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  1. apiphile: lizathefriendlyghost: mozaria: nparts: Make Museums Free: What we can learn from Britain and WashingtonAfter two or three centuries in business, public museums have developed into one of the splendours of democracy, the only places where private taste meets elite scholarship and we all pursue our own passions at our own pace. It’s an arena of opinion that permits individualism and innovation to come magnificently alive.Just one thing is wrong: Going to a museum in Canada costs money. Unlike parks, libraries and cathedrals, museums have box offices. If two adults take three teenagers to the National Gallery in Ottawa, they pay $18. That’s to enter a building that their taxes built, to see art that they, being citizens, own. The Vancouver Art Gallery, which charges $17.50 for an individual ticket, offers a family rate (maximum two adults and four children) for $50, plus tax. Paddy Johnson, a Canadian curator who runs an art blog from Brooklyn, recently wrote: “I’ve never thought the public should be charged to see their own belongings.”That’s also the British view. In Britain most of the national museums are entirely free, most of the time. In Washington the array of museums run by the Smithsonian Institution on the Mall proudly advertises “admission always free.”Unfortunately, while charging money at the door supports the running of a museum, it also strengthens the wretched idea that the arts and sciences are the business of a few specialists and the well-to-do. Although many museums have free days or free hours, the existence of a regular ticket price sets the tone. It especially discourages those who find museums a shade intimidating. ALL OF THIS. Ugh. I wish our government did something about it.  The only museum I had to pay for in London was the Churchill/WW2 underground bunker one. I got to see priceless amounts of famous artwork for free in all their galleries. Sad that I can see a Leonardo, a Van Gogh, a Monet for free here, but have to pay to get into the National Gallery in Ottawa. The thing with museums is that what you’re being charged is generally about a tenth of what you, individually, are costing the museum to be there. In places like Britain and France, and DC, where the mandate for a museum is more respected (generally) or they’ve been around for ages, the costs may be lower or the expectation that a museum should be free is so high that any cost at all to the public becomes prohibitive. Here, though, let’s say at the Met (because this is the one I remember numbers for), it costs on an average day, about $175 per person to walk through the door, for lights and guards and curators etc etc. So for a museum seeing that they’re charging $17.50 ish, per person, they’re still cutting the visitor’s cost by about 90%. What we don’t see on this side of the box office is what we’re actually costing them to be open. WITH THAT SAID, yes, major museums should be free, or have more free days, because even student discounts are prohibitively high for most places. Or do like what the Met does, and they have a ~suggested donation~ price, but you can pay much less than that and still get in (I went two days in a row last spring, and paid full price the first day and the $5 I had left in cash the second). worth pointing out that thanks to the tories there’s a good chance we’ll end up having to pay for museums and art galleries again in the uk simply because everything has to be a business wankwankwank The problem with free national museums is what it does to the budgets of smaller museums - on the one hand, huge chunks of the government funding is going to the big ones, and on the other, because visitors expect museums to be free the regionals can’t price entrance at a level that would make up for the lack of funding. I am entirely behind free museums as a concept - culture should be open to all, regardless of income - but since the MLA (Museums, Libraries and Archives) was closed by the Govt the attempts to re-organise national funding in a way that won’t cause half the museums in the country to shut down really shows what a mess we’re in. Private donations help, but you’d be surprised how many bequests specify that they’re not to be used for running costs. Sure, being able to bid for a new collection of antique pottery is a wonderful thing, but if you can’t afford the staff to open the museum it’s a bit of a moot point. Even if you could run the entire sector on volunteers (making it even more middle class than it already is!) you still have to pay for heating, lighting, water, rent, security, insurance, conservation, storage… It doesn’t help that in the UK a huge chunk of the funding has disappeared into the Olympics, and the only way to get even small pots at the moment is by doing something vaguely Olympics related (it’s called the Cultural Olympiad, and you’ll find a lot of regional museums doing internationally themed events next year, because it was the only way to claw some of that funding back).In theory that funding should be freed up again afterwards, but I’m somewhat skeptical. I hate to say it, but maybe a few more business minded people in the sector might have helped, but instead everyone in the Museums Journal is writing ‘the sky is falling’ letters about how there’s nothing anyone can do because it apparently never occured to them that the funding might not last forever and there’s no safety net built into the current system. You’ve got to have money to make money; the most prosperous museums receive the biggest pots of funding because they’re best placed to use it effectively. That’s what all these Museum Studies degrees are about these days, marrying business sense with respect for our heritage, finding a middle path between theme park and shut down. So, yeah. Yay for free museums. But since there’s no way any economy could make every museum in a country free, just try to avoid screwing over the ones you leave behind, okay? (end museum rant)

