Louisiana's free-museum scene runs on one remarkable program: the Helis Foundation's 'Art for All,' which underwrites free admission for all Louisiana residents at a rotating lineup of New Orleans cultural institutions, every week, all year long. The New Orleans Museum of Art (NOMA) in City Park is free on Wednesdays (12–7 p.m.), the Ogden Museum of Southern Art is free on Thursdays, the Contemporary Arts Center is free on Sundays, and the New Orleans Botanical Garden — home to the Helis Foundation Enrique Alferez Sculpture Garden — is free on Wednesdays too. The New Orleans African American Museum in Tremé joins the program on the third Saturday of each month, and the Louisiana Children's Museum opens free on the second Sunday of every other month. Bring a Louisiana ID; a few venues (the CAC and the Children's Museum) ask you to reserve a free ticket online first.
Up in Baton Rouge, both downtown art museums waive admission on the first Sunday of every month: the Louisiana Art & Science Museum (1–5 p.m.) and the LSU Museum of Art on the 5th floor of the Shaw Center. And several Louisiana museums are simply free all the time — Tulane's Newcomb Art Museum, The Historic New Orleans Collection in the French Quarter, NOMA's Besthoff Sculpture Garden, Shreveport's R.W. Norton Art Gallery, and Monroe's Masur Museum of Art. Many of the ticketed museums below also offer $1–$5 'Museums for All' admission to SNAP/EBT cardholders any day of the week. Every entry was checked against the museum's own website.
New Orleans
New Orleans Museum of Art (NOMA)
Regularly $18 LA residents / $23 out-of-stateNOMA, the grand neoclassical museum at the heart of City Park, is free to all Louisiana residents every Wednesday (extended hours 12–7 p.m.) thanks to the Helis Foundation's 'Art for All' program — just bring a Louisiana ID. Its encyclopedic collection spans European, American, African, and Asian art plus a strong photography holding. Visitors 19 and under always get in free (courtesy of Helis), and the adjacent Sydney & Walda Besthoff Sculpture Garden is free and open to everyone seven days a week. Regular admission is $18 for Louisiana residents and $23 for out-of-state visitors.
🌐 Check current dates →Ogden Museum of Southern Art
Regularly $15 adultsThe Ogden, in the Warehouse Arts District, holds the largest collection of Southern art in the world — self-taught visionaries, contemporary painters, photography, and folk art across a striking five-story space. Louisiana residents get in free every Thursday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. through the Helis Foundation's 'Art for All' program; just show a valid Louisiana ID at the door. Regular admission is $15 for adults. (In August, the Ogden also joins NOMA and the CAC in the Helis 'Art & A/C' promotion, adding free Saturdays for residents.)
🌐 Check current dates →Contemporary Arts Center (CAC)
Regularly Modest gallery admission (around $5)The CAC is New Orleans' hub for contemporary visual and performing arts, filling a converted Warehouse District building with rotating exhibitions, performances, and its 50th-anniversary 'Festival of New Works.' Louisiana residents enjoy free gallery admission every Sunday through the Helis Foundation's 'Art for All' program (bring a Louisiana ID; free gallery tickets are best reserved online in advance). Children and students through grade 12 get in free any day, also courtesy of Helis. Regular gallery admission is modest — historically about $5.
🌐 Check current dates →New Orleans African American Museum (NOAAM)
Regularly $20 LA adults / $35 out-of-stateSet across a historic Tremé campus anchored by the 1828 Meilleur-Goldthwaite House, NOAAM preserves the art, history, and culture of African Americans in New Orleans and the wider diaspora. On the third Saturday of every month, Louisiana residents get in free through the Helis Foundation's 'Art for All' program, paired with 'Saturdays @ NOAAM' — a family-friendly market of Black-owned businesses, artists, food, and live music. Regular admission is $20 for Louisiana adults ($35 out-of-state); the museum is open Thursday–Sunday.
🌐 Check current dates →New Orleans Botanical Garden & Alferez Sculpture Garden
Regularly $15 LA residents / $25 out-of-stateTucked inside City Park near NOMA, the Botanical Garden pairs ten acres of themed gardens with the Helis Foundation Enrique Alferez Sculpture Garden, where Depression-era WPA sculptures by the celebrated Mexican-American artist Enrique Alferez are woven among the plantings. Louisiana residents get in free every Wednesday through 'Art for All' (bring a Louisiana ID). Regular admission is $15 for Louisiana residents and $25 for out-of-state visitors; children 2 and under are always free.
🌐 Check current dates →Louisiana Children's Museum
Regularly $22.95 general / $4.95 Museums for AllThe Louisiana Children's Museum sits on an eight-and-a-half-acre City Park campus with indoor exhibits and outdoor sensory gardens built for hands-on play and early learning. Through the Helis Foundation's 'Art for All' program, Louisiana residents get in free on the second Sunday of every other month (11:30 a.m.–4:30 p.m.) — 2026 dates are Jan 11, Mar 8, May 10, Jul 12, Sep 13, and Nov 8. Free tickets are limited and must be reserved online in advance. Regular admission is $22.95, and SNAP/EBT cardholders pay just $4.95 any day through Museums for All.
🌐 Check current dates →Baton Rouge
Louisiana Art & Science Museum
Regularly $16 adults / $13 ages 3–12Housed in a restored 1925 railroad depot on the Mississippi riverfront, LASM blends art galleries, hands-on science exhibits, an ancient-Egypt gallery with a real mummy, and the Irene W. Pennington Planetarium. Admission is free for everyone on the first Sunday of every month from 1 to 5 p.m., with family activities and live performances; planetarium shows are an extra $5 that day. Regular admission is $16 for adults and $13 for children 3–12 and seniors. Active-duty military, first responders, and veterans and their families are always free.
🌐 Check current dates →LSU Museum of Art
Regularly $5 adults / Free under 13The largest art museum in the region, LSU MOA occupies the top floor of downtown Baton Rouge's Shaw Center for the Arts, with sweeping galleries of American and European painting, Newcomb pottery, Louisiana art, and decorative arts. Admission is already a bargain at $5 for adults (free for children 12 and under, students, and educators), and the first Sunday of every month is free for all. SNAP/EBT cardholders also get free admission for up to four people any day through Museums for All.
🌐 Check current dates →Always Free in Louisiana
No free day needed — these flagship museums never charge general admission.