Art Institute entrance fee hike? (Chicago, Forest Park: hotel, house, taxes)

[scottl333]

They want to raise the entrance fee from 12 to 18. WHAT A JOKE!! Can someone tell me how it lasted all these years being free before they made it 12 dollars and now they want to charge you 18 dollars not including parking and transportation to get there. This city is really getting on my nerves. YOU HAVE TO PAY TO DO ANYTHING. What a shame and what a joke. This city is going into the sewers as far as I am concerned with the parking meters thing and everything else. Maybe I should move out to L.A. were I might pay a lot but at least the weather is nice.

[At1WithNature]

Why wouldn't they? that new bridge that connects millenium park to their place is going to bring in a wealth of new visitors on a daily basis. they're set to rake in the dough. and since most tourists have millenium park on their list of things to do, they will surely give up $18 to see what is inside. in fact, compared to other city's attractions 12 dollars is pretty cheap.

[Thepreacherswife]

We paid zero dollars this week thanks to a pass from our library branch. I believe the exhibits that will be on the roof (where the new bridge leads) will be free.

[cdc3217]

$18 a person is insane. There are free days and library passes, but still...this is supposed to be a gem of the city and it is cost prohibitive for many visitors.

[At1WithNature]

they're targeting out of towners. they should offer a large discount to residents.

[scottl333]

yes they should offer it free for city residents, because we are paying taxes to maintain it, and offer a discount to illinois residents. That I could go for. but 18 dollars entrance fee??????? come on. I dont care if they are building a new bridge that will bring people in. soon no one will be coming to chicago to visit because is so expensive. fees usually drive people away and chicago has plenty of them.

[via chicago]

That is kind of pricey.

If you're a resident, you should just consider getting a membership. Its $80, and allows access for 2 adults. Assuming you go 2-3 times a year with a spouse (most people use it far more frequently), its already paid for itself. Plus you get first dibs on special exhibits.

But yea, considering it was free 3 years ago, thats obscene.

[Irishtom29]

Things that used to be for the enjoyment of the city's residents are now being made into tourist attractions thus making them less available to the people of the city.

Look at the Shedd Aquarium. Used to be a place where a family could get out of the house on weekends but today many a Chicago family would be hard pressed to come up with the dough for a weekend visit. Oh sure, they have free Mondays but what working family is gonna be able to use that---what, take off work to go? And they have a free week, big deal, what, we gotta plan a trip to the goddam aquarium like a vacation or something? That's a bunch of bull****.

Just who are these institutions supposed to benefit? Not the residents of Chicago it seems.

[via chicago]

This was posted on the Trib's site:

i work at the Art Institute so I have some knowledge that many of you may not. The truth is that the museum has been working very hard to trim expenses internally without having to lay off employees and that should be applauded. Without shortening hours or days that we are open, there is really no other option in this current economy other than to raise admission.

1. The museum is open to the public but it is not a governmental or "publicly run" or funded institution. The exception to this is about $6M which comes from a Park District tax levy that funds all of the museums in the Grant Park and museum campus area. This is actually a very small portion of the museum's operating budget and an even tinier portion of what this city apportions out to city services far and wide. The total tax levy for all the museums is, I think, somewhere in the range of $50M a year. If you think this isn't worth it then visit other cities that don't have this kind of cultural capital and see how well their economy has been fairing over the past 20 years. How many of you were in Detroit or Cleveland or any number of post-industrial rust belt cities BEFORE this market crash? We were booming and they were not. Cultural resources are a huge part of that.
See the financial reports of the museum for more information, available publicly, here: The Art Institute of Chicago: About Us: Annual Report (http://www.artic.edu/aic/aboutus/annual_report.html - broken link)

2. According to Crain's, The Art Institute is the 5th most popular tourist attraction in Chicago (not counting sports teams). Tourism is the number one economy in the world and attendance equates to higher restaurant sales, higher hotel occupancy and more money flowing into our local economy.

3. The admissions at MOST other local and national museums of top stature are already at this price or higher. The Art Institute has been a deal for years:
Prices for current general admissions:
* Shedd Aquarium: $18-25
* Field Museum: $23
* Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City: $20
* Museum of Modern Art, New York City: $20

4. $18 for what, you say? The best encyclopedic museum in the country outside of the Met in New York. A collection of over 300,000 works of art: European, American, and Asian sculpture, paintings, prints and drawings, and decorative arts, as well as photography, textiles, arms and armour, and African, pre-Columbian American, and ancient art. Then there's the extensive collections of 19th-century French painting (Impressionist works in particular) and 20th-century painting and sculpture. Not to mention a host of other musical and cultural programming (lectures, performances, etc), and educational opportunities for children.

5. As with most endowments, which are essentially investments in the stock market, ours has lost considerable value over the last year. Corporate sponsorships pay for our free evenings (which occur EVERY week) and for things like the free month of February. Yes, the museum was free every single day of February. I suspect that anyone who loves art but can't afford admission can manage to make it down here for one or more of our many free days that we offer throughout the year. And yes, the free evenings allow people to come after work as we are open late on Thursdays.

No one wants to raise admissions. Our mission is to bring art to everyone. But this isn't a perfect economy or a perfect world. All I ask is that you do your research and consider the facts before making your judgements.

The price hike sucks, but Im not sure what else the museum can do.

Science and Industry used to be free..but they also used to get a significant amount of their operating budget from the gov't. Thats all been shut off.

[aragx6]

So it's not publicly funded? If so, I don't see any reason Chicago residents should get in for free. These things cost money to run.

Honestly? There's a lot of free stuff in St. Louis -- essentially everything in Forest Park -- and that's fabulous for tourists, but the county and city residents carry a heavy burden because of this.

You can't have it both ways guys -- either you pay for it in taxes or you pay for admission. You can't have world-class attractions without money.