The entrance fee to America’s museums keeps rising

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/01/arts/design/museums-raise-admission-fees-guggenheim.html

by lxm • 3 years ago

41 67 3 years ago

SoftTalker• 3 years ago

Yeah I recently paid nearly $100 for two people to visit the Chicago Field Museum and it was pretty disappointing. I'd guess well over half the exhibits are basically unchanged since I was a kid over 40 years ago, and it showed.

TylerE2• 3 years ago

That’s insane. I can remember when you could get in a nice (non-Disney) theme park for $30/head.

driscoll42• 3 years ago

To be a bit more fair to the Chicago Field Museum, the base ticket price is $30 for out-of-state adults, only more if you want access to one of the extra ticketed experiences, which are nice, but you can kill a full day on just the base ticket and have a great time. Ticket prices are also cheaper for Illinois and even cheaper for Chicago residents.

toomuchtodo• 3 years ago

Museum of Science and Industry pricing is still reasonable (Adult – $25.95, Child ages 3-11 – $14.95).

crazygringo• 3 years ago

https://www.fieldmuseum.org/visit

Good lord. Yup, $43/head if you want to see all the "ticketed exhibitions". (Is there sales tax too? Sometimes museums don't.)

Beyond just the prices, I really don't like the new spreading trend of charging more for "current exhibitions" separate from the rest of the museum. The Field Museum is "only" $30 for basic admission that excludes those.

liammonahan• 3 years ago

https://archive.is/adFBc

mechhacker• 3 years ago

The entrance fee to America's online news articles keeps rising

mikrl• 3 years ago

The paywall is too damn high!

wrp2• 3 years ago

I remember the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry being an incredible place in the 1970s. I think it was in the 1990s I was there for some reason and it was pretty much gutted. Maybe the decline in American museums has been going on quite a while.

viscountchocula• 3 years ago

I love omsi! Have only lived here since 2017, though. What was so extra about it in the '70s that's lacking now (or at least was lacking in the '90s)?

chung8123• 3 years ago

I am not sure what was special back in the 70's (I only started going int he 80's) but they were in a different building near the zoo back then. When the new building was built they had to pay for it with increased ticket costs.

rootusrootus• 3 years ago

The old building next to the zoo was smaller, so it was more cozy and you were just surrounded by fascinating things. And it had a periscope. It might well just be nostalgia that remembers it as a superior experience, however. I share the fond memories, but it's hard to say the new location is objectively worse. It's a lot larger and spread out, for sure, which changes the ambiance significantly. But it accommodates a lot more people. And there's an actual submarine now, instead of just a periscope.

mcphage2• 3 years ago

Maybe the decline in American museums has been going on quite a while.

It may also be due to large improvements at museums being a very sporadic occurrence. I remember growing up, my local museum (the Buffalo Museum of Science) feeling very dated, and when we visited Toronto, the Ontario Science Centre felt very new and fresh. But now the Buffalo museum has had some recent upgrades and feels new, whereas the last time I was at the Ontario Science Centre, it felt like I was seeing the same exhibits I saw as a kid 30 years earlier. Perhaps when my kids are grown, it will have reversed again.

kingrazor• 3 years ago

Most of my best field trips as a kid involved OMSI.

ydnaclementine• 3 years ago

Should be free, with special exhibits for a fee

In London, you can walk right into the V&A

helipad• 3 years ago

Some institutions do say their attendance has fully come back, including the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the Detroit Institute of Arts. Eric Gewirtz, a spokesman for the Detroit museum, said membership has increased by nearly 2,000 subscriptions. But overall, arts organizations have struggled.

Worth noting that The DIA has free entry for residents of three neighboring counties, which I could imagine is a contributor to attendance to pre-pandemic attendance.

Sometimes we don't even look at the art. Go in for free and hang out in the wonderful Kresge Court for food + drinks. Amble around to a particular section if we feel like it.

boomboomsubban6• 3 years ago

From Wikipedia, the Guggenheim can apparently show about 6% of it's collection at any one point. Seems like there's a fairly obvious way to generate more money there. But no, it's the union's fault they have money problems.

Bayart• 3 years ago

Every significant museum has vastly more in reserves than what can be shown. They're not art galleries, they also have a scientific and conservancy purpose.

boomboomsubban6• 3 years ago

I don't get "conservation" in the terms of art. They should keep art safe so that someday it may be seen? Why not let it be seen now?

I bet they could even lease out a fair amount of it with requirements of maintenance and some amount of public accessibility. That alone would drive down their costs at least.

klodolph• 3 years ago

Are you suggesting that they reduce the percentage on display to more typical levels (2-4%)?

recursive4• 3 years ago

Deaccession is controversial and often legally gray due to stipulations by donors that work is never to be sold.

If you're interested, see https://news.artnet.com/art-world/brauer-museum-controversia... for a recent example.

boomboomsubban6• 3 years ago

The legal issues I understand, but the controversy seems to be that art directors decided it shouldn't be done.

the__alchemist• 3 years ago

I think this dependson the region; IIRC NYC museums have always charged a fee. They're still free in DC and NC.

