Met Museum to charge fee

The Metropolitan Museum of Art is partially abandoning its “pay-what-you-wish’’ admissions policy that has made it an egalitarian destination for generations of art lovers, even those who could barely afford a bus ticket into town.

Starting March 1, the museum will charge a mandatory $25 entrance fee to most adult visitors who don’t live in New York state, the Met’s president and CEO, Daniel Weiss, announced Thursday.

He said the extra money — an estimated $6 million to $11 million per year — is needed to help balance the Met’s $305 million operating budget, which registered a shortfall of about $10 million in its most recently completed fiscal year.

People from all over the world have been able to come to the museum for nearly nothing since its founding in 1870, but the number of people willing to pay a suggested donation of $25 has dropped off substantially in recent years.

“The goal of the policy is to find a better balance for the institution,’’ Weiss told The Associated Press. “The current policy has failed.’’

Entrance will remain free for all children under 12 and paywhat-you-wish for students up to graduate school in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. Students living outside the tristate area will be charged $12 and seniors $17.

The fee change will affect about 30 per cent of the museum’s visitors.

The rest are either state residents, Met members, or they come in as part of a tour group or via a multi-attraction pass.