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Thank ROM Almighty, It’s Free* At Last

By Karen Aagaard

20090122ROMkids(2).jpg
Photo by wvs from the Torontoist Flickr Pool.


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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Comments

  • http://null nippleholic

    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?

  • http://null David Toronto

    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.

  • http://null Driusan

    But the public museums in Scotland are free..

  • http://null erik123

    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.

  • http://chroniccuriousity.blogspot.com sammyb

    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….

  • http://chroniccuriousity.blogspot.com sammyb

    sorry, that was 29%

  • http://null reallyordinary

    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.

  • cSd

    Effective October 27, 2011- In order to significantly lower prices every day of the week for all visitors, the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) has discontinued its Wednesday free two-hour period. Resources will be redirected to serve those who require free access most. The ROMCAN program (ROM’s Community Access Network) has increased its free admission provided to marginalized community groups by 50 per cent to 75,000 free admissions.

    By discontinuing the Wednesday program, the ROM can now offer greater affordability to all visitors by reducing admission prices every day of the week. Effective immediately, the Museum now offers general admission at more than a third off the previous rates, as well as discounts on feature exhibitions. Adults, seniors, students and families will all benefit through significantly lower every day rates.

    For more information, visit rom.on.ca.