Museums all over New York City were only opened again in the wake of the Covid pandemic When Jane August started an uncomplicated plan: she would do it travel Produce a short video protocol from everyone in every single museum of the city. She thought it would take a maximum of three years.
But with 136 museums documented since 2021, she still has about 64 to do her assessment. And since new museums are opened and some old people change so dramatically that they deserve a repetition, the 26-year-old now says that she realistically aims to complete the project before her 30s.
“At first I started the project for myself to get out of my house safely and to experience culture in the city again,” said August, who grew up in Arizona and lives in New York for nine years. She said she was not a big museum before she started the project and was only about seven at that time.
But when she started, the plan developed quickly.
“I decided Tiktok Would be a cool way to document this so that my friends can keep up with my trip and maybe discover something new, ”said August. Since then, their audience has expanded with around 40,000 followers on social platforms.
Museums big and small, Manhattan and beyond
Visiting the museums has triggered a new appreciation for New York City, she said and for the sheer width of the offer offered, especially for those who are willing to explore Smaller museums And that in the districts beyond Manhattan.
And yes, she has favorites.
“I love poster house. It is the country’s first poster museum, has great programs and is free on Fridays” largely unsung museum in the 23rd Street and in the Sixth Avenue, in the graphic design and advertising posters range from Art -nouveau to political propaganda.
Others in their list of favorites contain the Rental museum In Lower Manhattan and the Museum of the Moving Picture in Queens as well as three Brooklyn Museums: The Brooklyn Seltzer Museum, the New York Sign Museum and the Red Hook Pinball Museum. She also has a weakness for The Paley Center for Media NYC in Midtown Manhattan.
“You have archives with every television show that you may be able to imagine. It is astonishing,” she said about the Paley Center.
The offers of Staten Island are worth the ride on the ferry
As for the smallest district of the city, the ferry drives up Staten Island (free, with a view to the Statue of freedom On the way) the trip is worth for museum visitors, she said.
The district shows the Newhouse Center of Contemporary Art and the Alice Austen House, a Victorian Gothic House that is important for the LGBTQ+ cremorial. It was home to one of the earliest and most productive female photographers in the country who was famous for the documentation of the city’s immigrant communities.
“You would not imagine that Staten Island had one of the gayest museums in New York that is dedicated to a queer photographer, but it does,” said August.
Staten Island also houses the Jacques Marchais Museum of Tibetan Art and the Garden of the Chinese scholar, who claims to be one of only two authentic classic Chinese gardens in the USA.
“It is so peaceful and calm and I love to take the ferry,” said August.
Use free days and slow hours
While museums can be expensive, she said that she uses museum passes in her local library and that many museums have days or times when they are free.
And because her “day jobs” tend to be at night – she works in different places in ticketing and production and also bartends – she can visit museums in the middle of weekdays if they tend to be less crowded.
August recently became a licensed New York tour guide and says that it gave her a new appreciation for both the city and its visitors.
She also saw some trends, such as the increase in museum programs, which aimed at younger audiences, and the trend of chronological exhibits that she says that they make visits to return less.
“As many of us are desperate according to third parties,” she said, referring to a place that differs from both home and from work where people can relax or make contacts. “For many of us, we have a hunger to come back and visit again, especially if it’s free.”
Although large museums such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Museum of modern art can certainly be overcrowded, says August, New York does not close to the Overcrowding like in European cities Like Paris.
And at peak times and seasons, as in summer, it is nice to know that there are many smaller museums to visit.
See the whole city
“I think this is particularly important for the lesser known museums that do not often receive press or social media features,” she said. “There are some small museums that make a large bump present and press after I posted my videos, so it is exciting to be able to play a small role in this success.”
As for her motivation to continue the project, she said: “It runs out.
For those who want to give something like this, she says that it requires a lot of perseverance.
“Be ready to go into the corners of the city that you never considered – I’m talking about Bronx edges and the middle of Staten Island,” she said. “But if you stand for the challenge, you will probably not only get an insight into the museums and their content, but also in the communities that they serve.”
