Art Museums for Free

Dallas Museum of Art

Free Admission

Last week I learned about two major regional art museums that now or will soon eliminate admission fees.  This is terribly exciting news. 

Museums and "high art" have long been perceived as elitist.   

This is not a mistaken impression.  Museums frequently house the collections of wealthy individuals or families. Museums are named after wealthy benefactors, ie Hirshhorn, the Mellon and the Corcoran. The Boards of Directors are generally well heeled.  Some institutions have even been devious in their admission policies.  

Met Sued
 
The Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC is currently facing a lawsuit because their actual admission policies are hidden from visitors.  On a visit to the Met a number of years ago I fell prey to the suggest admission price of $25.  Later that day I learned from my daughter that you can actually visit the museum for free. Signs and promotional materials were misleading. Admission fees even less than the Met's $25 certainly discourage families of any but the upper middle class from frequent visits or even visiting the museum at all.

Why do I think Free Admission is so important? 

I believe museums have an obligation to make their collections available to everyone if possible, like public libraries. On one hand many museums have extensive websites that allow them to be globally accessible on some level. Online exhibits and additional video and lectures are becoming common. Two of my favorites are the On Line Exhibition at MOMA and the video supplemental materials for the Metropolitan of Art's exhibition Extravagant Inventions: The Princely Furniture of the Roentgens.  This clip is a demonstration of an amazing folding game table made for Marie Antoinette.  

As museums are becoming more responsive to their global audiences online, it makes sense that access on a local level expands as well.  Obviously this is a complex issue with many considerations I can not even imagine.  Thankfully it's not my job to run an art museum.  However, I know what I want to happen in an ideal world.  Free access to art for all.


Here is a short clip of Maxwell Anderson, the Eugene McDermott Director of the Dallas Museum of Art discussing their decision to eliminate admission fees.

 

Maxwell L. Anderson, The Eugene McDermott Director of the Dallas Museum of Art

Maybe the question we should be asking is why hasn't this happened before?

An article in the Dallas News quotes Maxwell Anderson of the Dallas Museum of Art as saying that of the top 130 museums in the country, the national average of revenue generated from admission is only 4%.  Excluding museums in NYC, the average is 2%. He says "we value participation over cash, because participation is what will drive philanthropy and further increase grants and other forms of corporate and government support."  That sounds like a great  model and it seems to be working in Dallas.

Taubman Museum of Art, Roanoke, VA

The Taubman Museum of Art (Roanoke, VA) sent out a letter last week announcing that they had eliminated admission fees and that their attendance had doubled. I was surprised to have to dig for this information on their website. Congratulations even if it's not plastered all over their website.

What museums in your city are open to all visitors for no fee? I got very spoiled growing up in the DC area. We were and are still able to visit the Smithsonian museums and the National Gallery of Art for free.