Hume, Jack;
(2025)
Openness, Priority, and Free Museums.
Journal of Applied Philosophy
10.1111/japp.70001.
(In press).
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Abstract
This article develops a fairness-based criticism of the UK's policy of promoting free admissions at major museums. With a focus on geographic inequalities and per-capita museums spending, I argue that free admissions can be a surprisingly bad way of promoting cultural opportunities for disadvantaged groups. My criticism emphasises the fact that free admissions consume resources without necessarily providing targeted benefits to disadvantaged groups and addressing background inequalities. Given that museums vary in their location, visitor profile, and operating costs, this critique does not apply to all museums. It applies to the largest and most popular museums in the most advantaged areas, which can expect to keep drawing significant numbers while charging. If we are aiming to prioritise the interests of less advantaged groups, we should be in favour of charging at London's major museums, to finance ‘levelling up’ across regions, and more direct access-promoting measures in targeted outreach, collaboration, and programming.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Openness, Priority, and Free Museums |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1111/japp.70001 |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.1111/japp.70001 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | © 2025 The Author(s). Journal of Applied Philosophy published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Society for Applied Philosophy. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH > Faculty of Arts and Humanities UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH > Faculty of Arts and Humanities > Dept of Philosophy |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10205675 |
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