The Cincinnati Museum Centerfor example, it completed a $212 million renovation in 2018 and plans to raise its ticket prices in 2020. But the pandemic has caused leaders to delay those plans, arguing that visitors shouldn’t have to pay more for reduced programming at the complex, which includes museums for children, history and science.
“Then you have two factors: our fees come in and the visitors don’t,” said Cody Hefner, a spokesman for the center, which eventually raised prices in 2022 to $22 for those in adults – nearly a 50 percent increase from the $14.50 fee almost a decade ago. Hefner said leaders are looking at new models to avoid further increases.
“What other revenue streams can we explore?” he asked. “Do we offer birthday, camp, date night and night time packages? We can’t charge more for the same thing.”
Some institutions say their attendance is back entirely, including the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the Detroit Institute of Arts. Eric Gewirtz, a spokesman for the Detroit museum, said membership has increased by nearly 2,000 subscriptions. But in general, arts organizations have struggled.
Raising ticket prices is unpopular so many institutions have raised fees during periods of leadership transitions to diffuse responsibility, some museum experts said. (The directors of the Whitney and the Guggenheim both recently retired; at the Philadelphia Museum, Sasha Sudaits newly hired director and chief executive, was less than a year on the job when the museum raised its fees.)
Suda did not respond to a request for comment, but museum spokeswoman Maggie Fairs said admission revenue will provide “operating support for the preservation of world-renowned collections, the development of international recognized exhibition, and the presentation of public programs and educational activities.”
