TThe Case for Free Admission by Casey N. Cep

Art museums, like any other art organization wants to reach a wide span of audiences. Many want to enhance the lives of people around them. However, when museums put a price on admission they cut out the audience that cannot afford to pay to see the admission. Therefore, some museums have adopted the pay-as-you-wish admission where admission is purely donation based. Pay-as-you-wish admission is good for a museum for a few reasons. It creates a diverse audience by serving all of the public. Also, it is financially good for the museum. This paper will demonstrate why the pay-as-you wish admission is good for museums through a few articles about the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and the Children’s Museum of Tacoma.

The first article is called The Case for Free Admission and was written by Casey N. Cep. The first half of this article talks about the National Cathedral in Washington DC that recently went from free admission to charging tourist to enter. The second part is on the Met’s pay-as-you-wish admission. The focus of this paragraph will be on the Met, however, there were some points made about the cathedral that should be included. Cep talks about how critics are afraid that with the cathedral charging an admission fee then less people will attend . She then says, ”But the truth is that fees don’t seem to affect attendance at historical sites and museums—at least not much.” She continues on to support her point with evidence from two economists that published their findings in Applied Economics in 1997. They found that charging for admission did not decrease admission to museums and actually result in a rise of admission because it shows people that the museum is worth paying to see. I see the point they are tr...

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...on, N. (2013). Psychology, Pricing, and Pay as You Will at the Children's Museum in Tacoma. Museum 2.0, 1. Retrieved February 14, 2014, from http://museumtwo.blogspot.com/2013/11/psychology-pricing-and-pay-as-you-will.html

Kennedy, R. (2013, October 24). New York City Amends Fee Policy for a Visit to the Met. The New York Times. Retrieved February 14, 2014, from http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/25/nyregion/city-amends-fee-policy-for-a-visit-to-the-met.html?_r=0

Cep, C. (2014, February 7). The Case For Free Admission. The New Yorker. Retrieved February 14, 2014, from http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/25/nyregion/city-amends-fee-policy-for-a-visit-to-the-met.html?_r=0

Vergeront, J. (2013). Pay as You Will: An Experiment in Free Admission. Museum Notes, 1. Retrieved February 14, 2013, from http://museumnotes.blogspot.com/2013/08/pay-as-you-will-experiment-in-free.html