I’m on a mission to visit every NYC museum: Here are the most unique and underrated — and the biggest hidden gem
Like many people, 25-year-old Jane August needed to find something to do after she was laid off during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I need to leave the house,” she recalled thinking. “I need to feel some cultural enrichment that is not in my bed watching Netflix.”
So now, the Brooklynite is on a mission to visit every museum in New York City.
“I think living in New York City is such a privilege of having access to so much history and culture, that not taking advantage of it kind of feels like a disservice to yourself,” August told The Post.
But the go-getter didn’t want to visit just one museum in New York City — she wanted to visit them all.
Some she had never visited before, including the Statue of Liberty Museum, thinking they were overrated tourist attractions, and others she had never even heard of — the Woodside Heights Art Museum, for one.
Now, she’s a fan of them all. Nothing is overrated in her eyes.
“Part of the project has been me realizing that most of these big museums we assume are overrated, actually aren’t. They all serve a unique purpose,” August said.
“Being New Yorkers, we’re so over tourists [attractions], but then you realize, ‘Oh, there’s a reason they come to this stuff.’ Now I understand why people from all over the world come to these museums and institutions.”
But where to even begin?
The music-venue worker has always been a goal-oriented person and loves lists, so in 2021, she sought out a roundup of all the museums in NYC and began checking them off, one by one.
That’s when August discovered that none of the “comprehensive” lists of museums in the city seemed accurate, especially because many of them included places that she didn’t consider museums — like the Museum of Ice Cream.
“I think a museum should have some kind of artistic or historical information or enrichment,” August explained — and not just be a “backdrop for Instagram.”
So August decided to create her own list.
There are currently 190 museums on her agenda — 115 of which she has already visited and crossed off. And in true Gen Z fashion, August began to document her journey on TikTok to keep herself accountable and inspire others to get out there.
She’s now become TikTok’s “museum girl.”
“I don’t have an art history background. I’m not from this museum art world, and I think that’s something that has felt really inaccessible to a lot of New Yorkers,” the content creator said.
“So being able to show that these museums are cool and fun and accessible is really important.”
She also recently started a companion podcast — titled “The Next Stop Is … “ — that expands on her artistic endeavor.
Jane August’s NYC Museum Guide
- Most Unique: The Living Museum, Queens Village
- Most Underrated: The Society of Illustrators, the Nicholas Roerich Museum and the Museum at FIT
- Biggest Hidden Gem: Woodside Heights Art Museum
- Best Food: Terrace Cafe at MoMA
- Most Interactive: National Museum of Mathematics
- Best View: Whitney Museum of American Art
- Best View of the Whole City: The Panorama of the City of New York at Queens Museum
- Best Location: South Street Seaport Museum
“I get to meet so many cool people throughout my adventures and could never figure out how to incorporate those people and conversations into my TikTok videos,” she said. “My podcast allows me to have longer conversations with artists and tastemakers about the city and beyond.”
August realized that visiting museums is also a great way to explore new parts of the city. After spending a day in Staten Island, it has become one of her favorite boroughs.
“I’m going to lots of neighborhoods that I’ve never been to,” she confessed, adding that “it’s kind of fun to explore” that aspect of her travels.
August still has 75 museums to check off her list, but so far she thinks The Living Museum in Queens Village is the most unique; the Society of Illustrators, the Nicholas Roerich Museum and the Museum at FIT are the most underrated; and the Ellis Island National Museum of Immigration, Guggenheim, American Museum of Natural History and Whitney may seem overrated — but they’re worth a visit.
“There’s a lot more to do than eating and drinking in New York City.”
