The Metropolitan Opera and the New York City Mayor's Office will distribute 70,000 free tickets to New Yorkers through a new partnership announced this week.

The Met confirmed the figure in its announcement of the initiative. "Every New Yorker should have the opportunity to experience the Metropolitan Opera, regardless of income or background," the company stated. "The Met is not just a globally recognized cultural icon; it is also New York's opera house, an essential institution that truly belongs to the city's residents."

Under the program, the Met will release 10,000 tickets each month from September through June, according to an advertisement from Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani, who promoted the initiative in a post on his official Instagram account. Distribution will run through a lottery system, and all tickets will be free of charge.

Mamdani also said the partnership will continue every year, making the giveaway a recurring feature of the company's relationship with the city rather than a one-time gesture.

New Yorkers can enter the lottery through the Met's website, which hosts a dedicated sign-up page for the program under its "Opera for All" initiative.

The scale of the program — 70,000 seats across a single season — positions the initiative as one of the most substantial free-access schemes the company has undertaken with city government. If the annual commitment holds, the giveaway could reshape how the Met engages local audiences at a time when major cultural institutions across New York are under pressure to demonstrate public value.