For the first time in half a century,
visitors to the Metropolitan Museum of Art will have to pay a mandatory
admission fee of $25 if they do not live in New York State under a new policy
that begins March 1.
The change reflects the Met’s efforts
to establish a reliable, annual revenue stream after a period of financial
turbulence. But the move could provoke objections from suburbanites and
tourists as well as from those who believe a taxpayer funded institution should
be free to the public.
“What we’re trying to do is find the right
balance in generating revenue to support this enterprise,” Daniel Weiss, the
Met’s president and chief executive officer, said in an interview.
The Met’s pay-as-you-wish tradition
will continue for state residents, but they will be required, for the first
time, to show address identification; those without it will be asked to bring
it next time (but not turned away).
The Met is among the most prestigious
institutions in the world, on par with the Louvre, the Museum of Modern Art and
the Guggenheim, but has long been distinguished from those museums for not
charging a mandatory admissions fee. Instead, it has sustained itself through
private donations and public dollars; the city contributes operating support
every year, because it owns the Met’s Fifth Avenue building.
The Met currently receives about $26
million from the city. Under the new admissions policy, the $15 million that
goes toward energy costs like heat and light will remain intact; the remaining
$11 million which offsets the Met’s operating costs (for security and building
staff) will reduce on a sliding scale after the first full year.
The Met’s reduced portion of city funds
will be redirected to cultural institutions in undeserved parts of the city.
Fred Dixon, the chief executive of New
York’s tourism agency, NYC & Company, said “I don’t think the new policy
will affect the flow of visitors to the city.”
The admissions policy shift is one of
the ways in which the Met is addressing a budget deficit that two years ago
threatened to balloon to $40 million. While the museum now has a deficit of
about $10 million, Mr. Weiss said it aims to balance its budget by 2020.
Though the required admission for
out-of-towners will result in a relatively modest revenue increase, Mr. Weiss
said, “If every part operates a little bit better, we can get where we need to
go.”
