Act One is offering free “Culture Passes” for children and families in Arizona, available through public and educational libraries.

The Southern Arizona nonprofit has been offering free passes to arts and culture hot spots across the state since 2013. There are over 50 participating libraries facilitating the passes, and for 2025, the University of Arizona Main Library was added to the roster.

“We offer the passes through the libraries because it is a public resource and our program is also a public resource,” said Anne Osborne, the manager of the Culture Pass program. “And anyone can get a public library card, so that is the way that people can get passes.”

According to the release, Act One “provides access for students, seniors and under-resourced families to visit many of Arizona’s arts and cultural treasures at no cost. Each pass is good for free admission for two individuals to specific arts and cultural institutions in the local area and throughout the state.” The groups said on their website that they offer more than 500,000 free culture passes each year. Northern, Central and Southern Arizona public libraries all have passes to places such as the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, Cave Creek Museum, Desert Botanical Gardens, Reid Park Zoo and the University of Arizona Museum of Art, among other organizations. Other locations in Southern Arizona that are available are MOCA Tucson, Tohono Chul Park, Children’s Museum Tucson and more.

“The pass is then good for admission for two people to dozens of museums, art galleries, gardens, all kinds of different places,” Osborne said. “People can go completely free.”

Act One’s main mission is “to provide quality arts experiences to Arizona’s children and families,” Osborne said. The nonprofit also organizes virtual and in-person field trips for students at low-income schools.

Passes are available year-round, but are great for families with kids out of school during the summer, program organizers said.

Culture Passes can be checked out from Pima County Public Library branches, Pima Community College libraries and the UA Main Library, and are good for seven days.