Art Museum Discount Leads to Confusion

When Rich E. Freeman ’03 and four friends headed to the Museum of Fine Arts (MFA) to see its recent special modern-art exhibit, they assumed their Harvard IDs would get them in for free.

After all, they had been going to the permanent collection for years without paying—taking advantage of the University’s student deal with the MFA.

But Freeman and his friends never saw the exhibit of “Jasper Johns to Jeff Koons,” which featured cutting-edge work from the last 40 years, including a giant stainless-steel balloon dog and oversized furniture.

Instead, when the got to the museum, the group discovered their Harvard IDs would not waive the special-exhibit admission—regularly $20, or $18 for students.

So they opted to spend the afternoon looking at the permanent collection again.

“I hadn’t heard about any deals, but I just knew from past experiences that when you have a Harvard ID, you are allowed into the MFA for free,” Freeman said. “However, this was the first time I had gone to see a special show, so I just went assuming that my ID would get me in as it always has.”

Of the five students, one did return to see the show. Jessica E. Gould ’04 went with her mother, who was visiting at the time and paid for her $18 admission.

Official MFA policy states that Harvard students are allowed into special exhibits for $5 on weekday afternoons—just a fraction of the usual student rate. Museum officials say the policy is clear-cut and is the same policy they’ve had for years.

But misunderstandings about student discounts spawned large ticket price discrepancies for the Koons exhibit this fall. Students who went to see the popular show were charged anywhere from nothing at all to the full price of $20.

According to MFA officials, the Harvard discount policy only applies to undergraduate and graduate students: they must pay the regular student price for all exhibits, including the permanent collection—unless it is a weekday after noon. Then, entrance to the permanent collection is free and entrance to the special exhibition is $5.

From the museum’s point of view, the biggest problem is when professors try to exploit their Harvard IDs for a free pass.

“Most of the ticket price confusion is usually with Harvard University ‘officers’ trying to get in with the student discount,” said Matthew Murphy, assistant director of MFA visitor services.

Murphy said he is surprised at confusion about ticket prices for the Koons exhibit, because the museum has used the same discount policy for at least the last three years.

“We don’t advertise and explain the discount system to Harvard students,” he said. “We believe it is Harvard’s responsibility to disseminate and distribute such information to its community, not ours.”

But even officials with Harvard’s own art museums said they were not aware of the MFA’s discount policies.

“I have not heard of the MFA’s promotion to provide Harvard students with a deal to enter the museum,” Matthew W. Barone, head of public relations for Harvard University Art Museums, wrote in an e-mail.

Visual and Environmental Studies (VES) 100r, “Currents: Contemporary Art from 1960 to Yesterday,” took at field trip to see the Koons exhibit last week before it closed on Sunday—and the University covered the reduced fee of $5.00 for each student.

“We had a special arrangement with the MFA to have all of our students attend the show for $5,” said Sarah Rotman, a teaching fellow for the class.

Beth R. Hochman ’03, who had to write a paper on the show for the class, saw it three times but never paid the full $20 rate.

The first time, she went alone thinking she could get in for free with her ID. When she tried to enter the exhibit, though, a guard stopped her. She told him that, since she is a Harvard student, she could get in without a ticket, and the guard took her word for it.

“I didn’t know I was supposed to pay,” she said, “and clearly neither did the ticket guy.”

She went back with the class and then a third time, when she had to pay $5.

“If I had had to pay $20 for each visit, I would have been mighty pissed,” Hochman said. “Cranking up prices only serves to drive students away.”

“For infrequent student patrons, showing up on the belief that the exhibit is free and then being forced to cough up $20 upon getting there will totally turn them off altogether,” she said.