THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY PARTNERS WITH THE WHITNEY MUSEUM TO BRING FREE SUNDAY STORYTIMES BACK TO NEW YORK CITY

March 8, 2024 — Free Sunday storytimes are getting a new chapter.

The Whitney Museum of American Art is partnering with The New York Public Library (NYPL) to offer free storytimes to families on the second Sunday of every month.

The storytime programs will take place at the Whitney (located at 99 Gansevoort Street in Manhattan) as part of the Museum’s Second Sundays free admission initiative, launched in January to help connect more people to the Museum and its mission of celebrating contemporary American art and artists. 

On the second Sunday of each month, the Museum offers free admission for all (visitors 18 and under are always free), all-ages artmaking projects, performances, tours, Spanish-language programs, and more. Beginning on Sunday, March 10, Second Sundays will also feature NYPL librarians conducting their popular and engaging storytimes throughout the day. The first installment of the partnership on March 10 will include an appearance by Patience, the Library’s beloved lion mascot.

Additionally, in honor of the Oscars happening the same day, families who attend the March 10 Second Sundays event will also have an opportunity to walk a “yellow carpet”—as the official Second Sundays color is yellow—and take family photos.

The partnership between the Museum and Library system brings free Sunday storytimes back to the City, as NYPL—which operates branches in the Bronx, Manhattan, and Staten Island—announced it had to eliminate Sunday service in November due to budget cuts. 

“The New York Public Library’s talented librarians are an exceptional resource for families seeking fun and informative activities for their children and we're thrilled to collaborate with the Whitney, another great New York City institution, to offer this innovative and delightful program to young New Yorkers. While we work to restore funding, we will continue to support our patrons with opportunities that inspire curiosity and a life-long love of learning,” said Brian Bannon, Merryl and James Tisch Director of Branch Libraries and Education at The New York Public Library.

“I am excited about partnering with NYPL to bring the joy of books and art to more children,” said Cris Scorza, the Whitney Museum’s Helen Rubinstein Chair of Education. “As a parent, I am thrilled that my child has developed a passion for books. I got her a library card when she was a baby, and now, at sixteen-and-a-half, she loves books about artists. She finds children's books particularly exciting because of their illustrations, which she considers works of art. When she was just two years old, we used to read Uncle Andy's: A Faabbbulous Visit with Andy Warhol by James Warhola over and over again. Whenever we went to museums and saw a Warhol painting, my daughter would be able to spot it from a mile away and say, ‘That's my uncle.’ This would often surprise people around us. Every child should have the opportunity to discover artists like Faith Ringgold, Yayoi Kusama, or Georgia O'Keeffe, and what better way to do that than through books and art at the Museum?”

Second Sundays is made possible by a generous three-year grant from the Art Bridges Foundation’s Access for All Program, which supports increased access to museums across the country and fosters engagement with local communities by focusing on common barriers to access. Earlier this year, the program announced $40 million in grants to over 60 cultural organizations across the country, including the Whitney.

The program and another Whitney initiative that launched in January, Free Friday Nights, both aim to reduce barriers to access, removing admission fees and offering programs that are entry points for anyone interested in visiting. While admission is free for these programs, tickets are still required and can be reserved at whitney.org/tickets. Advanced tickets are strongly encouraged. 

Photo and video assets from previous Free Friday Nights and Second Sundays at the Whitney can be found at whitney.org/press/free-days-and-nights.

ABOUT THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY

For over 125 years, The New York Public Library has been a free provider of education and information for the people of New York and beyond. With over 90 locations—including research and branch libraries—throughout the Bronx, Manhattan, and Staten Island, the Library offers free materials, computer access, classes, exhibitions, programming and more to everyone from toddlers to scholars. To offer this wide array of free programming, The New York Public Library relies on both public and private funding. Learn more about how to support the Library at nypl.org/support. 

 

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. 

 

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