    apiphile:

    lizathefriendlyghost:

    mozaria:

    nparts:

    Make Museums Free: What we can learn from Britain and Washington
    After two or three centuries in business, public museums have developed into one of the splendours of democracy, the only places where private taste meets elite scholarship and we all pursue our own passions at our own pace. It’s an arena of opinion that permits individualism and innovation to come magnificently alive.

    Just one thing is wrong: Going to a museum in Canada costs money. Unlike parks, libraries and cathedrals, museums have box offices. If two adults take three teenagers to the National Gallery in Ottawa, they pay $18. That’s to enter a building that their taxes built, to see art that they, being citizens, own. The Vancouver Art Gallery, which charges $17.50 for an individual ticket, offers a family rate (maximum two adults and four children) for $50, plus tax. Paddy Johnson, a Canadian curator who runs an art blog from Brooklyn, recently wrote: “I’ve never thought the public should be charged to see their own belongings.”

    That’s also the British view. In Britain most of the national museums are entirely free, most of the time. In Washington the array of museums run by the Smithsonian Institution on the Mall proudly advertises “admission always free.”

    Unfortunately, while charging money at the door supports the running of a museum, it also strengthens the wretched idea that the arts and sciences are the business of a few specialists and the well-to-do. Although many museums have free days or free hours, the existence of a regular ticket price sets the tone. It especially discourages those who find museums a shade intimidating.

    ALL OF THIS. Ugh. I wish our government did something about it. 

    The only museum I had to pay for in London was the Churchill/WW2 underground bunker one. I got to see priceless amounts of famous artwork for free in all their galleries. Sad that I can see a Leonardo, a Van Gogh, a Monet for free here, but have to pay to get into the National Gallery in Ottawa.

    The thing with museums is that what you’re being charged is generally about a tenth of what you, individually, are costing the museum to be there. In places like Britain and France, and DC, where the mandate for a museum is more respected (generally) or they’ve been around for ages, the costs may be lower or the expectation that a museum should be free is so high that any cost at all to the public becomes prohibitive. Here, though, let’s say at the Met (because this is the one I remember numbers for), it costs on an average day, about $175 per person to walk through the door, for lights and guards and curators etc etc. So for a museum seeing that they’re charging $17.50 ish, per person, they’re still cutting the visitor’s cost by about 90%. What we don’t see on this side of the box office is what we’re actually costing them to be open.

    WITH THAT SAID, yes, major museums should be free, or have more free days, because even student discounts are prohibitively high for most places. Or do like what the Met does, and they have a ~suggested donation~ price, but you can pay much less than that and still get in (I went two days in a row last spring, and paid full price the first day and the $5 I had left in cash the second).

    worth pointing out that thanks to the tories there’s a good chance we’ll end up having to pay for museums and art galleries again in the uk simply because everything has to be a business wankwankwank

    The problem with free national museums is what it does to the budgets of smaller museums - on the one hand, huge chunks of the government funding is going to the big ones, and on the other, because visitors expect museums to be free the regionals can’t price entrance at a level that would make up for the lack of funding. I am entirely behind free museums as a concept - culture should be open to all, regardless of income - but since the MLA (Museums, Libraries and Archives) was closed by the Govt the attempts to re-organise national funding in a way that won’t cause half the museums in the country to shut down really shows what a mess we’re in.

