Museums Free for All: Yes or No?

It’s everyone’s favorite time of year: summer! It’s the season of beaches, BBQs, and books. 

Hey, I like to curl up with a good book when I’m free! It’s actually really relaxing...

Summer is filled with excitement. There are infinite things to do then! We go venture out into the world, and see new people and places. Others go visit their relatives for an awesome BBQ. And sometimes, we even go volunteer out in the community, saving up those credits to get into your dream college.

And one out those of millions, and millions of possibilities is going to visit a museum. And that’s what inspired me for this week’s debate: should all museums be free? Yes or no?

Of course, I think it’s definitely a yes. Museums are a wonderful thing, and they should be available to everyone. Be it a national, or local, museums should be free to everyone, no matter who they are.

The first counter-argument you must be thinking is how in the world the museums are going to make money? Without the money, they would shut down, and then no one would be able to learn and see all kinds of artifacts, paintings, and all other items!

Museums have many different ways to make money. They can receive money from the government if they are funded that way, or receive donations from charities and other sponsors. A museum can set up a gift shop, where people could but little tokens, and souvenirs, and make some money that way, too. Museums could add birthday party catering, add rides that help teach visitors about the museum’s subject, or even movies about what the museum’s about! They just gotta think outside of the box, y’know?

The next reason is for more visitors.

“But, but, the museum won’t make any money, even if they have more visitors, if admission is free, Hibba!”

No. You are 101% WRONG.

If people see that a museum is free, duh they will go to it. I mean, who doesn’t want to go do something cool when the letters F, R, E, and E are attached to it in that precise order? No one!

People will go there, and I bet you a lot of them will wind up being lured into the gift shop. And the more guests that land in the little booths of merchandise and other tokens, the more moola the place will make.

And now, there will be even more sponsors. Some will give little tips, and others will donate tremendous amounts of money. Donations will come in all different forms, but they will all help the museum stay financially stable. The community cares.

It’s been proven so many times! One significant example is UCLA’s Hammer Museum. In February 2014, admission was now free of charge! In 10 months, stats show that the number of regular visitors raised by a good 25%!

Another reason museums should be free is because they preserve and display our history in all shapes and forms. I extol museums that have free admission, which allows people from all over to come and learn. Everyone should have access to museums! Museums are a crucial source of inspiration and education for our increasingly influential creative industries (e.g. art, design, fashion, architecture, etc.). Free access is a real investment in the future of this area of the economy and therefore has long-term benefits in securing prosperity for the whole society.

Now that was a mouthful!

My last reason is that education should be everywhere. After school is over, students do need to keep up with their learning. Museums may offer free prices to kids but may give high prices to their parents, and this literally umbrages me! This is what deters family trips to a museum. If all the museums were free, think about how much more often we would be going to one? How many would more people buy membership passes for extra-cool perks at the institution?

Some of you guys might be thinking: “Well,  no one got the time to get their derrières from their sofas to go some ancient museums. I could go just turn on Discovery Channel or something and learn the same stuff.”

Sure, television is a great way to learn new things. But is it the same as going to see it in real-life. It’s just a picture on a two-dimensional screen on some gogglebox, you know? Going out into something called “real life” is so much better than just seeing it on your telly.

I’ll ask you a question, now: would you rather go Skype Kylie Jenner or any other famous celebrity, or meet them in real life? 

Of course, meet them in the real world! It’s a dream come true! If not, you are weird.  If we would choose to meet your idol in reality instead via the internet, why do we choose to learn online than rather go look at it with the naked eye? 

And just to point out something, I want to upbraid anyone who gives that excuse because, be honest with yourself: you probably wouldn’t even watch nature documentary for two minutes, without turning on Rick and Morty or some other show. Stop saying something if you would do the antithesis in reality. Please, stop being a hypocrite. Or as I say, a “Hibba-crite”.

Forgive me for that bad pun. It was necessary for me or else I would have exploded into a million sparks of rainbow fireworks and land onto Planet X and end up dying because of deprivation of oxygen and no one would even know what happened until in 2052, when some astronauts of the future would find my dead, limp body, and would bring me back to my home planet of Earth, and use new high-tech to research me, find my identity, and find out how a humble human-being from 2018 was able to land onto a planet, light-years away, would out any proper equipment, or most importantly, the correct technology. And no, I did not make that up.

Summer’s great, and I hope that in the nearby future, we shall have free museums not just across America, but internationally. Education should not be a mazuma-costing opportunity.

But that was only just what I thought! Do you think that all museums should be free? Why or why not? Do you think that museums will all become free later on? If all museums become free, will we fall economically?  Oh, and throw in a suggestion for next week’s debate. You never know if you just might be next!

Here’s a bonus question: what is my favorite sweet? Get it right, and you, too, can get a fantastic shoutout!

Have a great summer and happy debating to all!

Truly Yours- Hibba