To those few lucky individuals who are still living the extravagant life of decadence and self-indulgence in today's economy, we salute you and hope to join you soon! With the new 'cultural pass' available at our local libraries, that day may be coming sooner than we anticipated. If you are struggling for entertainment options that fit the trimmed budget of today's family, this is an amazing opportunity...and all you need is a library card!

Thanks to sponsors like Virginia G. Piper Charitable Trust, Macy's, Arizona Republic, Clear Channel Radio, CBS Outdoor, and Macy's, we have been gifted with a unique opportunity to bring affordable culture to our families. 

What is "the pass";? Library card holders can check out their "cultural pass"; and be able to gain free admission for up to 4 people at participating organizations. Yes, I did say FREE!...no strings attached. Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end…the pass is only good for up to 7 days and each library cardholder can only check out one pass at a time twice a month. The venue will collect your pass when you use it so it can only be used once during the 7 day period.

The library imposes these restrictions in what may I perceive as an attempt at encouraging us as a community to share. I say "attempt"; because they will simultaneously reward us for our competitiveness since passes are only available on a first-come first-served basis and cannot be reserved. Mark your calendars: the pass becomes available on April 1, 2009 and the program will only run through March 31, 2010. Each library location will have five passes from each participating institution so competition will be tough.

If you want to learn more about the Culture Pass, click here.

Here is a list of participating cultural centers:

• Arizona Museum for Youth
• Arizona Museum of Natural Histor
• Arizona Science Center
• The Bead Museum
• Cave Creek Museum
• Children’s Museum of Phoenix
• Desert Botanical Garden (won’t participate until June)
• Heard Museum
• Mesa Contemporary Arts
• Phoenix Art Museum
• Phoenix Zoo
• Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art
• Taliesin Westt

And if you need some help with participating libraries, here’s a list of those as well: 

• City of Chandler
•  City of Glendale
•  City of Mesa
•  City of Phoenix
•  City of Scottsdale
•  City of Tempe

So on your marks, get set, go! May the fastest and most diligent library card holder win! Join the ranks of the self-indulgent as we try to leave our economic woes behind us for an afternoon of decadent, guilt-free cultural family entertainment!