Pay to get into Suggested Admission museums?

[damparrow]

Say you are a New Yorker, and want to visit the Met or the Natural History museum, which have suggested admission fees... do you pay the full amount? Can you get in for free? Is that frowned upon? Do you still have to get a ticket?

[BrooklynRider]

Depends. There are times I am flush wioth cash and pay. There are times when I have a brood of nieces and nephews and I pay a portion. There were times between jobs where I skipped admission and walked in.

Not paying is nothing to be ashamed of as your tax dollars are actually subsizing the museum. However, if you can afford the admission price, you are helping to subsize some of the less affluent people who visit and can't pay.

Given the great disparity in income between Super-Rich and Rich and then between the Rich and everyone else - I have no qualms about letting the museums rely upon big-deal donors to pay the way.

Selfish? maybe. Realistic in this world rich and super rich? yup. Any guilt about it? none.

[stache]

I have heard that you can just walk right in to the Museum of Natural History. No gates, etc. However, a lot of the exhibits require additional payment. It can really add up. At the Met, you have to pay something to get the badge. I usually give them $5.00. A former friend of mine gave the cashier a penny and got an extremely nasty look from her.

[BrooklynRider]

The Met is a very snooty, attitude driven place. You always get looks for not paying. Who cares. When I do pay I often hand my little tin badge off to entering patrons and tell them to skip the admission area.

I agree about the extra charges. The museum of natural history become VERY expensive when you decide to take in a show at the planetarium.

[stache]

I'm totally with you regarding the Met. That's what I like about the Whitney, with the tree in the entrance where you can leave your proof of admission for someone else to use.

[ryan]

I generally try to support art institutions instead of scamming them... If you're really that cheap, why not just go to for-profit galleries where there is no expectation to pay?

[Edward]

Another way to look at it is how long is the visit. If I go to see one exhibition only then I would pay less.

Yet another way to look at it - if someone would go to the museum for $5 but would not go for $10, then I think for museum is better to get a visitor, even at the reduced rate.

[Edward]

I generally try to support art institutions instead of scamming them...

Paying reduced rate is not scamming - that's an acceptable option offered by the art institution.

[ryan]

My understanding is that pay what you wish is is intended to encourage people who can't afford the full price to attend. The cashiers wouldn't give attitude if they believed it was ok to pay less than you can afford.

[Edward]

I never had a smallest indication of an attitude from a cashier, besides, a cashier is not in a position to determine financial status of a visitor.

The intention of a museum is not an obvious matter. From a business perspective, the museum would probably prefer a visitor paying $5 instead of suggested $15 than no visitor at all.

[Edward]

Met Museum members pay $85 for unlimited access for a year - that's less than 6 full admission fares - yet nobody would say they are scamming the museum.

[GoBUSH]

Museums are a business, like any other business.
Of course they should charge admission. The director
of the future museum at ground zero will earn 300K
a year. Does that mean she's capitalizing off of a tragedy?
No. The Red Cross, which benefits charity, other than the
Katrina fiasco, staffs and pays a huge portion of its donations
to keep it running...But they do good also...

We live in a cynical world where people love to point fingers
and accuse others of wrongdoings. Many people love to try
and destroy any betterment activity or organization in the
name of "help."

Of course the World Trade Center Museum should charge
admission. Unless you are a cynic that believes everybody does
things for their own selfish covert purposes. (and yes, some do,
but not all)

[MrSpice]

Museums are a business, like any other business.
Of course they should charge admission. The director
of the future museum at ground zero will earn 300K
a year. Does that mean she's capitalizing off of a tragedy?
No. The Red Cross, which benefits charity, other than the
Katrina fiasco, staffs and pays a huge portion of its donations
to keep it running...But they do good also...

The Met is not a business, though. It's a non-profit organization that gets some money from the city and state, as a well as private and federal funds. So, it's being subsidized by city residents at least a little. I think people living here can pay 25 cents and not worry about the looks you'd get.

[mariab]

Museum Day Live! invites guests to roam NYC galleries gratis

28 institutions offering free admission on Saturday


By Joanna Fantozzi / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

Published: Thursday, September 27, 2012, 8:27 PM
Updated: Friday, September 28, 2012, 6:00 AM

Anthony Lanzilote/ for New York Daily News

Brooklyn Museum


“Pavo real del mar” “Peacock from the Sea,” by Leo Matiz at The Queens Museum

Not much in New York is free. But this Saturday, some 30 museums across the boroughs are going gratis, courtesy of the Smithsonian Magazine’s eighth annual Museum Day Live!
More than 1,500 cultural institutions across the country are waiving their admission fees on Sept. 29 — and 28 of the best are throwing open their doors right here in the Big Apple. Simply download a free voucher good for yourself and a guest at www.smithsonian.com/museumday. The pass is good for entrance to one museum.
“What’s happening in our country right now is arts and culture budgets are getting cut like crazy,” says Jennifer Hicks, group publisher at Smithsonian Media . “This is a way for people to expose themselves to culture without spending money.”
Some big-ticket institutions — like MoMA and the Met — are not participating, but residents and tourists can explore some of the city’s hidden cultural gems.
The Brooklyn Museum in Prospect Park tops the list with a mummy chamber and “The Dinner Party” installation by Judy Chicago, which features a table set for 39 historical women.
Historic Richmond Town, Staten Island’s 17th-century village, gives a glimpse of Colonial America with exhibits about toys, children’s furniture and family life.
At The Morgan Library, music lovers can scroll through the scores and designs of the Philip Glass and Robert Wilson opera “Einstein on the Beach,” or admire “Josef Albers in America: Painting on Paper.”
For those looking for something different, The International Center of Photography in Times Square reveals South Africa’s cultural and political upheaval in the “Rise and Fall of Apartheid: Photography and the Bureaucracy of Everyday Life.”
At the Museum of American Illustration, kids can witness works featured in the award-winning children’s book, “Heart and Soul: The Story of America and African Americans ,” or tickle their funny bones at the museum’s new comic and cartoon gallery.
Think you’ve seen it all? Learn what led up to Occupy Wall Street at The Museum of A merican Finance in the Financial District, or explore The Louis Armstrong House Museum in Corona, Queens, where the legendary trumpet player lived, and where you can hear samples of his playing or conversations he recorded over dinner .
Hicks hopes the open house inspires museums everywhere to make the arts available to new audiences.
“ Museum Day Live! lives up to the Smithsonian’s commitment to making cultural education accessible to everyone ,” she said .
o YOU SHOULD KNOW

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