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The Met admission fee debate | A Look Into | Showcase
If you're not a native New Yorker, vising the Metropolitan Museum of Art is about to get a lot pricier. For years, the Met has operated on a "pay-what-you-want" policy. But beginning March the first, it will now cost 25-dollars for so called 'out-of-towners.' Critics have condemned the move, saying it will separate visitors by economic class and origin. But the Met argues that the admission fee is in line with other New York museums like the Museum of Modern Art or the Guggenheim. Current revenue from admission fees only provides 14 percent of the museum's 305-million-dollar operating budget. The rest comes from museum trustees or supporters and some government funding. While cities like London operate a predominantly free museum system, the Met is not alone in upping its entry fees. There have been recent price hikes at cultural institutions in Cambodia, Canada and Egypt. To talk more about this, Sree Sreenivasan joins us from New York City. He's the former Chief Digital Officer at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and currently a Digital Media Consultant.
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