[BCMA] CMA Clip Serv: Are admission prices too expensive?

Thu Feb 4 16:54:30 PST 2010

RE Clip Serv

Are these articles really of any interest and benefit to British Columbia.
The following article by Anne Kinstston was not well written, ie comments on
free tickets  "grantis access to gawk"  this is her approach to Edmonton's n
ew Art Gallery.   Not much class and  compared everything to Ontario and 
the ROM.  I think we deserve better than a poorly written article by
Maclean's.

Ron Hyde
Board member of three BRITISH COLUMBIAN historical societies.

  _____  

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Subject: [BCMA] CMA Clip Serv: Are admission prices too expensive?

Are admission prices too expensive? 
Museum and gallery officials struggle with their costs and what people can
afford to pay 
Anne Kingston, Macleans, Wednesday, February 3, 2010 

When Edmonton’s Art Gallery of Alberta, or the AGA, opens its glass doors
this weekend, lineups are expected to mimic the steel ribbons furling around
the building’s exterior. Ten thousand free- entry tickets for the first two
days have been snapped up by locals keen to check out the $88-million reno.
The response echoes the 
excitement surrounding Frank Gehry’s revamped Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO),
which drew 68,000 on its free first weekend in November 2008, and continues
to attract 1,500 to 2,000 to its no- charge Wednesday evenings. 

The spectre of crowds clamouring for gratis access to gawk at Goya and Degas
reflects a modern Catch-22 with more twists and turns than the AGA’s bold
new facade: on one hand, there’s a decided hunger for the public gallery
experience, reflected in strong emerging 2009 attendance numbers. As Kelvin
Browne, the vice president of marketing and major exhibitions at the Royal
Ontario Museum (ROM), puts it: “In a virtual age, the power of real things
increases.” 

Yet there’s also resistance (and inability) to pay the admission these 
institutions must charge to cover budget cutbacks and still create the
“Wow!” spaces and quality exhibits required to attract audiences fed a diet
of virtual spectacle. Adult admissions to the country’s major institutions
vary widely: the AGA is raising its to $12 from $10, due to higher costs of
running its expanded space and an ambitious new programming push, says
executive director Gilles Hébert. “It’s a thing of value,” he says. Post
Gehry redo, adult entry to the AGO rose to $18 from $15, an increase that
prompted the architect’s quip, 
“highway robbery.” Ottawa’s National Gallery charges $9. The Vancouver Art
Gallery (VAG) charges $19.50 (winter), $20.50 (summer). And at the ROM, it’s
$22. Where admission prices mount up is when it comes to those rambunctious
tabula rasa who benefit most from museum exposure. Some galleries, including
the National Gallery, let children under 12 in for free, a policy that
should be enshrined in law. The ROM, on the other hand, charges $19 for
students aged 15 to 17 and $15 for children four to 14, which can make
family outings prohibitive, even on half-price Fridays. 

It’s a source of frustration within the institutions themselves. “We’re very
sensitive to the costs,” says Dan Rahimi, the ROM’s vice- president of
gallery development. But comparing the $22 ROM entry fee with a $13 adult
movie ticket is not the correct measure, he notes: “Compared with a symphony
or a rock concert or an opera we’re a bargain.” The ROM’s recent Dead Sea
Scrolls exhibit, which drew 300,000, is a case in point. It borrowed the
artifacts from Israel, and the Canadian government insured them, but the
costs still required a $6 surcharge to general adult admission, he says.
“The level of production is very demanding in terms of shipping, security,
display and advertising.” 

Calculating admission prices is an “art and science,” says Sue Bloch-
Nevitte, head of AGO public affairs. 

“Research says you never ask, ‘How much would you be willing to pay?’ ”
Among other considerations, galleries do due diligence to ensure rates are
in line with similar local venues, says Dana Sullivant, the VAG’s director
of marketing and communications (the VAG measured itself against ski resort
Grouse Mountain, $37.95, the Aquarium, $22, and Science World, $18.75). 

Pricing admission to induce people to take out a membership is a less overt
gambit. This delicate tipping-point practice is explicit in the ROM’s entry,
where a sign announces it’ll cost $74 for two adults and two children, $104
for two adults and four children, but a (relatively) mere $139 for an annual
membership offering unlimited access. 

Paradoxically, offering free access can be a gateway drug that makes people
come back for more. Last year, the Toronto library system began offering
almost-impossible-to-procure free passes to cultural institutions, including
the AGO and ROM. People who live two hours away from the venue by public
transit line up for hours, says board spokesperson Linda Hazzan. Many end up
taking out memberships. 

But government-funded institutions quite rightly are sensitive to their duty
to break down barriers to access through outreach programs. The AGA is
working with a private-sector sponsor to fund one free night a month. 

And the VAG will offer free admission during the Olympics, underwritten by
the provincial government, which has figured out one surefire way to draw a
crowd. 

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