The Monterey Bay Aquarium is world famous for its kelp forests, schools of glimmering fish, penguins, sea turtles and frolicking otters. Nearly 2 million people visit each year. But not everyone can afford to go.
Hoping to make the Cannery Row landmark more accessible to low-income families, the aquarium has announced that starting next Monday it will allow free admission to anyone who receives federal food assistance benefits through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), which is known as CalFresh in California. People enrolled in the program receive money to help buy groceries using an “electronic benefits transfer” or EBT card. If they present that card and a photo ID at the aquarium’s ticket counter they will be allowed free entry for themselves and up to three other people, any day of the year.
“Our mission is to inspire conservation of the oceans. But we can’t achieve that if we don’t have everybody at the table,” said Kera Abraham Panni, a senior community engagement manager at the aquarium. “We want to make sure everybody has access to the joy and wonder that the ocean provides.
” The aquarium is the latest of more than 1,300 zoos, aquariums and museums around the United States to embrace the strategy of free or extremely low-cost admission, an acknowledgement that museums need to do more so they don’t end up serving only the well-off in society. A national coalition, called has helped more than 9.5 million people in the United State.
