MCA Australia set to start charging $20 for general admission in 2025

Entry to the Museum of Contemporary Art will cease to be free in 2025, with general admission set to start costing art-lovers $20 from the end of January.

The Museum of Contemporary Art in Sydney.

One of Australia’s premier art institutions will charge an entry fee for the first time.

The Museum of Contemporary Art, situated near the Opera House in Sydney’s Circular Quay, has announced it will be charging $20 for general admission from January 31.

MCA Australia is the country’s only public museum dedicated to contemporary art and has been welcoming visitors since November 1991.

It receives a million visitors a year, almost all of whom will now have to pay for their tickets. Under-18s and Australian students will likely retain right to free entry, MCA Australia said in a statement.

It said the fee move was made out of necessity, citing “stagnant” government funding and a reliance on revenue from its venues, supporters and ticketed shows to keep its doors open.

MCA Australia said its annual recurring government funding sits at the same $4.36m it was in 2008, which represents just 14 per cent of its operating costs. Additionally, it was “forced” to close one day a week in the three years following the Covid-19 pandemic.

Chair Lorraine Tarabay expressed her disappointment on behalf of the museum and said charging the public was the only path forward. “We are grateful to the government for their continued support; however, significant cost escalation combined with stagnant funding has necessitated this move,” she said.