C1.2 · 17 of 34
Lesson · 3 rules · about 3 min
Vier Stellungnahmen zu einer Frage: Sollen Museen den Eintritt abschaffen? Sie stammen von einem Kulturökonomen (A, Vogt: Das Publikum bleibt dasselbe, investiert in die Vermittlung), einer Museumsdirektorin (B, Aydin: Die Zahl der Erstbesucher hat sich verdoppelt, die Einnahmen wurden ausgeglichen), einer Kulturjournalistin (C, Sölle: Der Preis ist nebensächlich, auf die Inhalte kommt es an) und einem Kulturamtsleiter (D, Reinhardt: Die Gebühren finanzieren die Restaurierung, ein Mittelweg). Die Aufgabe nennt acht umformulierte Aussagen und fragt: „Wer äußert das?“. Alle vier reden über Geld, Besucher und Familien, gemeinsame Wörter beweisen also nichts: Es entscheiden die Haltung und die genaue Funktion jedes Satzes. Fass zuerst jede Person in drei Wörtern zusammen, dann ordne jede Aussage einer Zusammenfassung zu.
A — Dr. Lena Vogt, Kulturökonomin: Kostenloser Eintritt klingt großzügig, verschiebt aber lediglich die Kosten auf die Steuerzahler. Erfahrungen aus London zeigen, dass die Besucherzahlen zwar steigen, das Publikum jedoch dasselbe bleibt: gebildet, wohlhabend, ohnehin kulturaffin. Profitiert haben vor allem jene, die auch vorher schon gekommen sind – nur eben häufiger.
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A — Dr Lena Vogt, cultural economist: Free admission sounds generous but merely shifts the costs onto taxpayers. Experience from London shows that visitor numbers do rise, but the audience stays the same: educated, affluent, already inclined towards culture. Those who benefited most were the people who had come before anyway – just more often. Anyone who wants to reach new groups must invest in outreach, that is, in guided tours, workshops and partnerships with schools, not in free offers. Free admission is therefore above all a gift to the middle class; new groups of visitors are only won if you go to them. B — Prof. Karim Aydin, museum director: I introduced free admission at my museum four years ago and do not regret it. The number of first-time visitors has doubled; above all families and young people come who would previously have turned back at the ticket desk. Drawings by school classes now hang next to the old masters in our museum, and the children come back at the weekend with their parents. Of course we lose revenue. We offset it through sponsors, a friends' association and paid special exhibitions. A museum that nobody visits is more expensive in the long run than one that is open. C — Maren Sölle, cultural journalist: The whole debate distracts from the real problem. Whether a museum costs eight euros or nothing is secondary; what matters is whether it has something to say. Many museums have lost their audience not because of the price but because they have become boring: the same display cases, the same text panels, for decades. I know small museums with hefty prices where queues form at the weekend, and large ones with free admission where you are alone with the attendants. Invest in content and in good exhibitions – then people will happily pay. D — Tobias Reinhardt, head of culture in a large city: I understand both sides, but a municipal budget is not a wish list. In our museums admission fees fund a considerable part of restoration and security technology; if they disappeared, we would have to cut elsewhere, for instance in the libraries. A middle way seems more sensible to me: free admission on the first Sunday of the month and for everyone under eighteen, plus an affordable annual pass. Experience shows that what costs nothing at all is also valued less. That way we reach families without hollowing out the museums financially.
Exercise
Lesen: Expertenmeinungen zuordnen · C1.2
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