Library card earns free pass to arts venues

Keep this in your hip pocket for when the kids are out of school, out-of-town company shows up or it's too hot to golf. If you hold a library card in Chandler or Mesa, you can use it to check out a "culture pass" good for free admission for four to a slew of Valley arts venues.

But you might want to strategize well; the passes are in hot demand.

"It's been overwhelming, the response. The more popular destinations, like Arizona Science Center and Phoenix Zoo, are gone within about 10 seconds of opening the door," says Teresa Becker, cultural liaison for the Mesa Public Library.

Here's how it works:

Visit the culture pass display at any branch of the Chandler or Mesa public libraries and choose the pass you want (offerings include Arizona Museum for Youth and Phoenix Art Museum).

Bring your pass to the checkout desk for a due-date stamp that entitles you to use the pass within seven days. When time's up, simply toss the pass; there's no need to return it to the library.

The display is replenished with more passes each week.

Becker says Mesa's main library has started staggering the passes' release over several days, rather than putting them all out on one day.

"Before, if you couldn't get to the library on Wednesday mornings, you were just out of luck. So releasing them over a couple of days, we'll hopefully be able to make them available to more people," she says.

Each library puts out a limited number of passes each week. They are available on a first-come, first-served basis and cannot be reserved or renewed. Only one culture pass may be checked out per person or family, and only two may be checked out by any one person in a month.

The program will continue through April 2010. It is sponsored by online arts and culture guide ShowUp.com, the Virginia G. Piper Charitable Trust, and Macy's.

Culture passes are also available to library card holders at Tempe Public Library, Scottsdale Public Library, Phoenix Public Library and Glendale Public Library.

They are good for four free admissions to Arizona Museum for Youth, Arizona Museum of Natural History, Arizona Science Center, The Bead Museum, Cave Creek Museum, Children's Museum of Phoenix, Heard Museum, Mesa Contemporary Arts, Phoenix Art Museum, Phoenix Zoo, Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art and Taliesin West. Passes to Desert Botanical Garden will be available June 1.

"We're hoping it will level off as the program gets past its launch," says Becker. "I think people are under the impression that there are a limited number of passes, and once they're gone, they're gone, but we'll be putting out more passes every week for the next year."

For information, visit your library or www.TheCulturePass.com.