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Having lived in London for many years, although now moved to Austria, I feel privileged to have enjoyed free and very cost effective "high culture" for many yea

Having lived in London for many years, although now moved to Austria, I feel privileged to have enjoyed free and very cost effective "high culture" for many years. So much so, that I simply forgot this wasn't the case in many other locations. All London's major museums and galleries offer free entry.[1][2] The BBC Proms, a classical music festival in the Royal Albert Hall spanning almost three months each year between July and September, offer £5 tickets to every concert, if you're willing to promenade (stand).[3] Even tickets for reasonable seats can be obtained for less than £20, although popular concerts do book out well in advance. The article author's assertion that high prices in "creative-class capitals" are driven by "deep-pocketed local elites and high-spending tourists," is clearly not true everywhere. [1] http://www.timeout.com/london/museums/free-museums-in-london http://www.timeout.com/london/museums/free-museums-in-london [2] http://www.visitlondon.com/tag/free-attractions http://www.visitlondon.com/tag/free-attractions [3] http://www.bbc.co.uk/proms/features/ticket-prices http://www.bbc.co.uk/proms/features/ticket-prices

walshemj 12y ago
And to follow up a few years ago I took my sister to the national theatre in London ticket price £10 a head. Will be looking to go to the globe theatre in the summer as its just over the river to where I am working
danjayh 12y ago
Many museums in the US (at least in the midwest) have "free days". In my town, for example, the art museum is free on Tuesday and during certain weeks of the year (when we have art festivals, for instance).
- devonkim 12y ago
  The source of funding for a lot of these events in the US is somewhat insidious though. Case in point is Museums On Us is sponsored by Bank of America. Museums oftentimes barely charge anything for admission partly because a lot of their cost expenditures are highly restricted by the grants and agreements of donors they've signed. Museums are visited more than sports stadiums in the US but museum professionals are hardly paid pro athlete salaries. Good example of how museums in general are struggling and desperate is that Fisk Art Museum was motioning to sell off the most prized parts of its collection to private buyers including Georgia O'Keefe works explicitly donated by her to keep there so that art is accessible to everyone - at a historically black college at that. The grant structured nature of musums has really made it hard for them to operate with modern operating costs, and given universities' shift toward pro sports for revenue we can't sustain most museums. Many are literally one person with 20+ volunteer staff, some of whom were ex-employees that were laid off but just love the collection that much. Other museums are run by descendants of tycoons and will exist basically forever. So do be aware of how you support your local museum. In some cases, I might argue they're total losses and we'd do everyone involved a favor by letting it dissolve. Many museums are glorified corporate or robber baron legacy temples. Museums aren't necessarily money-driven either and each one is highly reflective of whom the board has appointed to lead it. I'm not being anti-corporate, just making it clear that museums can be corporate-run and are highly variable in operations. Disclosure: my wife is a museum collections curation professional
arethuza 12y ago
Some stats from the Edinburgh festival: The 2011 Fringe sold 1,877,119 tickets for 41,689 performances of 2,542 shows, in 258 venues, over 25 days, for an average of more than 75,000 admissions and 1,360 performances per day. There were an estimated 21,192 performers, from 60 countries participating. There were 607 free shows. 607 free shows, not performances, separate shows! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edinburgh_Festival_Fringe http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edinburgh_Festival_Fringe
- justincormack 12y ago
  The free shows can be very hit and miss, mostly miss. But the festival is highly recommended.
  - arethuza 12y ago
    My teenage son and his pals had a great time going to some of the teen-friendly free shows this year - they even got quite friendly with one comedy act they saw and spent a few days handing out leaflets for them on the High Street.
michaelt 12y ago
The BBC Proms, [...] offer £5 tickets to every concert, if you're willing to promenade (stand). Do you know much about this? The BBC FAQ [1] says "you always have a good chance of getting in (although early queuing is advisable for the more popular concerts)" - does "early" mean 30 minutes before the concert starts, or 6 hours before? And how do you tell which concerts will need earlier queuing? [1] http://www.bbc.co.uk/proms/features/how-to-prom http://www.bbc.co.uk/proms/features/how-to-prom
- calpaterson 12y ago
  It varies depending on what the demand is for that night. For example, I imagine the Last Night of the Proms requires a lot of queuing. The last time I went though I think almost everyone in the queue got in. The person who sells the tickets in the queue can normally tell you what your chances of getting in are. My advice is to arrive 30-45 minutes before the performance, with a blanket to sit on and some snacks and just have some alternative things to do in South Kensington in case you don't get in
  - phillc73 12y ago
    This is about right. You can usually judge how popular a Prom will be by whether the seated tickets are sold out. If there's still plenty of seats left (check online), then it will most likely be a short queue for standing tickets. If the performance is otherwise a sellout, then I'd try to arrive a minimum of 1 hour prior to stand a chance. One doesn't have to stand the entire time either. Plenty of people do sit around the edges, and almost everyone does during interval. The advice to bring a blanket to sit on is good.
  - chr15p 12y ago
    It very much depends on who's performing and what they're performing. When I used to go we'd start queuing maybe an hour before the doors opened but we were normally fairly near the front. The one time we struggled to get in was something like famous enough to get played on Classic FM (Grieg?). If you're not sure get there a couple of hours early, have a look at the queue and if its non-existant pop down to the Science Museum for a bit, or The Natural History Museum, or the V&A, they're all within 5 minutes walk of the Albert Hall, all free, and all worth the trip by themselves. I'm not really a classical music fan but I would certainly recommend going to the Proms at least once just for the experience.

