The Vegetable Garden at New England Botanic Garden at Tower Hill.

By Robert Burgess
New England Botanic Garden at Tower Hill staff

New England Botanic Garden at Tower Hill places inclusivity among its core values. That means visitors of all ages, abilities, and backgrounds should have access to the grounds and facilities, including the nonprofit’s extensive educational opportunities and award-winning gardens.

To help low income guests to visit in recent years, New England Botanic Garden at Tower Hill has participated in Highland Street Foundation’s Free Fun Fridays program, makes available discount passes at many are libraries, has offered free admission to seniors on Tuesdays in September, and sends home free admission passes with children participating in the Worcester Public School’s program which brings all second-graders to New England Botanic Garden at Tower Hill on field trips.

Summer at New England Botanic Garden at Tower Hill.

In addition, New England Botanic Garden at Tower Hill participates in the Massachusetts Cultural Council’s EBT Card to Culture program. Since 2013, any Electronic Benefit Transfer card holder, as well as his or her guests, can enter New England Botanic Garden at Tower Hill’s property for $2 per person, a steep discount from regular admission rates.

As reported this week in the Boston Globe:

In an ambitious attempt to expand access to museums and other cultural institutions, the state will roll out a program to provide low-income residents with free or reduced admission to more than 100 venues across Massachusetts.

The discounts will be available to anyone with an Electronic Benefit Transfer card, which is used primarily for the state’s food-assistance program.

More than 758,000 people get food aid under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.

It is the most comprehensive effort of its kind nationwide to bridge the income inequality gap in the arts, according to the Massachusetts Cultural Council, which developed the EBT Card to Culture in partnership with the state’s Department of Transitional Assistance

The state Department of Transitional Assistance will have a comprehensive list online of participating institutions.

Pliny’s Allée at New England Botanic Garden at Tower Hill.

“New England Botanic Garden at Tower Hill is proud to be among this group of cultural institutions seeking to create easier access to some of the Bay State’s most important cultural resources,” said Thaddeus Thompson, New England Botanic Garden at Tower Hill’s director of institutional advancement. “At New England Botanic Garden at Tower Hill we want our gardens to be for everyone.”

Robert Burgess, the public relations manager at New England Botanic Garden at Tower Hill, can be reached at rburgess@nebg.org.