Ending a tradition, the Art Institute of Chicago aims to require visitors to start paying a fixed admission fee beginning June 3, though it wants to slash prices for younger kids and expand some summer evening hours.

After countless years (I would like to know exactly how many) of offering the wonderful option of paying what you can instead of the full 12$ admission fee the Institute givith and the Institute taketh away by trying to make the 12$ a mandatory voluntary fee, in return they are planing on not just having bankers hours now.

Most of these changes in my opinion are great, not only great but a earthquake to the arts in Chicago and LONG LONG overdue. Having the doors open at a realistic time for working people to view the art is a simple decision. Who can sprint from work grab a friend or family member, see some art before the doors close at 4:30pm (or get harassed by guards at 4:10-4:15) and actually be relaxed enough to enjoy the process?

Apparently the bulk of the visitors were “found to be disproportionately white, educated and affluent.” How can that be a surprise when the hours of operation are so tight and the details of the voluntary fee are in the smallest type possible and if you dare to offer less you are met with attitude and snide looks of disdain. What non affluent, educated, white would be able to or care to jump though those hoops. You want to open the doors to people who don’t come to the Institute? Simple.

1. Close on Mondays, who goes to see Art on mondays, people are busy, schools have work to get started. Be like St. Louis (which for its resources is a quite nice Art Museum) and keep it locked on Lunes.

2. Extend the hours past when Dr. Phil is on. 4:30pm is insane, no one with a job can get off and drive downtown at the start of rush hour no less to see anything let alone art. Take the money from monday and spend it here. Make it Friday and either Thursday or Wednesday at 9pm. Wow see art when its dark outside? That will change the feel!

3. Advertise in atleast 2 different ways, the Michigan Ave. style ads don’t work on you unless you are honestly white, educated & affluent. The banners are always a block of rich color and a iconic still image from the artist on exhibit. Usually the Last name of the artist is in bold letters and it all feels like the stereotypical, stale museum ad that just says visually “REMBRANT! See the expensive paintings & prints you wish you could hang in your two story home”. I once saw a show years ago in Houston where they took a flyer campaign and plastered it around the south side with loud, brash & exciting remixes of a El Greco or something to the like. People saw that and got excited (as much as most people can over art) and I had never seen so many Latin Americans at a art show. Get aggressive and wake it up. The Turner award is right about nothing else but that.

4. Advertise the fact that: Hey! we all don’t make 60k a year and 12 bucks for art can get steep. Come on Tuesdays for free (major exhibits) and general admission is whatever you can part with. Then make the tickets look cool, advertise the next art exhibit or something in the collection. That way if you pay 12 you get a ticket you can keep as a collectable item, if you don’t you get a stamped hand. No affluent educated white is going to get their hand stamped to save 6$, but when I was dirt poor (when did that change?) I would gladly get a hand stamp to see my favorite art for whatever change I had in my pockets. Even before hand less the 10% even payed under 12$ so no loss, and we do want more people RIGHT?

5. Offer two audio guides, the official guide that can confuse and sedate PBS viewers & a second that appeals to the bite size brash enjoyment factor that is offered by a rag magazine or the guys at Bad at Sports. Hell have them record it I would actually get one to listen to again. I have listened to years worth of audio guides and more times then not (there were some great ones) the info in very opinionated and historically dry and simple. What is the point in writing in the APA format if no one will read it. Its for show and pomp not for inclusion. You entertain and then the ones that want to be educated will come to you for more. You force dryhump education and no one comes but the hardcore.

6. Actually sell merchandise people want to buy. This is hard and most likely never happen since it usually is the same across the country if not the globe but get rid of the nightlight’s and other things that don’t sell. Offer more posters and shirts, mugs and bookmarks. Most of all offer a flat square magnet for every major artwork in that exhibition, not just 2. This is the day of low cost on demand printing. Give the people something they can take home and advertise to the friends and family about how cool it was to see this that or the other.

7. Make coming exhibits advertising easily noticeable, memorable & interesting. Like movie posters but with that pinch of class and disdain that we do so well. Make it hard for people to not know that this year we have: Painter 1 then Sculptor 1 then Photographer 1 then in the fall a Installation & and African Art Collection. These are all doable (well maybe not #6) and can be had while not selling out and looking like a dump. The question that really needs to be asked is do we really want more people who might not be disproportionately white, educated and affluent? Or do we want to maintain the current situation and just look like we would like to include more?