We operate a regional museum and gallery in a city of about 55,000
people. The region is economically depressed and its inhabitants are,
for the most part, from the lower end of the socio-economic spectrum.
This factor, combined with a comparatively low visitation rate, have
led us to consider doing away altogether with admission charges and
possibly replacing them, instead, with a donation system.

Staff here feel that donations would probably exceed admissions
income, although this is more an intuitive rather than a experiential
assessment. Is anyone out there able to comment on what results we
might expect, based on their recent experience of having abolished
admission charges?

Mark Clayton
Hawke's Bay Cultural Trut