Thank you all for your thought-provoking comments.  Many of you have brought
up that museum will often have a "free day" to accommodate visitors who
can't or don't want to pay.  The San Jose Museum of Art does offer a free
day on the 1st Thursday of each month.  Our attendance figures on a free day
generally exceed 5 times our normal attendance on a paid day.  It is
precisely for this reason that we are investigating the possibility of
becoming a free institution (or offering reduced admissions fees).  We are
concerned that we are only reaching our local audiences once a month.
Furthermore, initial studies suggested that visitors who pay in enter our
Museum are primarily 1st time visitors, as opposed to those who come on free
days who are primarily repeat visitors.  Repeat attendance from our
communities is of great importance to many of us, hence the study.

Thank you again for your input.

-----------------------------
Elana K. Hornstein
Visitor Services Manager
Education Department
San Jose Museum of Art
[log in to unmask]
(408) 521- 4001


-----Original Message-----
From: Museum discussion list [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On
Behalf Of Indianapolis Art Center
Sent: Friday, October 20, 2000 12:48 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Eliminating admissions fees


Many museums continue to have mandatory admission fees but also schedule
"free days," generally one evening per week and one day or weekend per
month, when anybody can come in without paying.  This seems to me to be the
ideal blend of making money from admissions as well as being accessible
without pressure to those who can't afford (or object to paying) the regular
admission fee.  The only drawback is that people wishing to take advantage
of this have to plan their attendance around the free days--which, come to
think of it, in itself may make the visit more "special."

Then again, I love the idea of "just popping in" to check up on my favorite
pieces in a museum.  When I lived in DC I would do that at the National
Gallery all the time--and felt horribly pressured to pay the "suggested" $5
at the Metropolitan when I was a grad student in art history just across the
street.

None of this answers your question directly. Sorry.

Julia Moore
Indianapolis Art Center
(we are free, but have an unattended, no-pressure donation box at the
entrance)


>From: Elana Hornstein <[log in to unmask]>
>Reply-To: Museum discussion list <[log in to unmask]>
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Eliminating admissions fees
>Date: Thu, 19 Oct 2000 16:30:26 -0700
>
>I am new to the Museum-L listserve, so please forgive me if this issue was
>discussed previously:
>
>Our Museum is considering eliminating our admissions fees. Currently, we
>charge $7.00 for general admission and $4.00 for discounted admissions.
>Some
>argue that this could be a barrier for some visitors and may be limiting
>our
>potential visiting audience.  I am currently conducting an evaluation to
>determine if this is the case.  As part of my evaluation, I would like to
>look at a few case studies of other museums that previously charged an
>admissions fee, and then either reduced it or eliminated it completely.
>Can
>anyone refer me to Museums that have done this?
>
>Your help is greatly appreciated.
>
>-----------------------------
>Elana K. Hornstein
>Visitor Services Manager
>Education Department
>San Jose Museum of Art
>[log in to unmask]
>(408) 521- 4001
>
>=========================================================
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to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "help"
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Important Subscriber Information:

The Museum-L FAQ file is located at http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ . You may obtain detailed information about the listserv commands by sending a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "help" (without the quotes).

If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "Signoff Museum-L" (without the quotes).