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It’s Not Enough To Have Free Admission

June 2, 2026

by:

Joe Patti

About a week ago The Art Newspaper had an article on the debate about free admission at US museums.

There are a lot of factors discussed but one of the things that caught my eye was the suggestion that free admission alone isn’t necessarily going to increase attendance and participation, there has to be a change in the programming to align with the interests of the audiences you are trying to reach.

The piece opens with the example of Baltimore’s Walters Art Museum and Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA) which eliminated their admission fees around the same time.

[Walters] decision to eliminate admissions in 2006 led to an increase in attendance “by 45%, and minority participation went up by a factor of three”, but still that greater influx of traffic did not pay for itself. People came for free but did not spend more while there.

…the long-term results have not been positive overall for either museum. After the first year or so of increased attendance when entry became free, the number of visitors declined at both institutions, by 18.6% at the Walters and 12.7% percent at the BMA, according to a 2021 survey.

Source

A little later the article mentions Walters collection

….are of ancient objects from the Americas, Europe, the Middle East and Asia, as well as medieval and pre-20th century European art, which appeal to somewhat specialised tastes and unsurprisingly might not be an obvious draw in Baltimore, a city that has lost a third of its population since 1950 and currently is almost 63% African American

Source

It goes on to mention that BMA recognized the community has changed and controversially sold off some of their collection to purchase works by “under-represented, non-white and African American artists.”

They compare that with Detroit Institute of Arts which eliminated admission for residents of the surrounding three counties in exchange for a share of property taxes to support their operation. They pretty quickly changed their programming mix and the visitor experience to meet the expectations of a fuller range of whose taxes they were now receiving:

As part of the DIA’s elimination of its admissions fees, the museum made notable changes in its displays and programming. A department of African American art was created, and a reinstallation of art placed a greater emphasis on contemporary art. According to Timothy Chester, the former director of the Grand Rapids Public Museum and currently a museum consultant, “the DIA added a variety of interpretive signage and interactive tools to help make installations more relevant to diverse audiences. Critics accused the institution of ‘dumbing down’ the museum, but such criticism quickly faded.”

Source

Arts Facilities, Audience Relations, Finance, Marketing/PR, Pricing

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Changing The Experience Of Visual Art For Colorblind

June 1, 2026

by:

Joe Patti

Creative West had a story about an accessibility aid I had no idea existed —color correction lenses for people with colorblindness.

The lenses don’t completely provide an accurate viewing of color the way eye glasses can allow people to see things in sharp detail. Rather, they allow people to see gradients and nuances between colors that had previously all appeared to be the same.

The Albuquerque Museum Foundation provides the glasses to visitors for free to help people experience their collection. The Creative West piece provides a link to a story David Lee wrote about his experience.

He had been a frequent visitor to the museum so was familiar with the collection and hoped to have his socks knocked off by the difference with the glasses the same way his nearsighted grandfather had been when he realized he could see individual leaves on trees.

It wasn’t that extreme, but he did notice differences. Also, it apparently takes 15-30 minutes to get used to viewing things through the glasses.

David Lee writes:

But I persisted, giving the paintings I’d already seen additional long looks, and something interesting began to happen. When I started repeatedly taking the glasses off and on again, differences began to emerge. Colors through the corrective lenses seemed more vivid, warmer, and often a little darker. I sensed, though, that this darkness was due not to any obscuring of what I was seeing, as with sunglasses. Rather, I seemed to be taking in more color overall.

[….]

Hoping to test the glasses out on real grass and trees, I finagled permission to step outside with them for a minute. In the sculpture garden out front, I was surprised again: The lawn somehow looked brighter and more alive without the glasses. With them, it seemed dull and dark – kind of lifeless. The trees I looked at didn’t change much either way. Maybe this outdoor test needed more time, too.

Source

Because those with color blindness have it in different degrees and relation to difference colors, the museum reports the lens result in a wide range of visitor experiences. Some don’t really see any change while others experience a more marked change.

Given that around 10% of males and a smaller number of females are color blind, this is an underserved population of immense numbers that museums could potentially serve and welcome.

Arts in an Age of Technology, Audience Relations

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Every Price Tells A Story

May 27, 2026

by:

Joe Patti

Seth Godin made a post about price and its relation to value and story rather than cost of production.

I am excerpting heavily here because he says a lot of things about price, but I have a narrative I am going to focus on. So read the full post if you want all his thoughts.

It’s better to explain your fair price once than to apologize for low quality over and over.

[…]

When someone says, “that’s too expensive,” what they mean is that the story you’ve told them so far (and the reputation you’ve earned) doesn’t match the price you’re charging. You probably don’t need a lower price, but you might need to earn a better story.

