By Ed Lowe
Senior writerFor many long-time Chicago residents, it was always an article of faith to expect that the city's museums, placed as they are on public land, would have at least one free admission day a week. Although times may change, and laws may change, locations do not. However, free days are a sign of the past.
One law that changed was a 1911 state law requiring a free admission day each week at city museums. The Secretary of State's legislative research center in Springfield reported that in the 91st and 92nd General Assemblies, the law titled "Park District Aquarium and Museum Act" has been changed.
The first change that allowed fees to be charged in 2000 was tentative and if no one protested, it would become a permanent law. No one protested so in April it became permanent.
To summarize the new rule (the citation is Public Act 92-0553) museums are no longer required offer one day free admission a week. Instead, they must offer 52 days a year, only six of which have to be during June, July and August.
Many of the museums have opted to have their requisite free days at times when hardly anyone is visiting the city and when the kids are in school. None of the free days are on weekends when families can get together for an outing. School groups have been protected — they may still attend for free as long as a teacher accompanies the kids.
In a related development, there's been a recent controversy regarding the use of some Lincoln Park land for a running track. One of the main objections is that a private school would make a substantial contribution to the development of the track, but would have the convenience of a gym facility on public land. Protesters are adamant about refusing to build the track since it would be an abuse of public policy.
The museums are all built on public land and have stood there for years. In addition, the City and the State both make major contributions to the museums' operating budgets and expenses — a minimum of 18 percent of the budget.
One of the reasons for these contributions of public funds is to have them available to encourage tourism, a highly profitable segment of the city's economy. Bringing visitors into the city, whether for a recreational visit or for business, generates loads of money for the hospitality industry, for restaurants and hotels, for cabs and for retail stores. But to charge for a visit to a museum that Chicagoans are already paying for, may seem out of line for some peoples.
Inside checked with nine of the largest museums and found that four did, indeed offer free admission on one day a week. It had been decided long ago that Tuesday was the day when there was the least amount of traffic in the Museums and three of those museums now have free Tuesdays. The three are: The Art Institute of Chicago, the Museum of Contemporary Art and the Adler Planetarium. The Chicago Historical Society offers free admission on Mondays.
Only one of the museums is still following the wonderful logic of the old rules. The Mexican Fine Arts Museum at 1852 W. 19th St. is open from Tuesday through Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and is always free. A new exhibit titled "Private Lives, Private Works" opened on June 28. It's interesting that this museum can find a way of getting sufficient support to open all year at no charge to the public in an area not known for its affluence while other, higher profile institutions apparently cannot do so.
But four museums we checked on — the Aquarium, the Field Museum, the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum, and the Museum of Science and Industry all have substantial charges every day, except for some restricted and inconvenient dates. The free days are available on a schedule that leaves logic running dead last.
For example, the Museum of Science and Industry has no free days during March, April, May and July, but they do offer free admission on August 19-20 and 26-27 and on Mondays and Tuesdays in September. These days in August overlap the school schedule for numerous private and parochial schools.
Equally confusing are the free day offerings of the Shedd Aquarium. If you want to see fish swimming, try being there on Monday or Tuesday between Sept. 23 and Dec. 31. The Notebaert was free until July 10, but that window to see the butterfly exhibit is now shut.
There must have been an agreement between the Field and the Aquarium, which also has free days only on Mondays and Tuesdays between Sept. 23 and Dec. 31. Lizzie Keating, media relations manager for the Museum of Science and Industry, was asked if the Museum might not be in compliance with the new law because they did not even offer the six free days during the summer. Keating said she "didn't know that but will look into the law and the schedule and make appropriate adjustments."
Inside discovered a little known consortium of museums in the city called "Museums In The Park (MIP)." The Board of MIP consists of the presidents of nine of the Museums in the City. The Museum of Contemporary Art has not joined the group, but the Mexican Fine Arts Museum and the DuSable Museum are included. We spoke to the Executive Director, Jacqueline Atkins, who offered the rationale for museum charges and pointed out that free days are designed for local citizens. Since more tourists visit the museums during the summer, the access to the museums by locals is less desirable or, according to Atkins, "the quality of the visit was not real good. When the museums are less crowded, there's a better opportunity for a positive visit experience. The new charges are designed to improve the opportunities to create income from visitors. We look at tourism as being real good for the museums. We give them (tourists) a great value for the time they are in the museums."
Atkins went on to explain that the Chicago Public Library has a program where anyone holding a library card can request a free pass for one of the museums in the city on any day. This requires a visit to the library and, in some instances, Atkins explained, a wait of several weeks before the passes are available. The larger libraries get more passes than the smaller libraries, but all branches receive passes.
Ms Sally Jones at the Sulzer Regional Library, 4455 N. Lincoln Ave. confirmed this fact. The regional libraries had ten of each of three types of passes; branch libraries had only one each. They are charged out just like books — for two-week periods. When demand is heavy, Ms. Jones told us that the chances were about 70/30 that you'd be able to get a pass into the museum you want to visit.
Passes are in three categories: one for the Museum Campus; one for Contemporary Art (which is limited to a one week withdrawal); and one generic "sampler" pass for several of the museums. Getting a pass for the whole family to one museum does not seem to be possible.
Which legislators sponsored the bill to permit museum admission charged throughout the summer? Included among the legislative sponsors of the bill are Judy Erwin and Sarah Feigenholtz. Inside contacted Judy Erwin's office and were referred to the organization, Museums In The Parks and Jacqueline Atkins; according to Erwin's office. MIP and Atkins were substantially involved in creating the legislation. There was no mention of a possible conflict of interest, but the fact remains that they seem to be making their own laws to govern themselves without any oversight.
Museums are a wonderful place to spend some of the hot summer days. Locals and visitors alike can enjoy some of the cultural offerings the city has available. Somehow, it's better to see Sue, the Field's T-Rex, when the temperatures outside are hot, but without paying the $8 adult admission, and $15 to see some whales seems like a steep price to pay at the Aquarium, though that price includes two of the museum's shows. (If you opt to pay only $8, you can get general admission and the right to one of the museum's shows.)
Inside checked with the Chicago Park District. After all, it's on their land that all these Museums enjoy rent free and tax free use of public property. Park District spokesperson Angelynn Amores justified the new schedule of free days by saying that it was better for people to view the museum exhibits when there were fewer people crowding around.
The reason that there were fewer people in museums during the winter months was because vacationers had gone home and kids had gone back to school.
One of the best parts of our legislative system is the ability we have to reverse errors in legislation. We did it with the Prohibition Amendment; we could probably work toward doing it with the museum admission legislation. And this time, we don't even have to worry about Al Capone to do it.
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