The Whitney Museum announced it new admission charges and new hours this afternoon–and both will test the market.
General admission will go up to $22, from $20, while seniors and students can get in for $18. That’s no surprise, given the cost of erecting and moving to the new building downtown. And it’s still less than the Guggenheim and MoMA, which both charge $25 for general admission. Interestingly, perhaps reinforcing its focus on the young, MoMA asks for $14 from students and $18 from seniors. The Gugg is like the Whitney, charging $18 for both.
I think the Whitney was smart not to match MoMA and the Guggenheim. However, if the crowds do not materialize it will face a dilemma about doing so. We shall see.
We shall also see about the hours: I love it that, from the opening in May through Sept. 27, the Whitney will be open from 10:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays. The museum is closed completely on Tuesdays, and will close at 6 p.m. on Sundays, Mondays and Wednesdays.
I’ve written about the need for museums to stay open at night so many times here that I will not bother to link to those posts–they are too many.
The question is, can the Whitney be persuaded by the crowds to stay open more than one night a week (uptown the night was Friday, when the period between 7 p.m. and 10 p.m. was “pay as you wish”).
The museum says it will announce permanent hours this summer. So this is a test. If it succeeds, perhaps the Whitney can lead other museums into staying open after most people’s working hours. It will take time to change people’s patterns: museums will have to work at publicizing later hours, for example, and they’ll have to stick with it for a while. But today’s standard museum hours–closing at 4, 5 or even 6 p.m.–make little sense in a city like New York. And lots of other cities too.
Here’s a link to the full release.
Photo Credit: Courtesy of the Whitney