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LOCAL News :: Urban Development

Art Institute wants to set admission fee

By Charles Storch
Tribune staff reporter
Published April 18, 2006, 7:44 PM CDT

The suggested admission fee could become a historical curiosity at Chicago's large museums, with the Art Institute of Chicago poised to set a fixed charge of $12 for non-member adults.

The institute, one of 10 museums on Chicago Park District land, is scheduled to ask the district's board on Wednesday for permission to make the change, effective June 3. If the board approves, non-member adults visiting the institute won't have the option of simply making a "donation," whether it be in loose change or crisp bills.

The change would leave the Chicago History Museum (as the Chicago Historical Society now prefers to be known) as the only one of the 10 institutions with a suggested admission fee (now $5). But spokeswoman Lauren Dolan said Tuesday that the history museum plans to seek as soon as this summer the parks board's permission to impose a fixed fee.

"We are looking into what that required price should be," said Dolan.

Thrifty culture consumers may weep to hear of the likely demise of the suggested museum "donation." But the practice died as long as a decade ago at other longtime members of the so-called Museums in the Park, according to Jacqueline Atkins, that umbrella group's executive director.

The Mexican Fine Arts Center Museum never had a suggested fee, always letting visitors enter for free.

The rest of the Parkland 10 are the Adler Planetarium and Astronomy Museum, DuSable Museum of African-American History, Field Museum, Museum of Contemporary Art, Museum of Science and Industry, Notebaert Nature Museum and Shedd Aquarium.

Art Institute spokeswoman Erin Hogan noted that the suggested donation had been $12, so the new policy is not technically a fee increase. She contended the change would affect only 10 percent of the museum's visitors.

The institute also is seeking permission for a change that could benefit many families. It wants to let children younger than 12 be admitted without charge. Now, only children younger than 5 enter for free. Age ceilings at the other museums vary.

At the institute Tuesday, Steven Archer, assistant director of visitor services, said he usually tells visitors who inquire about the suggested admission, "No, really, we need something, but it's up to you."

He said the donations "run the gamut. We'll take anything at this point." Even a penny? "Sure," he replied.

He said many visitors might not notice the policy change. But he said, "There are people who come in five days a week and give us $1 each time. We may see them less frequently."

Some regular local patrons were critical of the proposed change. But they were savvy enough to attend on a Tuesday, when general admission is free, so their tolerance for any charge might be low.

Joan Seidel of Chicago said she usually visits as the guest of a friend who is a member. (Members and their guests get in free.) She said admission "shouldn't be more than $5 to $8, especially when you have to pay extra for special exhibitions."

Andrew Adzemovic, a student at Columbia College Chicago, said he often visits the museum, plunking down "whatever I have, $1 or $2."

Even with the new policy in effect, the student fee would remain at the current recommended level of $7. He said he might pay that rate if family was visiting, "but if I just had an afternoon off, it would deter me from coming to the museum."

cstorch (at) tribune.com
 
 

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