Heads Up New Yorkers! Ch. 476 of the Laws of 1893 provides New Yorkers free admission to the Met Museum as follows:
… [Met Museum to receive funds] upon condition that the collections in the said Metropolitan Museum of Art shall be kept open and accessible to the public hereafter free of all charge throughout the year for five days in each week, one of which shall be Sunday afternoon, and also for two evenings in each week, within such hours and subject to such rules and regulations as may be determined by the Trustees of said Museum; and provided furthermore, that on the two days in each week during which said Museum may remain closed to the general public, it shall be open and accessible to art students, copyists and schools, within such hours and subject to such rules and regulations as may be determined by the Trustees of said Museum. … This act shall take effect immediately."
In return, New Yorkers provide the Met Museum free rent tenancy in 2,000,000+ sq.ft. of Central Park buildings approximating $750,000,000 annually. Accordingly, the Met Museum owes New Yorkers free access to its exhibition halls per Ch. 476 provisions. For our schools, free access is during all operating hours.
Since 1970, however, NY leaders have been unwilling to enforce, and Met Museum officers and directors have been unwilling to discipline themselves to abide by, this reciprocal arrangement.
Now, NY Attorney General Letitia James should insist that the Met Museum abide by NYS law.
It is no longer okay for the Met Museum to "dupe" New Yorkers to pay an "any amount you want" fee [with suggested sums of $25 for adults and $12 for students] or worse, embarrass us to forego visiting our paid-for cultural jewel due to failed oversight.
PLEASE SIGN THIS PETITION AS CUSTODIANS FOR NEW YORKERS AND OUR SCHOOLS. FA [see below] WILL ACTUALIZE YOUR ENDORSEMENT.
This petition is sponsored by Free Admission For All New Yorkers (FA), www.museums4allnyc.com. FA is a newly-launched website dedicated to educating New Yorkers, elected and institutional representatives, the popular press, the NYAG's office, schools and faculty and non-New York visitors about the facts of New Yorkers'-only right to free admission. On the FA website, please peruse especially "The FA Story" and "Expanded Efforts" sections. In the latter, FA reports the legislative enactments detailing free admission to most of the 12 other park-situated museum and organizations.]
