Tate Modern Museum in London, UK
In the ten years after the UK made entrance to national museums free, the amount of visitors increased by over 150 percent. So clearly, UK citizens and tourists are happy with this relatively new development. So, now visitors can peruse the permanent collections of the National gallery, National portrait gallery, Tate Modern etc. The government subsidizes the art and for a good reason. In New York city it costs eighteen dollars for a student to simply step inside the Guggenheim museum, and if you forget an ID proving that you are in fact a student, your pocket will be $25 lighter.
No matter how desperate you are to see the unique collection of Robert Mapplethorpe’s finest photographs or Ai Wei Wei’s “China Log,” for people of lower socio-economic backgrounds or just students on a budget, the museums exorbitantly high entrance fee rules this out. Of course the staff and people of the museum need to paid and they should be paid well, but there are others ways to do this. The Saatchi Gallery, the Tate Britain and the Tate Modern each have gift shops as well curated as the collections themselves.
Moleskin Rolling Stones Themed Journal at Saatchi Gallery, London
After I have entered the gallery for free I usually convince myself I have to have a book of David Hockney’s pool paintings (Tate Britain, if you were wondering), or a Moleskin journal with the infamous Rolling Stones tongue plastered on the front for 25 pounds (Saatchi gallery for the Rolling Stones exhibition). So, even if entrance to the museum itself its free I rarely leave without contributing to the arts in one way or another. This brings me to my next point; special exhibitions. Although it was free to enter Tate Britain and Saatchi gallery, I had to pay for these one-off and much anticipated exhibitions. Simply put the museums know what the gallery-goers want, crucially they know what people will pay for and what they won’t.
The point of art is for it to be talked about, and discussed by people from all corners of the world (whether they can afford a staggering twenty-five dollars or not.) It has been argued that museums would be valued more if they charged entrance fees but how can they be valued by those who simply cannot afford to enter them. Art is a fundamental part of our society and it is unfair to disregard a group of people who have to choose between a meal or a museum visit.
This article and others regarding the same discussion can be found on a fascinating online publication, edited by my brilliant friend, Helena Irvine. Give it a read!
Comments