New York, NY, May 7, 2026 — The Whitney Museum of American Art is offering free admission, performances, Ailey Extension dance classes, exhibition tours, music, and much more during Free Friday Nights and the May edition of Free Second Sundays. All month long at the Whitney, there are free programs to enjoy with friends and family, including special performances by cast members from WICKED on Broadway, a film screening and Q&A with Debbie Allen, and live music by Wendy Eisenberg presented with Public Records. This will also be one of the first chances to experience the newly opened Andy Warhol Family Album. The exhibition presents a collection of hundreds of Polaroids from 1972 to 1973 that captures Warhol’s immediate world of collaborators, celebrities, and friends. Together, these photographs offer an intimate and varied view of the artist’s world and day-to-day life.
Friday, May 1
From 5–10 pm, all visitors can enjoy free admission, art, drinks, and city views. DJ Danglez, a key figure in Brooklyn’s music scene known for his wide-ranging musical tastes that span reggae, dancehall, Soca, R&B, and beyond, will immerse visitors with music from 5–10 pm as
they enter the Whitney’s lobby for this Free Friday Night. At 6 pm and 8 pm in the third-floor theater, visitors can experience WICKED on Broadway cast performances. The program also features a panel discussion and Q&A exploring the artistry of WICKED with members of the creative team and the company. From 6:30–7:30 pm, Art + You: Gallery Conversations for Younger Adults will be offered in the seventh-floor galleries. Guided by Jaqueline Cedar, a museum educator and Brooklyn-based artist, this session invites younger adult visitors to slow down and spend time with Isamu Noguchi sculptures from the Whitney’s collection, currently on view in “Untitled” (America).
Friday, May 8
This Free Friday Night will feature special guest Debbie Allen for an evening honoring the enduring impact of her artistry and activism across generations. From 6–7 pm, visitors can enjoy a free pop-up dance class created by Debbie Allen, Dancing in the Light: Healing with the Arts, along with a live DJ set in the lobby. Originally launched at the Debbie Allen Dance Academy, this program provides high-energy dance and arts experiences for all levels, designed to foster hope, resilience, and emotional healing. From 7:30–9 pm, guests are invited to the third-floor theater for a screening of 100 Years of Debbie Allen, followed by a Q&A with Debbie Allen. As Debbie Allen turns 75 and the Debbie Allen Dance Academy celebrates its 25th anniversary, this feature documentary weaves together the personal and professional milestones that make up a century of cultural legacy. The film screening and conversation are free, but advance registration is required, and capacity is limited. Exclusive Debbie Allen Dance Academy merchandise, including limited-edition Debbie Allen tribute Barbie collectibles, will be available in the Museum Shop all evening.
Sunday, May 10
On Sunday, May 10, the Whitney is offering free admission from 10:30 am–6 pm for visitors of all ages during Free Second Sunday. At 11 am in the Museum’s lobby, visitors can drop by storytime with Spiral Books, celebrating independent bookstores and diverse children’s voices. From 11 am–4 pm in the third-floor theater, artists of all ages are invited to create their own floral still-life drawings of freshly picked bouquets. Visitors can take a close look at paintings by Georgia O’Keeffe, currently on view in “Untitled” (America), and get inspired by the artist’s intricate floral details that result in paintings blending abstraction with representation. From 11 am–3 pm in the third-floor theater, visitors can make their own collection of botanical rubbings inspired artist Sarah M. Rodriguez, whose work is currently on view in Whitney Biennial 2026. Rodriguez collects natural objects, casts them in aluminum using sand
as a mold, and then welds those casts together as sculpture. She often begins with materials that suggest temporality, like a seed pod that could grow over time.
Friday, May 15
In addition to free admission from 5–10 pm, visitors can enjoy music, art, city views, and more during Free Friday Nights at the Whitney. Presented as part of Whitney Biennial 2026, the evening includes Jonathan González’s performance, magic hour–golden time, from 6–9 pm. magic hour–golden time is a durational performance in which five performers activate the Museum’s terraces as both stage and vantage point. Unfolding over a three-hour duration, the performers relocate at the top of each hour to activate a different outdoor terrace of the Whitney. This performance was commissioned by the Whitney for the 2026 Biennial and is co-presented and supported by Frieze.
Friday, May 22
Offering free admission from 5–10 pm, the Whitney’s Free Friday Nights features art, drinks, special programming, music, and more. At 6:30 pm and 8:30 pm, dancers of all ages and experience levels are invited to participate in free pop-up dance classes with Ailey Extension in the lobby. Additional programs include exhibition highlights tours of Whitney Biennial 2026 and “Untitled” (America).
