When was the last time you went to the movies on a weekday between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m.? How about a concert, a dance performance or a play? If you can’t remember, I am not surprised. Most of us are working during those prime hours. We simply don’t have the luxury of taking time off from work to go to a matinee.Â
So why is it that 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. (or, worse, 4 p.m.)Â are the most common hours for art museums to be open?
To save money, many museums are trimming back hours — incredibly, some are cutting out evening hours. The Cincinnati Art Museum (left), for example, recently announced that it would no longer be open on Wednesday nights and said the decision was taken “to maintain the highest possible levels of service in programming and exhibitions.”
Sorry, but I can’t fathom decisions like that, which seem to me to be more for the convenience of staff than for the convenience of visitors. Traffic patterns at museums probably vary from city to city but, except for school groups, I’d bet that most museums see the bulk of their visitors on weekends and in the evening, if they are open. The Brooklyn Museum recently disclosed numbers showing that nearly 20% of its visitors come to the museum on just 11 nights of the year — its Target First Saturdays, when the museum remains open until 11 p.m.
Cutting back on evening hours seems clueless, and self-defeating.
A few museums do seem to get this basic fact. When Seattle Art Museum recently cut hours, it announced that it will be closed on Tuesdays, beginning the week of Sept. 7 — but according to its website, SAM remains open on Thursday and Friday nights until 9 p.m.
Who else is on this honor roll? Â
I checked about three dozen museum websites, and found these, all open more than one night a week:
New Museum, New York, open Thursdays and Fridays till 9 p.m.- Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, Thursdays and Fridays till 9
- Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Wednesdays – Fridays, till 9:45 p.m.
- LA County Museum, Los Angeles, daily (except Wed.) till 8, Fridays till 9 (at right, during the day)
- Art Institute of Chicago, Thursdays and Fridays till 9
I won’t list those that I found to be open one night a month, or not at all. There are too many, and they know who they are.
Isn’t it time for all museums to rethink their hours, instead of rotely cutting back? At least during the summer months, shouldn’t most museums be open at night, some days, so that people who work can go during the week, not just weekends?
Photo Credits: Courtesy Cincinnati Art Museum (top); Los Angeles County Museum of Art (bottom) Â