Jason,

Our policy for special temporary and traveling exhibits is now to charge a separate fee for admission equivalent to the museum admission, but no other museum fee is required.  We have the facilities to have a separate entrance and exit just for special exhibits.  Members get in free or for a reduced rate.  Also if visitors decide to visit one of the museums in conjunction with the special exhibit, the combo. price is a much better deal, which we hope helps drive traffic into one of the other museums based on the subject matter, (or in combination with an Omni ax film ticket).

The extra charge is deemed necessary just to help cover the costs of some of these blockbuster special exhibits--you figure most are well over six figures with rental fee and shipping. 

Anyway, that's our M.O.!

Elisabeth

Elisabeth Jones
Director of Traveling Exhibits
Cincinnati Museum Center
(513) 287-7061 phone
(513) 287-7027 fax
[log in to unmask]
www.cincymuseum.org 


-----Original Message-----
From: Aikens, Jason [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Wednesday, May 22, 2002 12:05 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Admission fees for special exhibits


To All:

Recently I visited a non-profit museum which was currently having a special
exhibit.  I would not like to mention the specific name of the museum or the
exhibit.  The museum had a regular admission price of around $8 and charged
an additional $8 to see their new special exhibit.  The museum also required
that if anyone wanted to see the special exhibit, they must also pay for
regular admission to the museum.  I was offended by the price gauging of
this institution.

I was wondering if it anyone out there had any other similar experiences
like this at another non-profit museum.  Is it common for museums to charge
additional fees to see special exhibits?  I can understand a dollar or two
but nearly $8 seems quite high and requiring visitors to pay for regular
admission as well as special exhibit fees seems a bit much don't you think?
Isn't this a violation of federal non-profit standards?

Jason Aikens

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