Edvard Munch at the Art Institute of Chicago

Thanks to generous friends, I was able to see Becoming Edvard Munch, the temporary exhibit at the Art Institute of Chicago yesterday, April 5, without paying. The admission price I avoided was $12 ($7 kids) and $10 for the special exhibit. The museum's admission price is rising to $18 ($12 kids) next month. That means that except for Thursday and Friday nights (no admission charge), a family of four will pay $60 to enter the museum. That doesn't include parking ($20), audio guide ($5), coat check ($1) or souvenirs. Membership is $80 for individuals, which includes children.

I think $60 for a family to attend a publicly-funded museum is outrageous. Instead of making admission such a hardship for families, the Art Institute could cut costs. For example, it could close on Mondays, like most museums outside Chicago. It could also have family specials at more convenient times--maybe the first Sunday of the month is free until noon. It really bothers me that working families support this museum through the taxes they pay to the city, the state and the federal government. So families are paying to support a museum they cannot afford to visit. I wouldn't have a problem with the Art Institute charging whatever it wanted so long as the public funding were pulled. If the Art Institute received no public funding and it remained open six days a week, would admission really increase all that much?

The Art Institute's permanent collection is fantastic. I enjoy it. But I'm not going to spend $18 to see it. The admission fee shouldn't keep away less-fortunate Chicagoans, either, especially since they pay to support the museum anyway.

Art should enjoy support from the people who enjoy art--not from everyone. Some time ago, I would receive annual email pleas from friends and relatives to write my congressmen to ask them to make sure the National Endowment for the Arts and Humanities (art pork) remained in the federal budget. This was U.S. Rep. Sidney R. Yates' obm (D.-Ill.) baby. Throughout his half-century of service in the House to his ultra-liberal North Side/suburban constituency, he raised their taxes numerous times, spent billions of their money with his esteemed position on the House Appropriations Committee (nicknamed the College of Cardinals for its power), never instituted national health care, and never steered federal money into his district. But boy, did he make sure that line item for the arts stayed in the budget!