IDNYC launched four years ago, and the New York City municipal identification card has since provided residents with a non-driver’s license ID and free or discounted access to cultural institutions throughout the five boroughs.
On the fourth anniversary, officials have announced some new IDNYC benefits for 2019, along with the option of a third gender identity designation.
Since it first debuted in 2015, IDNYC has let cardholders self-designate their gender or choose not to list a gender, according to the city. Now, transgender, non-binary and gender non-conforming New Yorkers can choose a third gender “X” option on their cards.
This follows a New York City birth certificate change that went into effect Jan. 1 offering the third gender X option to residents.
Also new to the 2019 IDNYC program is a free 1-year membership to the Leslie-Lohman Museum of Gay and Lesbian Art, the addition of People’s United Bank as a financial partner where residents can use their IDNYC card to open a bank or credit union account, and the ability to link an IDNYC cards with hospital and clinic registration records at NYC Health + Hospitals facilities. IDNYC has served as a Health + Hospitals registration card since 2015.
Going into its fifth year, the IDNYC program has more than 1.25 million cardholders, according to the city — the largest municipal ID program in the country.
IDNYC Benefits 2019
The latest IDNYC discounts include:
Brooklyn Boulders Queensbridge: 25% off rock climbing classes, including introductory and kids’ classes
Bronx Academy of Arts and Dance (BAAD!): $5 discount on all BAAD! events and performances;
National Geographic Encounter: 25% on Daily Dive Time Reserved Entry tickets, plus 15% in the Encounter retail shop; and
TADA! Youth Theatre: 10% discount on all TADA! Programming
All 2019 IDNYC benefits for NYC cultural institution partners, which includes a free 1-year membership:
· American Museum of Natural History
· BRIC
· Bronx County Historical Society
· Bronx Museum of the Arts
· BAM (Brooklyn Academy of Music)
· Brooklyn Children’s Museum
· Carnegie Hall
· China Institute
· The Drawing Center
· Film Forum
· Flushing Town Hall
· International Print Center New York
· Jacques Marchais Center for Tibetan Art
· King Manor
· Leslie-Lohman Museum of Gay and Lesbian Art
· Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts
· Metropolitan Museum of Art
· Metropolitan Opera
· Museum at Eldridge Street
· Museum of Chinese in America
· Museum of Jewish Heritage
· Museum of Modern Art
· Museum of the City of New York
· New York Botanical Garden
· New York City Ballet
· New York City Center
· MoMA PS1
· Park Avenue Armory
· Pregones Theater
· The Public Theater
· Queens Museum
· Queens Theatre
· SculptureCenter
· Snug Harbor Cultural Center & Botanical Garden
· St. George Theatre
· Staten Island Museum
· Studio Museum in Harlem
· Sugar Hill Children’s Museum of Art & Storytelling
· Symphony Space
· Wildlife Conservation Society at the Bronx Zoo
· Central Park Zoo (enrollment required at the Bronx Zoo)
· New York Aquarium (enrollment required at the Bronx Zoo)
· Prospect Park Zoo (enrollment required at the Bronx Zoo)
IDNYC enrollment is free and any New York City resident 10 and older is eligible to apply. IDNYC will not ask residents about immigration status and the city says it will protect the confidentiality of all applications. For more information visit nyc.gov/IDNYC or call 311.
