I have to admit that living in Washington, DC, I am awfully spoiled by free
access to museums. I recently road tripped to New York to museum hop for the
day and was blown away by the cost of
what-we-do-in-Washington-when-we-are-broke-but-want-to-do-something! Had it
not been for flashing my AAM m'ship card, I would have had to turn away from
many of the sites I visited.

I have mixed feelings about charging admission b/c it creates a barrier to
those who cannot afford the admission price. When I think about museums being
an alternative to the declining classroom experience, I am operating under
the bias of free access to museums. Few disadvantaged youths will pay to go
to a museum, and even if they were let in for free under some "reach out
program," pride would be a factor in prohibiting them from taking advantage
of such a program.

Back to the question in all our minds - how are we going to keep our museums
open? I don't have an answer, but I am not sure that charging admission is
the answer across the board. Just a thought or two.

- Adrienne