The Met to start charging visitors $25

NEW YORK — 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 US entrance fee to most adult visitors who don’t live in New York state, the Met’s president and CEO, Daniel Weiss, announced Thursday. Admission will still be pay-what-you-wish for New Yorkers.

He said the extra money — an estimated $6 million to $11 million per year — will help bring longterm fiscal stability to the institution. The Met, which has a $305-million US operating budget, 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.

Entrance will remain free for all children under 12 and pay-what-you-wish for students up to graduate school in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut.

The fee change will affect about 30 per cent of the museum’s visitors. The rest are either state residents, Met members or come in as part of a tour group or via a multi-attraction pass.

Weiss said the $25 fee will allow visitors to enter the Met over three consecutive days, instead of just one.

Two cousins visiting the Met from Bologna, Italy, on Thursday chose to pay $15 each and said that was plenty. “But $25 is a lot. It’s absolutely too much,” said Francesca Betocchi, an attorney celebrating her 35th birthday.

The formal change follows years of debate and litigation over the Met’s admissions policies.

As part of the late 19th-century legislation that allowed the museum to open in Central Park, admission was initially required to be free most days of the week. In 1970, city officials agreed to let the museum charge fees, as long as the amount paid was up to the visitor. Lawsuits in recent years have challenged signs at the museum listing a $25 “recommended” admissions price, saying some visitors believed they had to pay that amount.

Since 2004, the number of adults who have paid the full suggested entrance price has dropped from 63 per cent to 17 per cent. The voluntary contribution now averages only $9, the museum said.

Factors that might have contributed to the diminution include the economic recession as well as Met programs aimed at drawing additional younger people to the Fifth Avenue complex.

An entrance fee of $25 would be in line with admissions to other New York art institutions, such as the MoMA ($25), the Guggenheim ($25) and the Whitney ($22).