You  have hit one of my pet peeves with your question. . .

1. It always bothers me that visitors believe a museum should be free,
or nearly free. . . this says to me that people find little value in what
we offer or think someone else other than them should be paying for
it!

2, Frank spoke about the cost of museums in the early 1980's. . .
I started working in museums 25 years ago. . . lets look at how
some of the other things in life have changed in price since then.
     Cost of postage stamp 3 cents. . . now $33 cents
     Cost of going to movies $1 - $1.50. . . . now $8.00 in many markets
     Cost of nice new car: less than $10,000. . . now $25 - $35,000
     Cost of a mid-week ski ticket  $3. . . now $32
     My salary then $2 per hour. . . . lets just say a lot more but still
not enough
     Cost of Family Membership to my museum $35 per year now $80

3. Donations have changed.  Older corporations use to look at the community
and support things over the long range. . . IBM, local banks, and other
companies use to have large philanthropy $$. . . now everything is looked
at as a sponsorship where most corporations are looking at how much
exposure they will get for their sponsorship. . . and many strings are
attached. . .  Also. . . many local companies and banks in most markets
have been swallowed up into large conglomerates where they don't
have as much attachment to the local community.

4. Many government agencies have reduced the level of support due to
tighter budgets. . . in 1976 our city provided approx. 25% of our operating
budget. . . they are still giving the same number of $$ but it now
represents
less than 2% of our budget.

5. There are more groups after the same $$.  Sports teams are now after
corporate $$ to support their franchises to sponsor their stadiums and buy
corporate boxes in their new municipally funded stadiums.

6.  Folks want free days at museums, but I don't see them expecting free
days at movie theaters, sports events, grocery stores, ski slopes, or other
places they seem to find value in.

7. Most museums still do provide a large number of reduced or scholarship
admissions to those in need. . .  not just those too cheep to pay for what
they are getting.

8. The bottom line for me is that I think that much of what kept museum
costs low in the past and continues to enable museums to operate at
costs below the rest of the world is that staff have been willing to work
for much lower wages than in the for-profit world because they believe
in what they are doing. . . . so remember every time you get a free
admission. . . it is partially on the back of the museum staff not getting
paid what they are really worth. . . (I feel the same is true for teachers)

As you can see. . . I have a passion about this issue!

David Taylor
Director of Science & Exhibits
Pacific Science Center

-----Original Message-----
From: (Frank Gregory)
Sent: 2/24/01 5:39 PM
Subject: $admission$

Hi

I went to college in Boston in the early 80's and I practically lived at
the
Gardner and the MFA.  The Gardner had a donation only admission policy.
Now
the admission is $12.00! The current "Art of the Guitar" exhibit at the
MFA
costs $18.00 a ticket! (I once paid under $10.00 to see and hear Carlos
Santana play the guitar!)  When you factor in lunch and transportation,
a
trip to a museum for a family of four can run $100 to $200!  I have a
hard
time paying this kind of money.  Free-for-all days are good but they
don't
include special exhibits or the entire museum and can be inconvenient at
best, crowded and uninspiring at worst.  What happened? Was there a
funding
source then that does not exist now? Did museums discover they can make
a
lot of money?  Do they?  Aren't we denying access to a large portion of
the
public by charging such an amount?  Do we (hush, hush) like it better
that
way?!  Just curious for opinions.  Thanks.

Frank

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