Ex-museum director says Remai Modern should consider alternatives to admission fees

The former director of a U.S. art museum that scrapped its admission fees says theRemaiModern Art Gallery of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon ought toconsider soliciting donationsinstead of charging admission as a way of attracting a broad cross-section of visitors.

While details about admission at the still-to-open gallery have not been confirmed, a report penned by the gallery in 2015 contemplated a general admission fee of$12 and a fee of $16 for special exhibitions.

• Saskatoon's Remai Modern Art Gallery considers charging admission
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"I would look carefully at suggested donations as alternativesto a fixed price," Maxwell Anderson, the former director of the Dallas Museum of Artand the Art Gallery of Ontario,told CBC Radio's Saskatoon Morning on Thursday.

"And I would make sure that if they're going to have a set price, that they do it in concert with expectations of market research around what their audience is prepared to pay."

Bump in visitors

The Dallas museum experienced a significant rise in annual visitors after it dropped its fees. The number of visitors rose to over 720,000 from 370,000, says Anderson.

Along with that bump, he says "wealso saw an increasein individual contributions from affluent families andeven from city government, which thought it was worthwhile to support both the increase in attendance and also the great diversity in our audience that included more people of colour and peopleof different economic backgrounds."

The income generated from fees is minimal, added Anderson, pointing to data from the Association of Art Museum Directors showing that museums in North American only generate about six per cent of their operating revenues from fees.

"I felt that admissions income of any size was a barrier to a lotof visitors for whomthe choice of bringing in a family of four to a place that would perhaps charge $10 to $12would be something they would just pass on," Anderson said of his decision to eliminate fees in Dallas.

Details on admissionTBD

While the results were "terrific" for Dallas, Anderson concedes that every city is different, and that cultural meccaslike New York are in a better position to experiment with fees.

"I'm not saying it's a bad idea," he said of charging admission."I'mjust saying there are alternatives."

Sheila Robertson, a spokesperson for Remai Modern Art Gallery, told CBC News via email that "the details regarding admission have not been confirmed. We're not in the building yet and the grand opening will be later in the year."

Last month,Rawlco Radio made a $1-million donation to the gallery that will allow people to visit the gallery for free six days a year for five years.

Another donation, fromTD Bank Group, will allow for free programming on the gallery's main floor for five years.