Bank of America's "Museums On Us" program is back for 2026, offering free admission to museums and cultural institutions across the country — including several right here in San Francisco — on the first full weekend of every month. All you need is a Bank of America or Merrill Lynch debit or credit card and a valid ID.

The program covers heavy hitters like the de Young Museum, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and the Asian Art Museum, among others. That's world-class art and culture, zero cost of entry, and zero burden on city coffers.

Let's pause and appreciate the model here. This isn't a government subsidy program requiring layers of bureaucratic administration. There's no means-testing. No application forms. No committee deciding who "deserves" access to culture. It's a private company using its own resources to build goodwill and get people through museum doors. That's how incentives are supposed to work.

Contrast this with San Francisco's own approach to cultural funding, where the city routinely throws millions at arts grants with questionable oversight and even more questionable outcomes. Meanwhile, a bank — yes, a bank — quietly makes museum access free for millions of people, and it barely makes the news.

If you're a Bank of America cardholder, mark your calendar for the first full weekend of each month. Bring the kids. Bring a date. Bring your deeply cynical friend who thinks nothing good ever happens anymore.

And if you're a city official reading this, maybe take notes. Sometimes the best public benefit comes from getting out of the way and letting the private sector do its thing.