Museum traffic up with free admission

The BBC reports that museum attendance in the UK has soared since the abolition of admission fees a year ago:

The number of people going to attractions which used to charge rose from less than eight million in 2001 to more than 13 million in 2002 - a rise of 70% records show.

The most startling increases were at London's main museums, but museums in other major cities have also fared well.

Visitor numbers doubled at London's Victoria and Albert and the Science Museum - and are up by more than 80% at the Natural History Museum.

Outside the capital, the success has been repeated.

I have always found it deeply objectionable when museum admission charges are justified as being in line with the cost of attending a movie. Most museums are either publicly funded or benefit from substantial public subsidies. These monies have been allocated not because museums entertain, but because they educate. Should we charge for public education? I think not.
Some might bring up public universities as a counterexample, most of which charge tuition. Unlike museums, however, universities are not open to anyone who wishes to walk in, while tuition at educational facilities that do offer open admission is typically modest indeed. Furthermore, all of this tuition is subject to being waived in case of need, and one can generally choose to save money by taking fewer courses.
Many museums do have a sliding scale of admissions, but all too often it is not adequately disclosed. In New York, many private museums that accept public subsidies (the Metropolitan being the most prominent of the bunch) have long worked under a voluntary donation system. Nonetheless, the "suggested donation" amounts as posted look so authoritative that few think to pay less, thus dissuading those who might want to pop in for a quick visit to see a favorite painting -- or those who've never been inside, and want to check things out.
The discouraging of casual visits substantially alters the way a museum serves its community, yet this has drawn surprisingly little comment. Perhaps I have been more sensitized to the issue, having spent many years as an art history grad student, and now having become the father of two young girls. Being charged to enter museums as an art historian is akin to charging other students to enter a library, while many parents will not pay full admission for visits squeezed into child-sized attention spans. Yet quick visits are increasingly the ones busy working people are able to make, children or no. As a matter of public policy, museums should accommodate.

Posted by David on January 1, 2003 9:50 AM