Frank:
You are playing naive, I hope?
> American society is, what we as Americans, make it. To say
> that things are "sadly, valid and necessary" is to give up any control
> over our own destinys as Americans and human beings. Our society is
> ill and we all are responsible....
This is a gross oversimplification of societal dynamics -- and, I
presume, you understand it is a gross oversimplification.
If Michael Jordan made visiting museums a regular part of his life,
more children would be thrilled to "be like Mike."
Take Oprah's whole "beef incident." She said she doesn't eat beef.
Thousands -- nay, millions -- of Americans heard her say that and it
affected the beef industry. They initiated a civil suit, settled out of
court (right?), so that Oprah would apologize and promise to never say
anything like it again. So, if Oprah said "Go to museums" people would
listen -- including government officials who might consider increasing
funding.
But me . . . ? I can try to exert influence on my family and friends,
but I -- as Visitor & Volunteer Services Coordinator -- have limited
influence. Perhaps you have more influence on society than I?
> but back to my original question: What happened between then and
> now? What has happened, specifically, that justifies a jump from
> donation to $12.00? These museums survived since their inception
> until only fairly recently...what happened?
What happened to justify a jump in admissions from pay-what-you-can to
$12.00 for an adult? What happened is that times changed. Everything
is more expensive than it was. Everyone pays more in tax, everyone pays
more for milk & bread, everyone pays more for all forms of education and
entertainment (and "edutainment").
I will also point out that, sadly, the art world only recently became a
publicly accessible forum. Until one hundred years ago, give or take a
few decades, most art collections were privately held, behind closed
doors of palaces and chateau. I think it's a great development that
anyone other than the rich can see such art collections. That is why
most museums have free periods . . . but museums cannot afford to be
free all the time.
Let's face the fact, Frank, that the "Robber Barons" -- who helped
found many of the grand museums -- were far more generous than our
contemporary politicians who have voted time and again to reduce funding
to public (and private) museums.
And, Frank, you seem not to have considered that not all museums are
public? Where I work, Joslyn Art Museum (Omaha, NE), is a private
museum. We receive hardly any public funding -- limited to minor (I
suspect, considerably less than 1% of the annual exhibitions budget)
financial assistance for the occasional special exhibition. The rest of
the year, Joslyn scrambles to attract funding by selling memberships,
soliciting donations, conducting various music series, etc.
I think I've contributed my two cents . . . maybe a nickel? LOL!
Sincerely,
Jay Heuman, Visitor & Volunteer Services Coordinator
Joslyn Art Museum, 2200 Dodge Street, Omaha, NE, 68102
342-3300 (telephone) 342-2376 (fax)
http://www.joslyn.org
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