RE: Galleries & Museums in New York City - Photography
What Dave Soemarko says about "donation," etc., seems quite plausible -- given the kind of "logic" we can expect from gummint, though these things can also reshape themselves over time. Maybe some day a journalism professor will assign a project to dig out the definitive answer(s)... Meanwhile, Doug's comment below starts another train of thought -- maybe the optional part for the Met and the Brooklyn Museum is because they are recipients of city funds that the others are not. (Remember when Mayor Rudy Giuliani tried to cut off funding for the Brooklyn Museum because its show of enfants terribles from England included Chris Offili's Virgin Mary supported on feet of gold-wrapped "elephant dung" ? ... [can I say I hope he gets the Republican nomination without getting put off the list? OK, probably not, fuggedaboud it]).... Maybe the "optional" entry fee is so, with all that public money, they wouldn't be called elitist? (And/or the folks I heard from about their admission experience were suffering from liberal guilt.) I will add, BTW, lest I discourage folks from joining the Met, that "membership" includes 4 issues/year of the Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin (about new acquisitions, & other special themes), beautifully illustrated in color, with essays by the curators et al, -- worth the membership price on their own (assuming one has time to read them). cheers, Judy On Wed, 15 Aug 2007, Doug Wade wrote: When I was there about a year ago the suggested donation had just gone up to $20. I guess since it's owned by the city they can't charge an explicit admission. We arrived rather late in the day and knew we wouldn't be able to see a great deal, handed them a $20 and said "two, please" and got zero guff from the ticket lady. Doug
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