MCA set for massive windfall when it charges entry fee next year

The Museum of Contemporary Art is slapping an entry fee on visitors to compensate for what it says is stagnating government funding – but the numbers don’t add up.

The Museum of Contemporary Art will create a multimillion-dollar windfall from a $20 entry fee slapped on visitors from next month.

The MCA has announced it will impose a general admission charge for anyone over the age of 18 in a move that should net the museum close to $10 million a year.

According to the MCA the move is designed to compensate for “significant cost escalation combined with stagnant funding” from government.

But The Daily Telegraph can reveal the NSW government, when it came to power in March 2023, agreed to increase the museum’s funding annually for four years.

A first-year increase of 3 per cent through the Arts and Cultural Funding Program is followed by a 2 per cent rise each year for the remainder of the agreement. The grant for 2025 is $4.36m.

The Museum of Contemporary Art will charge visitors a $20 admission fee from January 31. Picture: Simon Bullard

Together with additional funding from Placemaking NSW and Destination NSW, state government money to the MCA will exceed $7m next year.

The government also continues to lease the MCA’s prime harbourside site at Circular Quay to the museum for a nominal fee. While the terms of the lease are commercial in confidence, it is not uncommon for peppercorn rents to be as low as $1 a year.

A spokesman for the Department of Planning Housing and Infrastructure said Placemaking NSW also contributed approximately $650,000 annually to a maintenance fund.

The MCA has had its federal funding reduced from a recurring grant of $700,000 a year to $300,000 for specific projects at the MCA.

But the new admission charge from January 31 will generate more than 10 times that drop in federal funding.

The MCA’s 2023 annual report shows the museum had 859,386 visitors during the year – 65 per cent domestic visitors and 35 per cent from overseas.

Even if 50 per cent of visitors were under 18, members of the MCA or only attending the onsite cafe or Canvas Restaurant, it would still leave around 430,000 people to fork out the $20 charge.

The Daily Telegraph understands the government has strong concerns about the fee, particularly on NSW residents.

The MCA leases its prime harbourside site from the state government for a nominal fee. Picture: Simon Bullard

The MCA also runs a successful commercial arm. In 2023 the museum made $10.8m of its total revenue of $24.6m from eight venue spaces which held 377 events including wedding receptions.

But expenses of $27.1m saw the MCA report a net deficit of $2.5m.

In 2010, two years before a glittering $53m expansion increased the MCA’s size by almost 50 per cent, the museum reported total income of $12.2m and total expenditure of $11.8m for a surplus of $398,000.

Total government funding in 2010 was $4.8m.

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Originally published as MCA set for massive windfall when it charges entry fee next year