Aga Khan Museum Goes Free for Under-25s
Aga Khan Museum launched free admission for under-25s via their "Youth Access & Wellbeing Through Art" program with GreenShield. The initiative aims to make art more accessible to younger visitors and promote cultural engagement. This joins other recent museum developments including BAMPFA's March lineup featuring *Psychedelia & Cinema* and *Rhapsody* from the Cooper Rosenwasser Collection.
The "Youth Access & Wellbeing Through Art" program is a partnership between the Aga Khan Museum and GreenShield, a non-profit health and benefits company. The collaboration is rooted in the idea that art can be a vital tool for nurturing mental well-being, creativity, and community connection for young people. Previously, museum admission for a student (14-17) was over $10, and for an adult (18-64) it was over $17, making the new free access a significant cost-saver for visitors under 25. The initiative also includes a 10% discount at the Museum Shop for these youth visitors. A key component of the program is the "Slow Looking Experience," also presented by GreenShield. This encourages visitors to spend extended time with a few artworks, using provided brochures to foster deeper connection, reduce mental overload, and create space for calm and reflection. As part of the collaboration, GreenShield is also offering two hours of free virtual therapy to individuals aged 15 to 29 through its Youth Mental Health program. At the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive (BAMPFA), the *Psychedelia & Cinema* series is organized with support from the UC Berkeley Center for the Science of Psychedelics. The series presents a wide array of films that explore expanded consciousness and psychedelic experiences, whether achieved through psychoactive substances, meditation, or other means. The *Rhapsody* exhibition showcases paintings, sculptures, and photographs from the collection of Penny Cooper and Rena Rosenwasser, which has been generously bequeathed to BAMPFA. Cooper, a criminal defense attorney, and Rosenwasser, a poet and publisher, have championed women artists for five decades. The Cooper Rosenwasser Collection features works by an international group of women artists dating from the 1960s to the present. The exhibition maps their contributions to movements like Minimalism and Conceptualism and traces the influence of second-wave feminism on their work.
