Last
week the Metropolitan Museum of Art announced that their $25 suggested admission
price would be mandatory for non-New Yorkers.
Since they are dealing with a $15 million budget deficit they had to do
something, but there's more to the story than that.
The
museums original charter in 1893 mandated that "the public should be
admitted free for at least 5 days a week and 2 nights," to the building,
which the city owns. A subsequent agreement
between the city and the museum in 1970 allowed for a donation of a nominal
amount from all visitors.
The
rationale is that since the city owns the building and contributes $26 million
to the annual budget, local visitors should get a break. But, these days, 40% of visitors are from outside
the US and an additional 24% are from outside NY state. So that means only 36% of visitors are
actually New Yorkers paying taxes to support the institution. (Deb, 2017)
It's
also important to note that with this change, the city will be reducing their
funding of the Met and reallocating the money to other less popular
museums. My guess is that this is the
first step in transitioning the Met to a private non-profit partnership based
on the Central Park Conservancy model.
It makes sense. The Met is the
fifth most popular museum in the world, so they can probably pull it off.
But
back to the word change. In 2013, a
class action lawsuit was filed against the Met.
At that point the wording on their signs said: "Recommended
Donation." Settlement of the suit
in 2016, resulted not in an end to the fee, but in a change in the way it was
expressed. Instead of
"Recommended" the signs would be altered to read
"Suggested." Changes were also made in the font size and placement of
the words.
So how
did these changes affect donations? It's
hard to say exactly since the only data that has been released is a comparison
with 2005. But in that time, people paying the full admission price has declined
from 63% to 17%. (Freeman, 2018)
The
lawsuit got a significant amount of press, and travel apps now tell people all
about free opportunities. So those
things no doubt contributed to the decline as well.
But at
the end of the day, one has to believe that the word change played a
significant part in the reduction of donations, proving that words do matter -
perhaps more than we realize. Choose
yours with care.
Deb,
S. (2017, May 14) Would Fees at the Met
Deter Visitors? nytimes.com. Retrieved
January 10, 2018, from https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/14/arts/design/met-museum-fee.html?_r=0
Lam, K.
& Behr, K. (2016, February 27) Met changes fee signs to 'suggest' $25
ticket, rather than 'recommend.' pix11.com. Retrieved January 10, 2018, from http://pix11.com/2016/02/27/met-changes-fee-signs-to-suggest-25-ticket-rather-than-recommend/
Freeman,
N. (2018, January 4) Met to Charge
Mandatory $25 Admission Fee to Out-Of-Towners, Ending 'Suggested' Rates. artnews.com.
Retrieved January 10, 2018, from
