7 'Museum Mile' Institutions Offer Free Admission Tuesday Night

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — Seven cultural institutions on "Museum Mile" — a stretch of Fifth Avenue spanning the Upper East Side and East Harlem — will offer free admission Tuesday night for the Museum Mile Festival.

The festival was created in the 1978 to generate support for the arts during New York City's financial crisis.

"From the barrios of East Harlem and the townhouses lining the Upper East Side, to the winding streets of the Village and the clustered neighborhoods of the outer-boroughs, people came to celebrate their shared pride in their city. Museum Mile Festival promoted public awareness through increased visibility, accessibility and attendance at all the museums, and brought many New Yorkers to upper Fifth Avenue for the first time," reads the festival's website.

Here are the seven museums participating in the Museum Mile Festival:

• Museo del Barrio — 1230 Fifth Ave. near East 104th Street;
• Museum of the City of New York — 1220 Fifth Ave. near East 104th Street;
• The Jewish Museum — 1109 Fifth Ave. between East 92nd and 93rd streets;
• Cooper Hewitt, National Design Museum — 2 E. 91st St. near Fifth Avenue;
• Soloman R. Guggenheim Museum — 1071 Fifth Ave. near East 88th Street;
• Neue Galerie New York — 1048 Fifth Ave. near East 86th Street;
• The Metropolitan Museum of Art — 1000 Fifth Ave near East 82nd Street.

The Museum Mile Festivale will begin at 5:45 p.m. Tuesday night with a kick-off event held at the Museo del Barrio. The free admission specials will end at 9 p.m. Visitors do not have to attend the kick-off special to participate in the festival and can visit the museums in whichever order they desire. (Sign up for Patch's free daily newsletters and real-time news alerts for more New York City local news.)

In addition to free admission, the festival will also include a number of performances and participatory elements. Museumgoers will be able to create musical instruments, join a theatrical performance, take a dancing lesson and photograph their favorite museums, according to the Museum Mile Festival schedule.

For a look at the full events schedule, check out this website.

Photo by Stephen Chernin/Getty Images News/Getty Images