LiquidSky2• 3 years ago

You recall wrong. Public museums in NYC have always been pay-as-you-wish, but began charging non-New York residents a mandatory fee in 2018.

snowwrestler• 3 years ago

Depends on the museum in DC.

Smithsonian museums and the National Gallery have no admission fee, but private museums like the Spy or Bible museum do charge admission.

noodlesUK2• 3 years ago

I’m not sure what the difference is between something like the Guggenheim in NYC or the Tate Modern in London, but you can walk into the Tate without having to pay anything at all.

Is there lots of government funding in the UK for the museum sector that doesn’t exist in the states?

noodlesUK2• 3 years ago

In response to my earlier comment, the answer is yes. The Tate is a non-departmental public body sponsored by DCMS (and it seems like other museums such as NHM in London have the same structure).

LiquidSky2• 3 years ago

The Guggenheim is a private museum. Public museums in NYC are pay-as-you-wish, but began charging non-New York residents a mandatory fee in 2018.

pastor_bob2• 3 years ago

The Guggenheim Director makes $850k.[0]

The Tate Modern Director "earns between £110,000–115,000 ($148,000–155,000)"[1]

They do differ in public funding, but the philosophies between US and European museums are fundamentally different.

[0]https://www.theartnewspaper.com/2021/12/21/guggenheim-direct...

[1]https://news.artnet.com/art-world/tate-denies-gender-pay-ine...

AlbertCory2• 3 years ago

Thanks for that.

All US nonprofits have to disclose financial data, and it's public. IRS form 990.

derefr3• 3 years ago

So, the epiphany to have here, is that for many countries — but not the US! — historical cultural sites and artefacts (not just museums, but also things like monuments and land features) are a large draw for foreign tourists. People fly to Paris just to visit the Louvre; people visit Egypt just to see the pyramids; etc.

These "historied" cities have built up powerful hospitality industries around foreign visitors there to see historical cultural sites. Insofar as you can think of a municipal government as "a dozen neighbourhood business associations in a trenchcoat", hospitality-focused cities like this have strong incentives to put large amounts of public funding into museums, art galleries, etc. — both just to ensure that these things are very nice to visit and continue to draw tourists; but even more, to reduce the costs to tourists of visiting those sites in particular as much as possible... as a loss leader to draw those tourists into the rest of the city, where the hospitality-focused businesses can then capture their money!

---

But, why doesn't this happen in the US? Well, it's no one single thing.

• The US is big. There's a lot of stuff in the US, but you can't see all of it on one vacation. The "draw power" of any one US city to foreign "cultural tourism" is diluted because you can't just go to one or two cities and see all the cool stuff.

• In fact, many of the most "tourist-driven" sites in the US — Niagra Falls, the Elvis museum, etc — aren't in cities that people have any other reason to visit. All there is there is the site itself, and the hospitality businesses, with no other reason to be there. Because of that, people who e.g. travel for business, can't sneakily justify a vacation to these places by holding a conference or retreat there; there's no "there" there to make that practical, let alone enjoyable. They're just tourist traps, that you have to go a long way out of your way to visit. (The one exception being Las Vegas, a tourist trap so overgrown that you can hold conferences there — but it's hard to justify a "business retreat to Vegas" for other reasons.)

• And a lot of the other well-known stuff — the Grand Canyon, Mt. Rushmore, Yellowstone, etc — are (or are in) national parks, i.e. places excluded from capitalist build-up. Which is good insofar as it prevents a tourist trap; but bad insofar as it prevents these places becoming genuine hospitality-focused cities!

This is all very much unlike most of the rest of the world, where the big cities and the "stuff people want to see" are mostly co-located.

• Also, re: art and museums specifically — some might suggest that the US has nothing that foreign tourists want to see because "it's too young to have culture", but that's not true at all (see: e.g. MoMA; the Smithsonian.) I think the real "problem" with US museums is that they're modern in a way that means that all the coolest stuff can be seen in online catalogues; is well documented in video documentaries; etc. Meanwhile, other galleries and museums are old and crusty and not hip to technology (save for archival-science technology), in a way that means that you have to go there if you want to see it.

CydeWeys• 3 years ago

I kind of disagree with your premise here, at least in some specifics. MoMA and The Met in NYC absolutely do have a draw for foreign tourists, and are full of them. Both require tourists to pay the full ticket price to get in. LA too has serious museums that attract international tourists.

DC similarly has a huge number of museums that draw in foreign tourists, it's just that they're almost all Smithsonian museums, which are free to everyone.

brmgb2• 3 years ago

I see, now, it makes complete sense. I'm sure museums in France are free for French citizen under 25 and the unemployed in order to draw in more tourists which would come and pay anyway. That has absolutely nothing to do with these countries actually seeing access to culture as a public good and valuing education.

mcphage2• 3 years ago

Is there lots of government funding in the UK for the museum sector that doesn’t exist in the states?

The Smithsonian museums in Washington DC are free to enter—they are great museums, and there's a lot of them.

pastor_bob2• 3 years ago

The focus of the major American Museum has become the same focus that, unfortunately, has overtaken a lot of other non-profits. It's not to show a collection. It's to make money.

