By Howard Moscoe
The cost of admission for a family of four to the Toronto Zoo is $92.00. Likewise, entry to the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) will set you back $58.00, and the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO) $61.00, but you can visit all these facilities for free thanks to an innovative program called MAP (Museum and Arts Pass), operated by the Toronto Public Library System, and financially sponsored by Sun Life Financial.The MAP program was instituted in 2007, inspired by a similar program in Chicago. It was designed to open up Toronto’s wealth of cultural attractions to families of modest means. It allows two adults and up to five children to explore the best of Toronto’s arts and culture attractions, the ones that tourist seek out but locals seldom do; all for free.As library doors open on Saturday morning across the city of Toronto, a line forms at the checkout desk where patrons can sign out passes from a list of Toronto attractions.
You are entitled to get a pass for one attraction that will admit your family for free. The pass is signed out on your library card, and can be used for three months. All you require when you show up at say the Ontario Science Centre is the pass, your library card, and a photo ID.The list of attractions include: AGO - Art Gallery of Ontario, Bata Shoe Museum, Colborne Lodge in High Park, Fort York National Historic Site, Gibson House Museum, Mackenzie House, Montgomery’s Inn, Scarborough Museum, Spadina Museum: Historic House and Gardens, Todmorden Mills Heritage Site, Gardiner Ceramics Museum, Museum of Inuit Art, Ontario Science Centre, ROM - Royal Ontario Museum, and the Textile Musem of Canada. The most recent addition to the pass list is the fabulous Aga Khan museum which recently opened near Don Mills and Eglington. It is important to note that not all attractions are available at all libraries.At some library branches the passes are so popular that they are distributed by lottery, and at other libraries they are offered on a first come first serve basis.The trick is to find a branch in a neighbourhood where few people know about them. In some parts of town that’s hard to do, but we are lucky here in Downsview. I visited the Downsview Branch at Keele and Wilson on a Wednesday night, and was informed that the library had received 25 passes on Saturday, yet on Wednesday night there were still 14 available. I found similar results at most of the Downsview Area Branches. The trick is to get there early because the most popular passes go quickly.Now families who have very little in their entertainment budgets can enjoy Toronto attractions for only the cost of TTC fare.The MAP pass program has been so successful that the library is currently negotiating its expansion to include a range of performance venues.Here is the list of passes available at our local libraries, Enjoy!