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.
