With lockdown easing, we’re all feeling hopeful that this year we are able to get out again. But if you’re still feeling a bit cautious, the following activities can make you feel wonderful.

Soul & Surf: Successful yoga Soul & Surf, based in Portugal, India, and Sri Lanka, knows we still won’t be able to visit for a while. So it has started a new subscription service, which offers yoga teachers in these sites so you can practise in your front room. The teachers will provide new practices every week so you can learn different movements and build your strength.

UK Tour: Once we can travel within the UK, the idea of a wildlife tour sounds good. Spotting cute creatures and getting among nature is just the thing to comfort souls. Motoring experts have created a route to let you see harder-to-locate species, from red squirrels to grey seals, golden eagles and sharks.

Bigfoot Festival: The organisers of UK’s first craft beer music festival are daring to dream that Bigfoot, their Covid-secure three-day celebration, will take place from June 18 to 20 in the grounds of Ragley Hall, Warwickshire. Breweries including Two Tribes and Gipsy Hill will supply the good stuff.

Trees4Travel: We have no idea where to start when it comes to the idea of carbon-offsetting. Enter Trees4Travel aims to make it simple. And it will calculate how many trees would need to be planted to offset that journey within ten years. Then all you can do is to “buy” the trees necessary for the cost of a coffee per tree, which will be planted in many countries like France, China and so on.

Metropolitan Museum Member Morning Hours

Every Thursday morning, just before the Museum opens to the public, Members are invited to experience the newest exhibitions at the Metropolitan Museum without the crowds. Member Morning Hours are held from 9 to 10 am. Members are also invited to bring guests. Timed Tickets are not required for entry.

The Balcony Lounge(酒廊) Service

The Balcony Lounge will be open for breakfast during Member Morning Hours. All Members can swing by for coffee and a cake for free after early morning exhibition viewing.

Entry for Member Morning Hours

Please enter at the 81st Street and Fifth Avenue entrance. Once inside, Members may go directly to the Museum galleries.

Health and Safety

To ensure a safe and enjoyable environment for all, the Museum is following guidelines issued by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), New York State, and New York City for increased health and safety procedures. Masks are required. A full list of the Museum’s health and safety guidelines is available online. Learn more here.

Member Pro Tip!

Your Membership card is your passport to the Museum! When you arrive at the Museum, present your Membership card at any Member desk on the ground floor at 81st Street.

For Membership questions, please contact us at membership@ metmuseum.org or call 212-731- 1753(M-F, 10 am-5 pm EST).

NEW YORK — Video producer and musician Justin Scholar enjoyed his exciting moment weeks ago when he spotted his latest work — a tourism video for Southwest China’s Chongqing city — playing on a huge LED screen at New York's Times Square.

The video was shot and produced in China, where Scholar now lives and owns a media company. After taking his first Mandarin (普通话) class in high school seven years ago, Scholar had listed China as a future destination and made his first trip to Shanghai in 2015 through a study-abroad program when he was a student in New York University.

Though he had been told what urban life in China was like beforehand, it was still “a far cry” from what he saw with his own eyes, says Scholar. During the semester (学期) in Shanghai, Scholar spent most of the time learning ink-and-wash painting, calligraphy, which enriched his artistic skills with a touch of Eastern aesthetics. He also ate a lot of authentic steamed meat buns (小笼包). “Shanghai is an incredibly efficient, modern city,” says Scholar. “To have this unbelievably accurate and fast metro, though sometimes crowded and to have very clean streets and bright lights at night, and people pouring in by the thousands ... that's so impressive” These may explain Scholar's return to Shanghai two years later, when his career at home was already thriving after making commercials for big names such as Coca-Cola and Jaguar. Despite his parents' doubts and worries, Scholar went back to Shanghai on his 24th birthday with an ambition to launch his own company.

Thanks to a combination of luck and talent, he achieved the goal soon with a Chinese friend as his business partner. The video that plays at Times Square — a tourism film for Southwest China's Chongqing city — was the company's first project contracted by a local government in China.