Art for all! York Art Gallery to reopen – with free admission
York Art Gallery is set to reopen – and admission will be free.
Charity York Museums Trust hopes that offering free entry to the gallery means more people will visit. Visitors will be encouraged to support the trust with voluntary donations.
A spokesperson for the trust says removing admission charges for the gallery could bring new people in.
And if the trial is a success, the trust may continue to offer free entry to the permanent collections, Centre of Ceramic Art and Aesthetica Art Prize exhibition all year.
Visitors will need to book their free timed tickets online.
Charges were a barrier
Reyahn King, chief executive of the trust, said: “The Covid-19 pandemic has had a huge financial impact on many different organisations, including museums and galleries.
“For York Museums Trust, who are so dependent on visitor admissions, it has meant we are having to look at new ways of working to engage with audiences and also remain financially viable.
“We know that having an admission charge at the gallery was a barrier for many potential visitors.
“We hope that by removing the entry charge more people will be encouraged to come and see our wonderful collections and support us through donations and buying tickets to our special exhibitions at this incredibly challenging time.
“We need your support more than ever.”
How to book tickets
Museum Gardens, York Castle Museum and the Yorkshire Museum are also all run by the trust, which is facing an “incredibly challenging time” as a result of the pandemic.
York Art Gallery and York Castle Museum reopen on Yorkshire Day, August 1.
And tickets can be booked online from today, Thursday.
From August 20, the permanent collections, Centre of Ceramic Art and Aesthetica Art Prize will be free to all.
Two new exhibitions, Views of York & Yorkshire and Your Art Gallery: Paintings Chosen By You will introduce a new pay as you feel rate with suggested amounts.
The gallery will open from Wednesday to Sunday from 11am to 4pm.
I would like to applaud York City Art Gallery for recognising the importance of access to art for all the community in these extraordinary times. As a local I campaigned against the Art Gallery introducing charges for fear that they would be a barrier to many people, not just financially but in creating a sense of who was and wasn’t welcome to view art based on financial capital. Therefore I am delighted to see the charges dropped, I sincerely hope this is a permanent move and not a stop-gap until tourism restarts. I hope that locals will take this opportunity to visit their local gallery and support the pay as you feel initiative as I will certainly be doing.