On the third Thursday of every month, the Museum of Fine Arts stays open late and drops admission to five dollars for the evening. It’s the cheapest way into one of the world’s great encyclopedic museums, and the Huntington Avenue building takes on a livelier after-work energy, with hands-on art-making, gallery talks, live performances, and pop-up programming scattered through the night.

Regulars treat it as a monthly habit: pick one wing — the Impressionists, Art of the Americas, whatever you keep meaning to see — and give it a real hour instead of a forced march through everything. The New American Café and the Taste coffee-and-wine bar stay open for dinner or a drink. Admission is pay-what-you-wish with a five-dollar minimum, sold in person that evening.