MoCA has free entrance since the museum received a $10 M. donation from Carolyn Park Powers
Last Saturday, during the annual Gala of the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles (MoCA), director Klaus Biesenbach wanted a more relaxed atmosphere: no numbered tables, and free entry for artists. Beyond the symbols, the evening was an opportunity to announce the free entrance to the museum.
Made possible thanks to a $ 10 million donation from Carolyn Park Powers, Chair of the Board, this fee will be for admission to the permanent collections. Access to temporary exhibitions is still subject to payment.
This donation will make it possible to compensate for five years the annual loss of $ 1.3 million on admission tickets, which were worth between $ 8 and $ 15.
For Klaus Biesenbauch, it is a big step forward to transform the museum into a place "more porous, more welcoming and more open". "As a civic institution, we should function as a library, where everyone can freely return," he added.
If this free admission allows the MoCA to become a more open place, and not an "ivory tower" in the words of the director, it also allows the museum to align with its competitors in the city: many museums do not pay for their entry.
The Broad, neighbor of the MoCA, is free since its opening in 2014 , with an annual attendance of 750 000 visitors. The Hammer Museum, affiliated with the University of California, has been since 2014, and has seen its attendance jump 25%. The prestigious J. Paul Getty Museum , on the heights of Brentwood, is also free to access. The Lacma is an exception, with an entry ticket between $ 16 and $ 25, a rate that has increased in 2017.
Klaus Biesenbach says he has no specific goal in terms of attendance: "If 5,000 people who would not have come otherwise push the doors of the museum, it is already important . "
For this German at the head of the MoCA since 2018, free museums is a cause he has long been carrying. Former director of MoMA PS1 , he made his entry free in 2015, in a context very different from Los Angeles. In New York, museums tend to increase their entrance fees, and at the Met Museum , the free price has been replaced by a compulsory rate . article from le Journal des arts
