From: Indigo Nights
This is what Chi Town is doing to lure more visitors and hopefully bring in additional revenue.
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Museums OK same free days
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Autumn, winter will see 2 a week
By Liam Ford
Tribune staff reporter
December 20, 2001
Starting next month, the neighboring Field Museum, Shedd Aquarium and Adler Planetarium will offer free admission on the same days and increase the frequency from one to two a week in the fall and winter as part of a campaign to lure more visitors to the Museum Campus.
The goal of the coordinated free-day schedules is to make it cheaper for city residents to hop between attractions on the Museum Campus, officials of the facilities said Wednesday in announcing the new policy.
To make up the lost revenue, the museums said they would cut back on the number of free days they offer in the spring and summer, when Downstate and suburban residents are most likely to visit.
Under state law, the three museums are required to offer 52 free days a year. Until recently, the Shedd waived its admission price on Mondays, the Adler on Tuesdays and the Field on Wednesdays.
The three will offer free days on both Mondays and Tuesdays beginning in January under the plan. The free-day schedule will be trimmed back to about one a month, although still coordinated, beginning in March. Over a year, two-a-week free days will be offered from September through February and the reduced schedule between March and August.
"We each have different free days [now]. What we hope to do is make it easier for families to visit more than one museum in a day," said Paul Knappenberger, president of the Adler Planetarium.
The change could mean big savings for visitors who plan ahead. Admission to all three museums on a regular day could cost more than $80 for a family of four.
Park District officials said the change will allow Chicago residents a greater chance to get into the museums free, because they are the primary users of museums in the fall and winter. Tourists are more likely to visit the museums during the spring and summer, said Angelynne Amores, a district spokeswoman.
While praising the coordinated free days, Jackie Guthrie, of the advocacy group Friends of the Parks, said some families still have more difficulty getting to the museum on free days during the fall and winter, when some parents are less likely to have time off of work.
In addition to the change of free days, the Adler also will raise admission prices for visitors from outside the city beginning next month, following the Wednesday approval of the increase by the Park District board. Admission will jump to $7 from $5 for adults. The new cost for seniors will be $6 and for children ages 3 to 17, it will be $5, up $1 from the previous charge, Knappenberger said. The fee increase is part of a trend among Chicago's taxpayer-supported museums to charge lower fees for city residents.
"This is the right kind of move, since Chicagoans are subsidizing these museums to the tune of $50 million a year," said parks General Supt. David Doig.
Also Wednesday, a park committee gave preliminary approval to an agreement to open up facilities at Whitney Young High School to neighborhood residents. Young was built on Park District land, and for years the district ran swimming and other programs there, but several years ago the programs ended. The agreement would allow the use of the school pool and gym for park programs.
A district committee also passed on to the full park board a new $1 million fencing contract to G.F. Structures Corp., whose owner, Richard Crandall, has long-standing ties to Mayor Richard M. Daley's family and is a big campaign contributor to the mayor. The contract for ornamental iron fencing, chain-link fencing and miscellaneous iron hardware for the district was competitively bid.
Copyright (c) 2001, Chicago Tribune
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