Friday, May 29
Free Friday Nights feature free admission from 5–10 pm, along with exhibition tours, food and drinks, music, and more. Co-presented by Brooklyn-based performance venue and community space Public Records, visitors will enjoy live music by Wendy Eisenberg at 6:30 pm and 8 pm in the third-floor theater. Eisenberg has spent the past decade as a fixture of independent music and an artist of inspired multiplicity. As a singer-songwriter, improviser, and virtuoso guitarist, the coordinates of their artistry are ever-shifting, from art-rock to jazz to blistering free improv and eloquent folk.
Ongoing Exhibition Tours
A variety of free exhibition tours led by Whitney educators, ranging from family-focused to 15- minute tours, are offered during Free Friday Nights and Free Second Sundays. For further details on upcoming tours, please visit whitney.org/events.
While general admission to the Whitney is free every Friday from 5–10 pm and all day on Sunday, May 10, tickets are still required, and capacity is limited. Advance booking is strongly recommended, and tickets can be reserved at whitney.org/admission.
PRESS CONTACT
CONTACTO DE PRENSA:
Daniela Botero daniela@ivoice.agency
For press materials and image requests, please visit our press site or contact:
Meghan Ferrucci, Senior Publicist
(212) 671-8346
Meghan_Ferrucci@whitney.org
Whitney Press Office
whitney.org/press
(212) 570-3633
pressoffice@whitney.org
PROGRAM SUPPORT
Major support for Free 25 and Under is provided by Susan and John Hess and Julie Mehretu. Significant support is provided by Judy Hart Angelo.
Major support for Free Friday Nights is provided by Jen Rubio and Stewart Butterfield and Paul Arnhold and Wes Gordon. Significant support is provided by Leslie Bluhm and David Helfand, and the Brown Foundation Inc., of Houston.
Major support for Free Second Sundays is provided by Art Bridges Foundation’s Access for All program. Significant support is provided by Julie and Doug Ostrover.
ABOUT THE WHITNEY
The Whitney Museum of American Art, founded in 1930 by the artist and philanthropist Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney (1875–1942), houses the foremost collection of American art from the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Mrs. Whitney, an early and ardent supporter of modern American art, nurtured groundbreaking artists when audiences were still largely preoccupied with the Old Masters. From her vision arose the Whitney Museum of American Art, which has been championing the most innovative art of the United States for ninety years. The core of the Whitney’s mission is to collect, preserve, interpret, and exhibit American art of our time and serve a wide variety of audiences in celebration of the complexity and diversity of art and culture in the United States. Through this mission and a steadfast commitment to artists, the Whitney has long been a powerful force in support of modern and contemporary art and continues to help define what is innovative and influential in American art today.
Whitney Museum Land Acknowledgment
The Whitney is located in Lenapehoking, the ancestral homeland of the Lenape. The name
Manhattan comes from their word Mannahatta, meaning “island of many hills.” The Museum’s current site is close to land that was a Lenape fishing and planting site called Sapponckanikan (“tobacco field”). The Whitney acknowledges the displacement of this region’s original inhabitants and the Lenape diaspora that exists today.
As a museum of American art in a city with vital and diverse communities of Indigenous people, the Whitney recognizes the historical exclusion of Indigenous artists from its collection and program. The Museum is committed to addressing these erasures and honoring the perspectives of Indigenous artists and communities as we work for a more equitable future. To read more about the Museum’s Land Acknowledgment, visit the Museum’s website.
VISITOR INFORMATION
The Whitney Museum of American Art is located at 99 Gansevoort Street between Washington and West Streets, New York City. Public hours are Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday, 10:30 am–6 pm; Friday, 10:30 am–10 pm; and Saturday and Sunday, 10:30 am–6 pm. Closed Tuesday. Visitors twenty-five years and under and Whitney members: FREE. The Museum offers FREE admission and special programming for visitors of all ages every Friday evening from 5–10 pm and on the second Sunday of every month.
Image credit:
Lead image: Free Friday Night with Laraaji and Samer Ghadry, April 17, 2026. Photograph by Filip Wolak
Left to right: 2024.11.08 Free Friday Night co-hosted by the BERG Collective. Photograph by Trevor Felder; Free Friday Night, February 27, 2026. Photograph by Summer Surgent-Gough
Left to right: Second Sunday, April 12, 2026. Pat Oleszko and Jazz at Lincoln Center. Photograph by Filip Wolak; Installation view of Whitney Biennial 2026 (Whitney Museum of American Art, March 8–August 2026). Photograph by Filip Wolak
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