“It might not be for you,” is almost always part of “we make the best (for someone).”

Bargains, sales and coupons are a sport and a narrative. They’re not just a discount, they create their own sort of value and expectation.

Convenience is often underappreciated as a component of value.

[…]

The most resilient slogan you can earn is, “you’ll pay a bit more, but you’ll get more than you paid for.”

Source

What I really appreciate about these thoughts, (as well as those I didn’t include), is that they emphasize that pricing doesn’t exist in a vacuum isolated and unrelated to story and reputation.

Every price has at least one story associated with it, and one of those stories may be one being told by a customer.

I have made a number of posts over the years citing research that shows free admission or low prices often damages brand perception rather than helping new audiences and visitors discover and become invested in your organization.

Which is not to say low prices don’t lower a barrier to entry for new audiences. There has to be some form of communication that connects the preferred rate to an identity group the person belongs to -resident of a neighborhood, member of a club, etc. Essentially, there is a story attached to the pricing.

Similarly, there are companies out there who will work with you on pricing who emphasize pricing based on the purchaser’s perceived value rather than yours. You may think a section of seats are the most mediocre in your venue, but there are a lot of people who will pay much more than you’re charging. Likewise, you may think an artist is the most gifted of their generation, but low awareness outside professional circles will translate into few buying tickets to a special exhibit.

Godin’s line about convenience being an underappreciated component of value reminds me that many of the barriers to participation arts and culture visitors identify are often outside the control of the organization – things like parking, traffic, restaurant reservations, perception of crime, etc.

Though elements like the ticket purchase path, wayfinding to and through the venue, feeling of welcome, are all within the control of the organization.

The ease of navigating all these elements contributes to an often intangible perception of value associated with an experience.

Those first and last lines I quoted had the most impact on me when I read them.

I hadn’t considered them before. Especially the idea it is better to explain the value behind the pricing rather than apologize for poor quality.

I sort of feel like the brand promise of paying a bit more but getting a bit more has permeated a lot of the work I have done and facilitated and has been echoed back by participant comments. But working to consciously embody that as an individual and organization dovetails well into the core missions of a lot of arts and cultural organizations

Marketing/PR, Pricing

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Put Down The Phone, Pick Up Jenga

May 26, 2026

by:

Joe Patti

Last week a colleague had posted on LinkedIn about a secret pop-up concert Phoebe Bridgers had conducted in one of her venues. She had mentioned that people’s phones were stored away in magnetic Yondr pouches. At the time I assumed that this was because it was a secret concert.

But later that day or the next, Artsjournal.com had a WBEZ story about Chicago venues that were requiring people to stow their phones in pouches and specifically mentioned that musicians Phoebe Bridgers and David Byrne were requiring concert attendees to check their phones at the door.

The WBEZ story was reporting on a broader attempt to create an environment where people interacted and socialized to a greater degree than they are.

Because the story shifts quickly between discussing the environment in which this efforts are occurring, I made the mistake of thinking theaters were providing games and activities for audiences. That was actually a program by a marketing group called Little Council in response to clients seeking unplugged spaces where people could engage with each other.

They have an area in a co-working space labeled “Fulfillment Center” whose goal is to assist the achievement of personal fulfillment.

….visitors made their way over to a pair of industrial shelves stacked with activity boxes labeled “make,” “play,” “read” and “write.” Inside the boxes, they found crafts, readable materials and games — plenty of things to do instead of scrolling endlessly on their mobile phones.

[…]

The boxes are filled with things that people “might not always make time for, like creating or writing or reading or just playing,” Fuller said.

Source

Even though I was mistaken about where the Fulfillment Center materials were being used, something along these lines might be something a performance space/group with the right vibe might employ. (Probably won’t be found in Lincoln Center in NYC, but maybe the Lincoln Center in Fort Collins, CO)

Ideally, you wouldn’t use this in conjunction with confiscating phones but rather as a social lubricant to get people in a communal space chatting with each other and asking to borrow the purple markers. Though in some places people may be so entrenched with their phones there may be little to no movement away from them after offering alternatives for a year.

Activities like these can make experiences feel more welcoming. One venue I ran, I created a visual arts fair that occurred twice a year. I partnered with a local creative group who helped arrange for music and different themed activities. I was a little concerned that people might not think a visual arts fair was for someone like themselves so having music and activities was one way to make the experience more welcoming.

The turn out and participation wasn’t too bad. I haven’t really tried something like that in connection with a performance but it could definitely work after some trial and error in design and execution.

Audience Relations, Building Public Will For Arts And Culture, Marketing/PR

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