Smithsonian for a Dollar?

Recent proposals that the Smithsonian should start charging admission should cause all Americans to ask themselves about where national heritage ranks as a priority.

This week, the ArtsJournal reported that, "Rep. James Moran (D-Va.) suggested that the Smithsonian Institution charge $1 for admission". The Smithsonian has been struggling financially lately and news stories surrounding corporate proposals to subsidies museum projects and the announcement that the museum's Arts and Industries Building has been named to the National Trust for Historic Places' 2006 list of America's 11 Most Endangered Historic Places have not helped the Institution's public image. While the Smithsonian's struggles are disconcerting and perhaps reflective of much larger national trends, their impending crisis should be seen as an opportunity to set the tone for American heritage preservation in the 21st century.

I agree with Tyler Green's assessment in the ArtsJournal that proposals like Rep. James Morgan's pitch to charge a small admission fee are simply, ". . . dim-witted, stop-gap measures that fail to address the Smithsonian's substantial needs." In order to truly fix the Smithsonian, as well as the financial crisis facing museums across the United States, Congress, as well as the broader American public need to ask themselves about the priorities of their own society. Recent reports regarding the makeup of museum audiences should be deeply disturbing for Congress and should serve as a warning for the American public against placing our national heritage out of reach for anyone.

The fact that the Smithsonian has started looking to corporations for more significant support is not evidence that the Smithsonian is greedy, or willing to sell itself, it is substantiation towards the reports that the Institution is grossly under funded and needs the support of both its government and its people.

The makeup of those visiting museums should reflect our national population, and the museum itself should be a point of national pride, not shame. The city of Washington D.C. was designed to impress foreign visitors, however, a lack of commitment to premier museums would be an embarrassment to American's everywhere.