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IDNYC card gets additional free benefits in 2016

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A municipal identification card on display during a press conference as Mayor Bill de Blasio announced the launch of IDNYC. Photo Credit: Uli Seit
A municipal identification card on display during a press conference as Mayor Bill de Blasio announced the launch of IDNYC.
A municipal identification card on display during a press conference as Mayor Bill de Blasio announced the launch of IDNYC. Photo Credit: City Row

New York’s hundreds of thousands of municipal ID card holders will have access to a wider scope of cultural institutions and discounts for New York services come next year.

The city announced that the IDNYC program will provide free one-year memberships to seven additional cultural institutions in 2016, including the MoMA, the Metropolitan Opera and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. The venues join 33 museums, art spaces and other locations that are currently offered as an incentive for geting the card.

More than 670,000 people have signed up for IDNYC and about 160,000 cultural memberships have been claimed since its launch in January, the city said. Its aim was to New Yorkers, including immigrants not here legally, an easier, accessible form of identification. Applicants must be over 14, and provide proof of identity, such as a passport, visa or Social Security card; and show proof of New York City residency, such as a utility bill.

“The first year of IDNYC has demonstrated the broad appeal behind one powerful idea: that all residents should have equal access to the full range of benefits that come with being a New Yorker,” acting Cultural Affairs Commissioner Edwin Torres said in a statement.

The card will also give users discounts to Citi Bike, tickets to the New York City Football Club, the New York Theatre Ballet and Ballet School, among other places. Representatives from NYIDC’s partner programs said they were eager to continue offering the free memberships to their venues.

The card is recognized by the NYPD, government offices, 75 banks and financial institutions and other locations that ask for a valid government photo ID. Log onto nyc.gov/idnyc or call 311 for more information on applying.

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The seven cultural institutions that will offer free, one-year memberships with IDNYC for the first time next year:

Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum,

The Museum of Modern Art

The New Museum

The Metropolitan Opera

The Museum of Chinese in America

BRIC Arts | Media

Pregones Theater

The other venues that will continue to offer one year memberships as well.

American Museum of Natural History

Bronx County Historical Society

Bronx Museum of the Arts

Brooklyn Academy of Music

Brooklyn Botanic Garden

Brooklyn Children’s Museum

Brooklyn Museum

Carnegie Hall

New York City Ballet

El Museo del Barrio

Flushing Town Hall

Jamaica Center for Arts & Learning

Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts

Metropolitan Museum of Art

Museum of Jewish Heritage

Museum of the City of New York

Museum of the Moving Image

New York Botanical Garden

City Center

New York Hall of Science

MoMA P.S. 1

Public Theater

Queens Botanical Garden

Queens Museum

Queens Theatre in the Park

Snug Harbor Cultural Center & Botanical Garden

Staten Island Children’s Museum

Staten Island Historical Society

Staten Island Museum

Staten Island Zoo

Studio Museum in Harlem

Wave Hill

Wildlife Conservation Society at the Bronx Zoo

Alliance of Resident Theatres / New York

New York Football Club

New York Pass

New York Theatre Ballet

Roundabout Theatre Company

Big Apple RX

Food Bazaar

NYC Parks Department

YMCA