In Britain, free entry to most museums and galleries is a point of national pride, up there with the NHS, properly brewed cups of tea and David Attenborough. But the fact is, someone has to pay for them, and the question of who is becoming an increasingly fraught one. Last week, Tracey Emin lit up the debate once more by suggesting that rich people should pick up the tab – or at least more of it.
In recent years, the discussion around free museums has only intensified. A lot has changed in the 25 years since the New Labour government introduced its policy guaranteeing universal free entry for visitors to the permanent collection of the UK’s national museums and galleries. There was a pandemic for one thing, which sapped their financial reserves and put more strain on a fundraising model already strained by the economic downturn. Access to EU cultural funds was reduced post-Brexit, and high-profile protests have led several museums to cut ties with big-ticket benefactors and encourage more scrupulous vetting of gifts. The Tate and the National Portrait Gallery, for example, no longer accept gifts by the Sackler family over their ties to the opioid crisis in America. They vigorously deny the allegations.
