The annual Museum Mile Festival takes place on a weekday evening in June (the 34th festival is in 2012 ), when all participating museums are free and Fifth Avenue closes to traffic between 82nd Street and 105th Streets. New York City’s finest cultural institutions also offer outdoor art activities for children and performances for all ages.

The institutions participating in this highly successful collaboration are El Museo del Barrio; The Museum of the City of New York; The Jewish Museum; Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum—Smithsonian Institution; National Academy Museum and School; Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum; Neue Galerie New York; Goethe-Institut New York/German Cultural Center; The Metropolitan Museum of Art; and The Museum for African Art (the newest Museum Mile member, due to open at 110th Street in 2012 ).