And they dump a lot of resources in the marketing, fundraising and consultants, and blame 'wages' of the people who make 45k with, maybe, 2% yearly increases, when they jack up the prices.

conductr• 3 years ago

Well, when in America…

AlbertCory2• 3 years ago

All financial data for a nonprofit in the US is public. IRS form 990.

1970-01-01• 3 years ago

NYT should do a little better here. A table, graph, or perhaps a map showing this rising trend would be much more interesting. Also, free museums still exist in the DC area. I don't know of other 100% free museums, but I'm sure they exist.

https://washington.org/dc-faqs-for-visitors/which-attraction...

balivandi• 3 years ago

Protips: Museum networks with reciprocal memberships and passes from local libraries

There are a few networks of museums such that once you join one museum in one network you get member benefits (or discounts) to the other museums in that network.

The networks break down into: Arts [0], Science [1], and Children's museums [2] [3]. Bonus network: Zoos! [4]

These can be a great value - especially for families with kids that like to do these things frequently. Our family travels between the MA, NC, and FL and the memberships have been a big help.

[0] https://narmassociation.org

[1] https://www.astc.org/membership/find-an-astc-member/passport...

[2] https://findachildrensmuseum.org/reciprocal-network/

[3] https://childrensmuseums.org

[4] https://www.aza.org/join?locale=en

Join the local institution you will frequent the most as you sometimes get better discounts/value at your "home" location.

Finally, check your local library - many have free or reduced cost tickets/passes for local museums and other institutions.

kkylin• 3 years ago

Second this! Moreover, most muesum memberships pays for itself after a couple visits. We just took the family to NYC and went to the AMNH twice, and a membership was worthwhile.

smokey_the_bear• 3 years ago

The California academy of sciences membership was cheaper for one visit for a family of 5.

fragmede• 3 years ago

Possible protip: Working at a FAANG or similar Fortune 500 might also grant you entry. I went to the Deyoung recently with a friend and found out that Genentech employees get access with an employee badge.

creer• 3 years ago

Free passes from public libraries - together with museum free days - sure look to me like a crutch that may be used to justify these higher prices. The result is very mixed: Yes that are now more free days I can go. But there are now no options to go and just idle and roam at a reasonable price. I used to have a membership to one of the few local world class museums but that's now not renewed. Another local world class museum has a price set so (relatively) high I never go anymore. The outcome seems very polarizing. But then perhaps just the cost of market segmentation resulting in high income and just perhaps, maybe stronger overall services in the end. I kind of doubt it.

Meanwhile we still have a few entirely free outstanding ones.

ChainOfFools• 3 years ago

After moving away from walking distance to the National Mall in dc, I realized I had no idea how fortunate people who live in that area are to be able to access a dozen plus world-class museums for free, on their own terms and schedule. I had not moved to that area because of this perk, but it's far and away the one I'm most regret being without now. There's nothing else remotely like it in any major city in the country, maybe in any country.

wil421• 3 years ago

Bank of America offers free admission to museums on the first Saturday of the month. The art museum near me has a special toddler morning that happens on the same day.

2devnull• 3 years ago

A lot of museums have free or low cost days or are perpetually free or low cost for certain communities. I have to wonder if higher prices for those who “pay retail” price isn’t just subsidizing a lot of free museum experiences for underserved people/children.

yenwodyah• 3 years ago

They’re raising the entrance fee from $25 (which was apparently set in 2015) to $30

According to the BLS inflation calculator, $25 in 2015 had the same buying power as $32.64 now

Apparently museums are getting cheaper in real terms! What’s the issue?

Am4TIfIsER0ppos• 3 years ago

Thanks. I was going to cynically point out that inflation is still positive, tremendously positive, therefore "of course the price is going up".

JoyfulTurkey• 3 years ago

The general collection of The Cleveland Museum of Art (https://www.clevelandart.org/) is still free. If you are in the University Circle area of Cleveland, definitely recommend.

Eumenes• 3 years ago

The Yale Art Gallery in New Haven is free and amazing - https://artgallery.yale.edu/visit

ThePhysicist• 3 years ago

Until a few years ago you could walk into the NY public museums and just ask them to give you a ticket for free (or for one dollar), which I think was reasonable. They didn't advertise this "trick" so most people still paid the recommended fee but as someone who visited the museums quite a lot I found it really nice. They recently changed it so that only NY+NJ residents can choose their own ticket price.

ExoticPearTree• 3 years ago

I'm not sure how recent this is, but in 2018 the Met price was "how much you feel like giving".

ckozlowski• 3 years ago

In addition to the other excellent recommendations here, I'll shamelessly plug my local museums, the Smithsonian. They're a world-class collection of over a dozen major museums in D.C., and all free for the benefit of the public. If you haven't been, go.

Facilities like the Udvar-Hazy Center for Air & Space charge for parking, but admission is free. If you're in Downtown D.C., this matters much less of course.

The entrance fee to America’s museums keeps rising

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