Thanks for your response Heather- you make some good points.  I agree that an institution that receives a lot of public funding (like your museum or the Smithsonian) may choose not to charge admission.  The particular museum I am dealing with gets very little public funding (less than 5% of the budget- and over half of *that* from federal grant programs) so I don't think charging admission would be asking people to "pay twice".  There are other "free" museums/gardens/historic sites in the area, so competition may be an issue, but there are also plenty of places around here that charge a modest (up to $5) admission.
 
You may be right about the "percieved value" argument.  That's something that gets thrown around a lot as though it is fact, but I guess I have never heard any real evidence to back it up.
 
On Wed, Dec 15, 2010 at 10:05 AM, Heather McClenahan <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
We do not charge admission for two reason: 1) Your tax dollars at work. About a third of our operating budget is supplied by our county government, and we don't think residents ought to pay us twice. 2) The science museum two blocks away from us is run by Los Alamos National Laboratory. Since it is also a taxpayer-funded institution, it doesn't charge admission. There's no way we could "compete."

When it comes to museums, I don't buy the "perceived value of the experience" argument. The Smithsonian doesn't charge admission, and how can you get a better museum experience than that?

Heather McClenahan, assistant museum director
Los Alamos Historical Society
http://www.losalamoshistory.org
[log in to unmask]
PO Box 43
1050 Bathtub Row
Los Alamos, NM 87544
505-662-6272 (office)
505-470-2912 (cell)

 Quoting Casandra Karl <[log in to unmask]>:

Hello all!

I recently had a discussion with the Director of a small local  historical museum regarding the pros and cons of charging an  admission fee to museum visitors (she casually asked for my opinion  and it turned into a *huge* discussion).  She argued that charging  admission would reduce visitorship and not really generate much  income anyway (I actually agree with the second point somewhat).  I  argued that charging a small amount (say $2) would increase the  perceived value of the experience and give the museum a bargaining  chip by offering "free admission" to members or for special days or  events.

Does your museum charge admission?  What factors influenced the  decision of whether or not to charge admission at your institution?   If you can cite evidence/resources to back-up your position, that  would be helpful as well.

Thank you.

-Cass

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