Museum Memberships
Enjoy the Privileges of Supporting Your Favorite Museum
Museums encourage ongoing support by offering from individual to patron-level memberships. All levels offer special museum experiences, travel, and dining opportunities.
Museum memberships can run from as little as $10 for an individual membership to hundreds of dollars for the highest level of support, often called a patron membership. All memberships, even the individual level, bring with it something special for the money.
Almost all museum members receive some sort of newsletter to keep them current on upcoming exhibits. Members of the Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh receive complimentary subscriptions to the full-color Carnegie magazine.
Members are often admitted to previews of new exhibits and sometimes they are treated to an extended experience not available to the general public. Museum members may meet the exhibit curator or the artist whose work is being presented. Sometimes this experience is actually part of the volunteer docent training.
For example, during 2007 members of the Philadelphia Museum of Art receive free admission to upcoming exhibits like Renoir’s landscape work. In addition, they are invited to a private tour of the Barnes Foundation where they can view one of the finest collections of French Impressionist, Post-Impressionist, and early Modern paintings in the world is housed.
One-to-one research assistance by library staff is available to student scholar members of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond, Virginia. All members can participate in the VMFA’s Canvas group. This group of energetic and innovative art advocates and young collectors nurture its members' appreciation of the visual arts by providing access to the arts and artists. Canvas members enjoy special access to VMFA curators, galleries, and conservators.
Members-only travel opportunities like the “Travel with the Met” program at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art are an enticing incentive for members. Travelers can book art-oriented international vacations in the company of the Metropolitan Museum's lecturers and other art lovers to gain new insights and fresh perspectives on art and culture.
Practical benefits such as free or reduced parking rates during museum visits are often granted to members. Discounts for museum classes are sometimes included with membership. Members can participate in classes on architecture, painting, and art appreciation at the PMA at reduced rates.
There are half a dozen dining options at the Met. Once a year, members of the Met can make reservations to dine in the Trustees Dining Room, overlooking Central Park, for Friday or Saturday dinner or weekend brunch. An alternative to the museum’s cafés and cafeteria, Contemporary American cuisine is featured in the Trustees Dining Room with full waiter service and breathtaking views of the city’s most famous park.
So join up, expand your museum experience, and support your favorite museum. There is something special waiting for you.
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