Thank ROM Almighty, It’s Free* At Last

By Karen Aagaard

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.