Culture comes cheap in March
Families heading to the Royal Ontario Museum during March break will enjoy a bargain, even if many aren’t yet aware of it.
Last fall, Janet Carding, the ROM’S CEO, made a bold move by slashing admission prices to make the museum more accessible. The gamble was that whatever revenue was sacrificed would be more than balanced by higher attendance numbers.
“Awareness is growing, but it’s taking longer than expected,” Carding explained over tea in her office the other day. The numbers are moving in the right direction, but more slowly than she had hoped.
The good news: the number of general-admission tickets has gone up by 8 per cent and, assuming the trend continues, the museum’s gamble will have paid off by midsummer, after the June opening of “Ultimate Dinosaurs: Giants From Gondwana.”
But so far, the price drop has translated into lower revenue.
Why? Because most people don’t seem to be aware of the bargain entry fees, despite media coverage and advertising. A recent survey showed that 46 per cent of Torontonians had heard about the Maya exhibition currently at the ROM, but only 17 per cent realized admission prices have dropped. Even more surprisingly, just half the people waiting in line to buy tickets were aware of the price change.
So far, the admission price drop has translated into lower revenue for the ROM, but the gamble should pay off
So it may come as a surprise, but a group of two adults and two children will pay a total of $84 for a visit to the ROM, including the Maya exhibit, whereas the previous tab would have been $101. And from March 10 to 17, the museum will stay open until 8:30 nightly.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, IRVING
Irving Layton, that unforgettably flamboyant Canadian poet, specified in his will that there were to be no memorial sites or even a grave, and his ashes were scattered anonymously around a tree. But he didn’t forbid birthday parties.
Layton, who died in 2006, was born in Romania on March 12, 1912. And the centenary of his birth is being celebrated in all 10 provinces, according to his older son, Max Layton.
Montreal is the city where Irving Layton grew up and made his name, rising from the ghetto to become one of Canlit’s most controversial and colourful characters. He won the Governor General’s medal for his poetry collection, A Red Carpet for the Sun, published by Mcclelland & Stewart in 1958, and among the younger poets he mentored were Al Purdy and Leonard Cohen.
But in the 1970s, he lived in and around Toronto, teaching at York University. And Torontonians will get a chance to pay tribute on March 14 with a salute set for Harbourfront Centre.
Among those scheduled to speak: Margaret Atwood, Barry Callaghan, Scott Griffin, Moses Znaimer, Anna Porter, Dennis Lee and poet laureate Fred Wah. Leonard Cohen, who lives in Los Angeles, will participate by video.
THE RETURN OF MAX RAABE
In 1933, when Hitler and his Nazi party took over Germany, they wasted no time in ending the sound of swing, which they consid- ered decadent. But two years ago, on a magical night when I was lucky enough to be at Koerner Hall, the audience was happily transported back to a Berlin nightclub in 1932, under the spell of baritone Max Raabe and his foxtrotting 12-piece Palast dance band. The sublime program included music by Kurt Weill, Irving Berlin and other great songwriters of the 1920s and ’30s. The perfectly debonair style of Raabe’s patter added to the experience. Raabe and his band return to Koerner Hall this week for performances on Thursday and Friday, which will include selections from their new CD, One Cannot Kiss Alone. For swing-band fans, this is sure to be a night of bliss. mknelman@thestar.ca