Revenue / 01.16.18
Free Admission Hasn't Stopped Attendance Slide at Art Museums — and Other Solutions Prove Elusive, Too
Access Staff
Original article published on the Baltimore Sun (01/16/18) by Mary Carole McCauley
Free admission policies and other measures are failing to reverse the decline in visitors to art museums across the U.S. "Lowering the price of admission or eliminating it doesn't mean that suddenly, more people will want to come to your museum," notes Zannie Voss with the National Center for Arts Research in Texas. "If your museum goes free so that people of a lower economic status can participate, you still have to get them through the door the first time. And you have to give them such an engaging experience they'll want to come back." New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art drew heavy criticism this month when it announced it would start charging $25 admission for out-of-state visitors instead of requiring an unspecified donation. Other attempted remedies to attendance slippage have included sponsoring blockbuster mega-shows, but data from the National Endowment for the Arts indicates such exhibitions have become less common as well as smaller in scale, a shift that coincided with the beginning of the attendance decline. Critics also cite the shows' cost and labor investments, and their lack of intimate experiences for attendees. Some institutions have sought to draw the interest of younger generations; for example, by loaning original artworks to college students, or sentencing young convicts to art enrichment programs. "All our arts institutions grew up around deeply human impulses and needs," says Center for the Future of Museums director Elizabeth Merritt. "If the form they've taken has become out of touch with contemporary society, that just means they need to adapt."
Read the full story on the Balitmore Sun website.
Tags: News , Arts