Enzo Davis, 7, and his brother Axel, 2, play with a build-a-bridge, interactive exhibit at the Falls of the Ohio Interpretive Center on Tuesday. | STAFF PHOTO BY JOSH HICKS
Enzo Davis, 7, and his brother Axel, 2, play with a build-a-bridge, interactive exhibit at the Falls of the Ohio Interpretive Center on Tuesday. | STAFF PHOTO BY JOSH HICKS
At a glance
For more information on how the pass works, head to fundforthearts.org/culturalpass, or reach out to your local library.
SOUTHERN INDIANA — Families in Southern Indiana who want to make the most of theirsummer while minimizing damage to their wallet have a new option thanks to their local library and sponsors.

For the first time, families in Clark and Floyd counties are able to attain a 2018 cultural pass. The cultural pass program originated at the Louisville Public Library four years agoand nearly 200,000 passes have been issued since then, according to fundforthearts.org.

The pass gives one child and one adult (or one adult between the ages of 16 and 21) free admission to nearly 50 museums, programs and learning centers across Kentuckiana including the Louisville Zoo, Falls of the Ohio, Louisville Science Center and Bernheim Arboretum and Forest.

According to Lori Morgan, manager of Youth Services for the Jeffersonville Township Public Library, there have been numerous requests for the pass from local families throughout the years, but there never was a sponsor for the program.

The Duke Energy Foundation and The Bales Foundation are sponsoring the pass this year for Jeffersonville Library patrons; at the Floyd County Library, Horseshoe Foundation of Floyd County is an additional sponsor.

“It’s wonderful,” Libby Pollard, director of the Jeffersonville Township Public Library, said.

The pass is a good way to expose children to things they perhaps wouldn’t see otherwise — similar to the mission of the public library, Morgan and Pollard said.

“Kids are not exposed to the arts. But there’s more than just the arts (with the pass). There’s math, creativity, imagination,” Morgan said. “Kids don’t know how to imagine anymore. This kind of exposes them to what’s out there in the world. It’s like here at the library, we try to bring in things that the kids would never be exposed to. They stay home for different reasons, sometimes it could be income- related.”

“People just don’t have the money for extra things,” Pollard added.

So far, 1,300 passes have been picked up through the Jeffersonville library and in Floyd County, where patrons have to register online before picking up their pass, more than 3,500 have virtually enrolled in the program. Of those who have virtually registered 2,420 have picked up their physical pass, according to Laura Wilkins, programming and outreach coordinator for the Floyd County Library.
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