The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art plans to raise its general admission price from $25 to $30 as part of a 20% increase in admission prices at all levels at SFMOMA, the institution announced Tuesday, Aug. 15.
“In making these changes, as both SFMOMA and our city continue to emerge from the pandemic, we have also committed ourselves to maintaining our free and discounted programs and to exploring new opportunities that will encourage the full spectrum of our community to experience the museum,” museum director Christopher Bedford said in a statement.
The new rates, to take effect Oct. 14, is in line with admission price increases announced this summer at the Guggenheim Museum and the Whitney Museum of American Art, both in New York, and the Philadelphia Museum of Art. All three now have general admission priced at $30.
科幻小说MOMA attendance peaked at just over 1 million visitors in 2016, when it reopened after an expansion that tripled the gallery space. That renovation marked an increase in ticket prices from $18 to $25, but prices have held firm ever since, despite the financial pressures caused by the pandemic shutdown, which brought 10 months of closure, split into two costly increments. Since fully reopening in March 2021, attendance has slowly rebounded, but is still at 65% of the attendance level of 2019, when it reached 892,000.
Prior to announcing the price increase, attendance for 2023 was projected to be 600,000. This includes people under age 18 who get free admission.
Seniors and young adults (19-24) qualify for reduced admission, which will be $25 and $23 respectively when the new pricing structure takes effect. The museum will continue its regular rotation of free days, including the first Thursday of each month.
Also remaining free, every day, will be designated galleries on the entry-level floors. These include the Roberts Family Gallery where the Diego Rivera fresco “Pan American Unity” is currently on display, and Schwab Hall on the mezzanine level, where a site-specific commission by 95-year-old designer Barbara Stauffacher Solomon is scheduled to open Sept. 16.
On Oct. 14, the same day the new admission prices goes into effect, SFMOMA plans to open its major exhibition of the fall season, “Yaoyoi Kusama: Infinite Love,” a new psychedelic installation that will take up an entire gallery on the sixth floor.
One week later, on Oct. 21, the first major retrospective of Filipina multimedia artist Pacita Abad will open with a free Saturday community day at the museum.
“Our fall exhibitions program promises to be among our most compelling,” Bedford said. “We look forward to welcoming our many visitors.”
Reach Sam Whiting: swhiting@sfchronicle.com