The entrance fee of $30 to visit the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York is to be waived for all those under twenty-five years old following a $2 million donation from artist Julie Mehretu and fellow board member Susan Hess. The change will come into effect from mid-December 2024 and will remain in place for the next three years.
‘I did not have access to contemporary art museums as a young adult, and when I moved to New York, I was waiting tables—it was hard to access contemporary art and culture, as it’s hard for so many grad students and young people,’ Mehretu said. ‘If you really want to push the discourse and evolve the discourse, many more people need to have access to be able to participate, and this program is a step in the right direction’.
The news follows the increase in admission fees from $20 to $30 for adults in July 2023, while student rates are now $25. It was the first increase since 2016, for which the museum blamed ‘inflation, rising costs, and still-recovering attendance’ following the pandemic.
Since January 2024 the museum has offered free tickets to all visitors on Friday nights, as well as on the second Sunday of each month, with almost 200,000 visitors attending as part of this scheme. The latest news builds upon this ambition to make ‘the Whitney one of the most accessible large museums in America,’ according to gallery director Scott Rothkopf.
