Our art museums largely depend upon donations as well as ever-increasing visitorship (i.e. ticket sales) in order to bring exhibitions and programming to the public as well as to increase the museums’ holdings for the future. Though some visitors complain of the high price of tickets to museums these days one can’t forget that these are not-for-profit institutions which depend upon our generosity and our visits for a large part of their budgets. One excellent alternative to paying full price for tickets each time you visit a museum is to purchase an annual membership to your favorite museum.

Museums now make it really easy to join with their wide range of offerings such as varying levels of individual memberships at different price points, family memberships, reciprocal relationships with related institutions, discounts for out of town/country members as well as seniors and students, gift memberships, and, of course, the ability to join on-line without even having to go to a museum! Often these memberships are coupled with special access to museum events, discounts on merchandise, publications and other valuable items.

In addition, a large portion (if not all) of the museum membership is tax deductible. As if you needed another incentive…