harbor

Stony Brook

Syracuse

Yonkers

North Carolina

Asheville

Charlotte

Greensboro

Raleigh

Wilmington

Winston-Salem

Ohio

Cincinnati

Cleveland

Columbus

Dayton

Oklahoma

Bartlesville

Oklahoma City

Tulsa

Oregon

Eugene

Portland

Pennsylvania

Chadds Ford

Doylestown

Philadelphia

Pittsburgh

Rhode Island

Newport

Providence

South Carolina

Charleston

Columbia

Greenville

Tennessee

Memphis

Nashville

Texas

Austin

Canyon

Dallas

El Paso

Fort Worth

Houston

San Antonio

Virginia

Charlottesville

Portsmouth

Richmond

Washington

Bellevue

Seattle

Spokane

Tacoma

Bank of America Art Conservation Project

Bank of America also oversees an art conservation project. They provide grants to nonprofit museums to conserve historically or culturally significant works of art that are in danger of degeneration, including works that have been designated as national treasures. Each year they take new grant submissions so if you think you might qualify you should look into it.

Final word

Getting a free general admission ticket to museums every month is a great perk. The only drawback I see is that you don’t get access to the special exhibitions and you might have to forgo other passes like FastTrack. But it doesn’t get much easier than just showing your card to get free access so I am a big fan of this program.

2 comments

  1. Thank you for putting this together. I just got a Bank of America card and I will definitely take advantage of this. (You might want to go back and add in a heading for New Jersey.)

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *