Palm Springs Art Museum’s Free Thursday Night

A night out in Palm Springs can get expensive before you’ve actually done anything. Palm Springs Art Museum’s Free Thursday Night offers a useful change of pace: an evening in the galleries with no admission charge. You can save the financial decision-making for dinner.

What’s free, and when?

The museum’s Free Thursday Night page currently lists free gallery and exhibition admission from 5 to 8 p.m. on Thursdays. Check the event page for your date before going; a free evening is still an event with a schedule.

The main museum is at 101 Museum Drive in Palm Springs. Use that address when planning this visit. The museum also has other locations, and “meet you at the museum” leaves more room for interpretation than it needs to.

Register before you head over

The museum asks visitors to register in advance and have their ticket ready to scan at the Main Entrance. Follow the registration link on the event page and save the ticket somewhere you can find it without conducting a full search of your inbox at the door.

Free admission covers the museum visit. Leave room in your budget for anything else you choose to buy during the evening.

Pick a few things you actually want to see

Browse the main museum’s current exhibitions before arriving. Choose a couple that interest you and leave time to wander. You don’t have to see every work in the building to have spent the evening well.

The museum also lists Artwork Bingo as part of Free Thursday Night: pick up a card and look for works that match its spaces. It gives a family visit a little structure without requiring anyone to deliver a lecture in front of a painting.

Make it an evening, not a checklist

If you’re meeting friends, agree on the entrance and a time, and have everyone sort out their registration first. Put dinner before or after the museum instead of trying to squeeze both into the same hour.

For more ideas that leave something in your wallet, see our guide to inexpensive things to do around the valley.