March 20, 2009: Vol. 32, No. 12

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March 20, 2009 / Brooklyn news / Prospect Heights

Brooklyn Museum raises suggestion — and the suggestion is that you pay more

By Gersh Kuntzman

The Brooklyn Paper

Art lovers who head to the Brooklyn Museum tomorrow will get a surprise: the institution’s “suggested donation” will rise on Saturday from $8 to $10.

The rise to double digits was necessary because of the deep recession.

“We truly regret that the challenges created by the economic downturn have made it necessary to modestly increase the admissions fee at the Brooklyn Museum,” director Arnold Lehman said in a statement.

Despite the fair hike, if you will, Lehman said that his museum “still represent[s] extraordinary enriching value for all visitors, particularly in this difficult and distressing time.”

The $10 suggested donation — the first increase since 2004 — still keeps the Brooklyn Museum a relative bargain in the art world. The admission “donation” at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, a Manhattan collection, is $20. At the American Museum of Natural History, also in Manhattan, the donation is $15.

As the name denotes, admission “fees” at such institutions are entirely voluntary. Many customers pay tiny fractions of the suggested donations.

The Museum had about 400,000 visitors last year, a spokeswoman said.

Admission at the Museum’s First Saturdays events, which are 5–11 pm on the first Saturday of every month, will remain free, the Museum said.

Updated 01:52 pm, March, 20 2009: Story was updated to include annual visitor counts.

←Memorial service set for beloved blogger Guskind

→DUMBO: Did city lie about its Dock Street plans?

Reader Feedback

Publius from Bklyn Hgts says:

Instead of meaningless articles like this one, how about some real investigative journalism like about the scandal that the dumbonyc.com site broke yesterday about the School Construction Authority/Two Trees scandal over Dock St./DUMBO.

Or does the Brooklyn Paper not report on stories that it explicitly supports on its editorial page?

March 20, 2009, 2:16 pm

Gersh Kuntzman (Brooklyn Paper) says:

I love you people! Just because the "scandal" was blogged on DumboNYC doesn't mean it was fully reported. The Brooklyn Paper, like any real publication, needed a few hours to actually report the story, which we have done and posted on our Web site.

You can read it here. It's a long, detailed, analytical story, so I hope you'll have the patience to actually read it: http://www.brooklynpaper.com/stories/32/12/32_12_gk_dock_school.html

The reporters here do not take their orders from the Editorial Board. Never have. Never will.

GERSH KUNTZMAN
Editor
The Brooklyn Paper

March 20, 2009, 6:13 pm

Eric McClure from Park Slope says:

Maybe the museum should have asked for an extra 25% from Bruce Ratner before they feted him last April.

March 20, 2009, 7:47 pm

freddy from slope says:

now gersh,

you shouldnt ought to have done that.

now you have thrown down the gauntlet about "real publication."

i hope you are happy.

gentlemen. start your engines!

March 20, 2009, 8:22 pm

Gersh from Editor says:

Freddy:

I really wasn't trying to throw down a gauntlet. Please don't read anything more into my post above than the simple explanation of why it was taking us a bit longer to get the Dock Street story reported, written, edited and online.

Obviously, there is more than enough room for everyone to write, report and publish. I was merely explaining why I thought Publius was being a bit hasty.

GERSH KUNTZMAN
Editor
The Brooklyn Paper

March 24, 2009, 1:03 am

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