Newsstand: February 9, 2010
Duly Quoted: Adam Giambrone
Bob Kinnear isn't Greg Kinnear
Newsstand: February 8, 2010
Scale Model City, Actual-Size Grime
The ROM has latched onto the one sure-fire way to attract new customers amidst an economic crisis: they're giving stuff—that is, admission—away for free. To children. Actually, sorry, scratch that—to one child. This weekend, and every subsequent weekend up to, and including, February 8, every paying adult, senior, and student can bring along that one special daughter/son/grandchild/sibling, while the other pesky little tykes take care of themselves at home (that's what TV's for, right?).
This is good news for the Family Fave, but bad news for the full-time, card-carrying, post-secondary student. Well, bad news for them on Tuesdays, at least (because, a) Tuesday isn't a weekend day...wait, why did we just write that? and, b) that's the day they don't have to pay).
As we mentioned back in June, the ROM also offers free admission—to everyone—on Wednesdays. Again, though, there's a catch: this offer is only good between the hour of 4:30 and 5:30 p.m. Oh, and they close at 5:30 p.m., so don't even think about accidentally overstaying your welcome. Bargain-ticket shoppers will also be able to visit the Museum on Friday evenings—no, not for free, but for a reasonable (yes, we said reasonable!) half price ($11 for adults).
Although we largely agree with Spacing's (specifically, Leah Sandals's) critique of our public museums' accessibility programs, the complacent (and, perhaps, complicit) consumer in us finds it hard to condemn any institution that offers freebies to students* and children.**
*Full-time, card-carrying, post-secondary students...on Tuesdays.
**Make that one child per paying adult/senior/student...on weekends, until February 8.
Hat tip to Jenelle DaSilva-Rupchand.
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I was just in NYC and all the big museums like the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the American Museum of Natural History were suggested donation...why can't the ROM do that?
Americans have more courage when it comes to money matters. We Canadians tend to be more timid and fretful
about money matters.
Perhaps it's our Scottish heritage but we tend more to count it and Americans tend to spend it and worry about the consequences later. That sort of thinking is what
fuelled the industrial revolution in the US. We were a
colony at that time so it probably influences our thinking through following generations.
But the public museums in Scotland are free..
You also have to think about Canada as the runt offspring of the US and the Brits.
The arts in the UK is heabvily publicly funded.... like canada. But unlike canada the government actually supports the arts and sticks a lot of money behind it... hence free to public access....
In the US almost all museums are privately funded. There is little public funding for the arts. HOWEVER, the states was brought up on the system of philanthropy, the rockefellers and Daddy Warbucks are the icons for a country who, despite their obvious setbacks (ahem, bush-era) has always put money behind the arts and picked up the slack for government,
In canada we have neither a government that supports the arts like the brits, nor the private system of philanthropy of the states (nevermind the dollars)
basically we are shit out of luck.... its harder for us to notice though... seeing as museum attendance for canadians was down 2% in the last year....
sorry, that was 29%
It's the Royal ONTARIO Museum, it should have a pay-what-you-can policy, because they receive public funds. It should be accessible to everyone all the time. Access to arts and culture should not be exclusive to those with disposable income.
David Toronto your an idiot.
I propose that instead of charging admission the museum compensates visitors for the psychic and emotional damage caused by spending any amount of time in that unbelievably fucking ugly and hate-saturated building.