Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum Announces 'Free Thursday Nights'

Boston, MA (June 23, 2026) – The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum is pleased to announce Free Thursday Nights, an expansion of its popular Free First Thursdays. Launching in July, Free Thursday Nights will provide visitors year-round with free general admission every Thursday evening from 5 – 9 pm.  

Museum images available here 

The Free Thursday Nights program aims to expand access to the arts and build a hub of creative community that makes its home at the Gardner. In addition to touring the Museum’s galleries and seasonal Courtyard displays, visitors will be able to engage in a variety of creative activities taking place throughout the Museum. The first Thursday of every month will continue to offer the same robust programming visitors have come to expect, such as live music in the Courtyard, performances, and art making*. As always, the Museum’s rotating suite of exhibitions (which take place in the Hostetter and Fenway Galleries, and on the Anne H. Fitzpatrick Façade) will also be available for viewing.

“Free First Thursdays at the Gardner have become a popular monthly destination. We look forward to building upon their success, and to cultivating a space of connection and community,” says Norma Jean Calderwood Director Peggy Fogelman. “Arts are vital to a vibrant city. This was evident to Isabella Stewart Gardner over a century ago when she left the Museum ‘for the education and enjoyment of the public forever.’ Free Thursday Nights will expand this promise to Boston.”    

The Gardner began offering monthly free admission on First Thursdays in October 2020, after the COVID-19 pandemic, to provide much needed respite and inspiration for the community in a safe social space. With this latest evolution—Free Thursday Nights—the Museum will increase its free evening hours from once a month to every week. Additionally, the Museum offers free admission on its community days: Martin Luther King Jr. Day (January), Juneteenth (June), and Indigenous Peoples’ Day (October). 

With Free Thursday Nights, the Museum will more than double the number of total free hours offered from 90 to 218 per year.

Beyond Free Thursdays Nights and community days, free admission is offered to: 

• Anyone 17 and under
• Boston school-aged children and two guests on Boston Family Days, held the first two Sundays of each month 
• Gardner Museum Members
• Military and their families 
• Students and faculty of higher education institutions that are part of our university membership program 
• Corporate members 
• Anyone named Isabella  
   

Additional opportunities for access:

• Thinking Through Art (TTA), a partnership with 34 Boston Public Schools (BPS) that includes free general admission for students and teachers, subsidized bus transportation, and free family passes for TTA students
• Wonderfund Access Card holders receive free general admission for two adults and up to six children (17 and under) per card, for a total of eight admitted per visit
   

Advance reservations for Free Thursday Nights are recommended due to capacity limits. Timed, general admission tickets will become available on Tuesdays (2 days prior) at 10 am. Public programs (e.g. panel discussions or lectures related to special exhibitions) and performances may require a separate, priced ticket, but free creative engagements will always be offered every Thursday evening. Additionally, the Museum shop, Gift at the Gardner, and restaurant, Café G, are open late on Thursdays.

*Due to the Independence Day holiday, July 2 will not feature any special programs. Free Thursday Nights programming will begin on July 9.

July’s theme will be “Summer Colors,” with floral watercolor painting offered in the Bertucci Education Studio.

Download press release here