The Contemporary Arts Center (CAC) will begin charging a general admission fee this week. As of April 17, the fee for anyone over 18 years old will be $12.
"To be proactive, we need to begin charging a nominal admission fee so that we can secure our ability to continue programming and exhibitions that align with our mission of being a lab of using contemporary art to better understand ourselves, others, the world around us, and with that, that will help us set up a more sustainable financial model so that CAC is around for a long time," Carolyn Hefner, chief of external affairs, tells WVXU.
The CAC dropped admission fees for Ohio and Kentucky residents in 2016 thanks to a combination of funding from The Johnson Foundation and a group of patrons known as The 50. That grant covered three years of fees. The funding was renewed in 2019 for an additional three years. In 2021, as priorities shifted among the donors, the CAC began looking for new funding sources, Hefner says.
As part of the organization's strategic planning process — the plan for 2025-2029 was released last year — the center evaluated the value of offering free admission. Hefner says that data showed free admission to museums doesn't equate to more diverse visitors.
"That was really the hope in the beginning, was that it removed a cost barrier that allowed more people to come. And what we found was, you remove that cost barrier, but it was more of the same people that go to museums coming to a museum," she says.
The change comes at a difficult period for arts groups. The CAC already has seen some of its federal funding pulled under the Trump administration. A grant totaling $175,000 over three years has been canceled. It was slated to cover 31% of the CAC's teen programs, providing free admission to around 3,000 underserved teens annually.
What went into the decision
The museum is shifting funding to keep those programs free, but that's part of what went into the decision to start charging admission again.
"We understand that we have our own funding crisis, but that's exacerbated by the executive orders that are directly impacting CAC funding, as well as just national and global trends around how much more expensive it is to run a museum — as we make sure that our employees are being paid more equitably, as the cost of building exhibitions go up, [and] the cost of running the actual building goes up," Hefner points out. "Our utilities are doubling in cost over this next year."
Hefner says museum leaders researched admission fees at similar museums and found the average cost was around $12.50, so the center decided on $12 for anyone over 18. There are some exceptions, such as for SNAP or EBT beneficiaries.
The change does away with non-local admission, which was previously $12 for adults not from Ohio or Kentucky, and $10 for seniors and students. Now, anyone over 18 will pay $12 and anyone under 18 will be free.
The CAC isn't alone in worrying about its financial future. Arts organizations and museums across the country are reeling from cuts and trying to plan for an uncertain road ahead.
"There is a funding crisis for the arts. It hits hard locally as well, and there aren't as many private dollars, especially as there's market volatility right now. I think that we all could use a bit more support from our community," Hefner says.
The CAC was founded in 1939 as the Modern Art Society. The name was changed to the Contemporary Arts Center in 1952, and the Lois & Richard Rosenthal Center for Contemporary Art in Cincinnati opened in 2003. It was the first museum in the United States designed by a woman, architect Zaha Hadid. At the time it opened, the New York Times called it "the most important American building to be completed since the cold war."
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