Met Passes On Admission Fee Hike To Out-Of-Towners And Europeans; Cheapskates Yawn

The Metropolitan Museum of Art announces it will raise the price of an adult ticket to $20, translating to a 33% increase in guilty feelings for stiffing them on the “suggested donation”:

When the Museum of Modern Art announced in 2004 that admission to its new facility would cost an eye-popping, and wallet-lightening, $20, a symbolic threshold was crossed, and it was only a matter of time before someone else caught up.Yesterday, the Metropolitan Museum of Art announced that, as of August 1, its recommended adult admission would go up to $20 from $15, bringing it onto a par with MoMA.

The Met’s spokesman, Harold Holzer, said that ongoing deficits necessitated the increase. “Ever since 9/11, the museum has faced the ongoing challenge of a structural,operating deficit,” Mr. Holzer said. The deficit for the fiscal year ending June 30 was $3.5 million. “This is a solution that helps us defray the cost of running essentially the largest museum of the country, while still protecting the concept of pay-as-you-wish.”

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Unlike MoMA, or the Frick, or the Guggenheim, or other uptown museums, the Met’s admission fee is only a suggested donation, although Mr. Holzer said, “We’re not shy about asserting that we ask visitors to pay whatever they can.” He declined to say how many people pay the suggested rate.

The suggested-donation policy is a requirement of being part of what is called the Cultural Institutions Group, a group of 34 New York City-owned institutions that also includes the American Museum of Natural History, the Brooklyn Academy of Music, the Brooklyn Museum, and the Bronx Zoo. As part of the same deal, the city provides 11% of the Met’s total budget, according the Department of Cultural Affairs. In the last fiscal year, this came to about $24,598,000, an amount that contributed to general operating costs, as well as paying for heat, light, and power.

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A painter and the coordinator of the painting department at the New York Academy of Art, Wade Schuman, said he didn’t mind the fee increase and didn’t think it would discourage artists or young people from going to the museum. “Most artists do not give the suggested donation,” he said. “I’d be curious how many people actually do. I think that changing the suggested donation is mainly going to affect out-of-towners and Europeans.”