    Private donations help, but you’d be surprised how many bequests specify that they’re not to be used for running costs. Sure, being able to bid for a new collection of antique pottery is a wonderful thing, but if you can’t afford the staff to open the museum it’s a bit of a moot point. Even if you could run the entire sector on volunteers (making it even more middle class than it already is!) you still have to pay for heating, lighting, water, rent, security, insurance, conservation, storage…

    It doesn’t help that in the UK a huge chunk of the funding has disappeared into the Olympics, and the only way to get even small pots at the moment is by doing something vaguely Olympics related (it’s called the Cultural Olympiad, and you’ll find a lot of regional museums doing internationally themed events next year, because it was the only way to claw some of that funding back).In theory that funding should be freed up again afterwards, but I’m somewhat skeptical.

    I hate to say it, but maybe a few more business minded people in the sector might have helped, but instead everyone in the Museums Journal is writing ‘the sky is falling’ letters about how there’s nothing anyone can do because it apparently never occured to them that the funding might not last forever and there’s no safety net built into the current system. You’ve got to have money to make money; the most prosperous museums receive the biggest pots of funding because they’re best placed to use it effectively. That’s what all these Museum Studies degrees are about these days, marrying business sense with respect for our heritage, finding a middle path between theme park and shut down.

    So, yeah. Yay for free museums. But since there’s no way any economy could make every museum in a country free, just try to avoid screwing over the ones you leave behind, okay?

    (end museum rant)

    2. 65 Notes
    1. lewesde reblogged this from nationalpost
    2. wallsandbridges reblogged this from nparts
    3. museumsandthings reblogged this from museumuse
    4. sonhe reblogged this from shuraiya
    5. shuraiya reblogged this from museumuse and added:
      ugh god all of this i agree so hard it hurts
    6. museumuse reblogged this from jgorehampenney
    7. preservationva reblogged this from jgorehampenney and added:
      Interesting article! Finding the balance between open access and being able to support and protect a collection is a...
    8. quadrillion reblogged this from nationalpost and added:
      »Love me some museums!
    9. jgorehampenney reblogged this from nationalpost and added:
      I loved that the big national institutions in England didn’t charge an admission fee. I hope that some day, people can...
    10. rampantnarcissism reblogged this from nationalpost
    11. nicoledeezy reblogged this from nationalpost
    12. sapiosexualcoquette reblogged this from nationalpost
    13. jara-mae reblogged this from nationalpost
    14. itsaspaceromance reblogged this from apiphile and added:
      The problem with free national museums is what it does to the budgets of smaller museums - on the one hand, huge chunks...
    15. moooochelle reblogged this from nationalpost
    16. wentforthproceed reblogged this from nationalpost
    17. apiphile reblogged this from velizaraptor and added:
      worth pointing out that thanks to the tories there’s a good chance we’ll end up having to pay for museums and art...
    18. velizaraptor reblogged this from mozaria and added:
      The thing with museums is that what you’re being charged is generally about a tenth of what you, individually, are...
    19. carolynlives reblogged this from nationalpost
    20. feedwell reblogged this from nationalpost
    21. caleigh-rose reblogged this from nationalpost
    22. emdrazuli reblogged this from nationalpost
    23. mozaria reblogged this from nationalpost and added:
      ALL OF THIS. Ugh. I wish our government did something about it. The only museum I had to pay for in London was the...
    24. jbearbie reblogged this from nationalpost
    25. fieldofyellowdandelions reblogged this from nationalpost
    26. button-up reblogged this from nationalpost
    27. burggirl reblogged this from nationalpost
    28. insularcortex reblogged this from nationalpost
    29. secretsofafirefly reblogged this from nationalpost
    Reblogged: apiphile