ARTS & CULTURE: Free Admission to the National Museum of the Philippines starting today, July 1

Starting July 1, everyone – locals and foreigners alike – can now enter the National Museum for free. Yes, you've read that right. FREE.  That’s just about the Best. News. Ever. to come out yesterday. 

Early yesterday evening, The National Museum announced on their facebook page that

Admission to the National Museum is now permanently free of charge for all visitors, Filipino or foreign, to its museums nationwide. 

A policy of free general admission has been established, effective July 1, 2016, by the Board of Trustees of the National Museum, in order to build upon significant spikes in viewership, especially among younger Filipinos, that have been observed in 2013-2015 and to date in 2016, when general admission has been made free of charge for various traditional reasons such as National Arts Month in February, National Heritage Month in May, and National Museums and Galleries Month in October. 

Enhancing universal access by all Filipinos to what we proudly exhibit as our national patrimony and heritage has always been a primary concern, and with this new policy we hope to reach more people than ever before, both by encouraging visits to our museums, and by bringing the National Museum's programs and resources to communities throughout the national capital and all the regions of our archipelago.  

By this measure of free admission, which is supported, in terms of the nationwide operations of the Agency, by a solid institutional budget drawn ultimately from all Filipino taxpayers through the national budget, we hope to better achieve our goals, and fulfill general expectations, of serving as a true national museum institution dedicated to the benefit of the entire Filipino people and the wider world.

With this, there's no more excuse not to learn about our own culture as a people as well as to say that art is just for the rich. As the National Museum is trying to tell us, art is for everyone.

The National Museum of the Philippines is located along Taft Ave. in Ermita, Manila.
It is open from Tuesday to Sunday, 10am to 5pm. 

I had the entire gallery all to myself and so had this solo shot with the award-wining "Spolarium" by Juan Luna.