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he Art Institute of Chicago switched from free Tuesdays to free Thursday evenings, from 5-8 p.m.

At the time of this writing, there is not much more than anecdotal evidence available on the desired result of racially and ethnically diverse visitors during free evening hours, but the Art Institute of Chicago has every reason to believe its change in free hours achieved this. “We had Chicagoans in the museum who reported that it was their first-ever visit,” Lee said. “We had parents telling us that they were grateful that the free hours allowed them to easily bring their children after work. We had more visitors per free hour than we did when the free hours were on Tuesdays.

the competing priorities of ideology, practicality and economics. By designating periods of free admission to attract the infrequent visitor, museums can more easily justify charging an entrance fee on a regular basis

Cool Culture, an inventive nonprofit formed in 1999, has created a family pass to 71 cultural institutions in New York City. The pass is intended for low-income families, and the program’s primary clients are Head Start and other subsidized child-care centers. Two-thirds of participants have household incomes below the federal poverty line.

Although transportation is not provided, participants can visit at any time and return as many times as they wish.

Cool Culture’s success is in the numbers: Families who have the Cool Culture Pass are four times more likely to visit a museum than families without the pass, according to Linda Steele, executive director.    

one might logically conclude that museums with no admission fee will attract larger audiences and thus have a better chance at earning more revenue within the museum: more visitors, more sales in shops or restaurants. Upon closer scrutiny, this assumption may not be true.

museum visitors who did not pay an admission fee were likely to spend even less on additional goods or services than the average visitor who paid a fee to enter, even they were not museum members.

responses from museums of various sizes, settings and budgets. The most commonly mentioned benefits of free admission were service to the community and accessibility to a more diverse audience. Increased exposure, attendance and public relations opportunities also ranked high, as did improved opportunities for individual, corporate and foundation support. The primary drawbacks were lost revenue and the inability to build a membership base. Security concerns also figured prominently.

Do Not Touch” signs in art exhibitions. Of the 15 responding museums that offered limited free admission days or hours, more than half reported a significant difference in visitor demographics: seniors, large family groups, school groups, disabled persons and drug or alcohol recovery groups were most likely to attend at these times. Museums in Seattle, Scottsdale, San Diego and the San Francisco Bay area all reported an increase in student visitors on free admission days. Sue Cake, a longtime docent at the Oakland Museum of California, observed that free admission days enabled teachers to assign a museum visit as part of a class lesson, likely a factor for increased student visitation at many museums.

can discount or waive admission fees on a case-by-case basis. “The experience should have value like a movie, going out to eat, a concert or any other leisure-time activity,” said Deputy Director Amy Oppio. “It is . . . important for guests to believe in supporting the organization and its mission.” 

Not all respondents shared Oppio’s view. One of the survey questions asked about the ideal admission fee structure. Of the 24 museums that responded to this question, 30 percent said that free admission is the way to go. Midge Bowman, executive director of the Frye Art Museum, responded that art museums “should be free as public libraries are. Without this open admission, they remain elitist institutions.”

ents we write and the act of imposing an entry fee,” she wrote. “Museums, if they remain oriented toward their paying customers will not . . . feel motivated to become essential elements within the community and an important educational resource for all individuals wishing to learn.”

Ferriso understood that the ability of the museum to involve more people in the conversation was based on the relevancy of the content.

The CDN content was particularly relevant to Portland and had the potential to attract a new audience--the young creative class.

Portland has had a long trade relationship with China due to its location in the Pacific Northwest, and city officials intend to forge even closer ties. Portland's entrepreneurs and business people are interested in understanding more about this global force that is transforming the sociopolitical dynamic of the world. In addition, the exhibition's focus on design, though not traditional for the museum, connected with Portland's thriving design community.

triggered local businesses that were not previously involved with the museum to get involved

Discussions are ongoing about bringing in more exhibitions that are relevant to local businesses.

They invited a small number of people from the creative community who they knew would help stimulate conversation, like a good host at a dinner party. These creators hosted their own events and were invited to blog on the exhibition's Web site.

The bigger challenge for the museum was releasing control of the conversation. Museums are historically cautious, and protective of the intellectual rigor of each exhibition.

Curation: Stay true to who you are."At the end of the day, you still need to present a point of view," said Jay. "Curation is still king." The museum was able to successfully move beyond the traditional museum experience and remain authentic because it understood its core promise--inspiring conversations through art and culture. The medium of social media did not become the museum's promise, but a means to connect with a new generation of potential patrons. It remained committed to curatorial rigor, the selection of collaborators was strategic, and the topic was timely and meaningful. By staying true to its purpose, the museum was able to be relevant to this new generation without alienating its traditional patrons. An 85-year-old board member said it best: "CDN allowed the museum to rethink how it connects with people."

New metrics are being discussed to measure the value of the conversations generated by the museum. Ideas include measuring repeat visits to the museum, quality of conversations, and influence (how do you measure the impact of inspiring the next Frank Gehry?).

Rural four-day students generally learned as much as rural five-day day students. Statistically, both groups’ test scores rose by about the same amount every year.

small town and suburban students who switched to four-day weeks were far worse off than other students in the state

One possible explanation, Morton says, is sports. Many rural athletes and young student fans leave school early on Fridays or skip school altogether because of the great distances to travel to away games. In effect, many five-day students are only getting four-days of instruction in rural America.

The four-day work week is an attractive work perk in rural America that may lure better teachers.

By this theory, four-day schools may make it easier to hire better teachers, who could accomplish in four days what a less skilled teacher accomplishes in five days.

five-day weeks have their own drawbacks in rural America: hidden absences, skipped lessons and lower quality teachers.

Hispanic students, who accounted for one out of every six rural students in this study, suffered much more from four-day weeks than white students did. (Native American students, who made up one of every 10 rural students, did relatively better with the four-day week.)

biggest surprise to me in this review of the research is how tiny the cost savings are: 1 to 2 percent.  It does save some money not to run the heat or buses one day a week, but the largest expenses, teacher salaries, stay the same.