walshemj 12y ago

And to follow up a few years ago I took my sister to the national theatre in London ticket price £10 a head. Will be looking to go to the globe theatre in the summer as its just over the river to where I am working

danjayh 12y ago

Many museums in the US (at least in the midwest) have "free days". In my town, for example, the art museum is free on Tuesday and during certain weeks of the year (when we have art festivals, for instance).

devonkim 12y ago
The source of funding for a lot of these events in the US is somewhat insidious though. Case in point is Museums On Us is sponsored by Bank of America. Museums oftentimes barely charge anything for admission partly because a lot of their cost expenditures are highly restricted by the grants and agreements of donors they've signed. Museums are visited more than sports stadiums in the US but museum professionals are hardly paid pro athlete salaries. Good example of how museums in general are struggling and desperate is that Fisk Art Museum was motioning to sell off the most prized parts of its collection to private buyers including Georgia O'Keefe works explicitly donated by her to keep there so that art is accessible to everyone - at a historically black college at that. The grant structured nature of musums has really made it hard for them to operate with modern operating costs, and given universities' shift toward pro sports for revenue we can't sustain most museums. Many are literally one person with 20+ volunteer staff, some of whom were ex-employees that were laid off but just love the collection that much. Other museums are run by descendants of tycoons and will exist basically forever. So do be aware of how you support your local museum. In some cases, I might argue they're total losses and we'd do everyone involved a favor by letting it dissolve. Many museums are glorified corporate or robber baron legacy temples. Museums aren't necessarily money-driven either and each one is highly reflective of whom the board has appointed to lead it. I'm not being anti-corporate, just making it clear that museums can be corporate-run and are highly variable in operations. Disclosure: my wife is a museum collections curation professional

arethuza 12y ago

Some stats from the Edinburgh festival: The 2011 Fringe sold 1,877,119 tickets for 41,689 performances of 2,542 shows, in 258 venues, over 25 days, for an average of more than 75,000 admissions and 1,360 performances per day. There were an estimated 21,192 performers, from 60 countries participating. There were 607 free shows. 607 free shows, not performances, separate shows! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edinburgh_Festival_Fringe http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edinburgh_Festival_Fringe

justincormack 12y ago
The free shows can be very hit and miss, mostly miss. But the festival is highly recommended.
- arethuza 12y ago
  My teenage son and his pals had a great time going to some of the teen-friendly free shows this year - they even got quite friendly with one comedy act they saw and spent a few days handing out leaflets for them on the High Street.

michaelt 12y ago

The BBC Proms, [...] offer £5 tickets to every concert, if you're willing to promenade (stand). Do you know much about this? The BBC FAQ [1] says "you always have a good chance of getting in (although early queuing is advisable for the more popular concerts)" - does "early" mean 30 minutes before the concert starts, or 6 hours before? And how do you tell which concerts will need earlier queuing? [1] http://www.bbc.co.uk/proms/features/how-to-prom http://www.bbc.co.uk/proms/features/how-to-prom

calpaterson 12y ago
It varies depending on what the demand is for that night. For example, I imagine the Last Night of the Proms requires a lot of queuing. The last time I went though I think almost everyone in the queue got in. The person who sells the tickets in the queue can normally tell you what your chances of getting in are. My advice is to arrive 30-45 minutes before the performance, with a blanket to sit on and some snacks and just have some alternative things to do in South Kensington in case you don't get in
- phillc73 12y ago
  This is about right. You can usually judge how popular a Prom will be by whether the seated tickets are sold out. If there's still plenty of seats left (check online), then it will most likely be a short queue for standing tickets. If the performance is otherwise a sellout, then I'd try to arrive a minimum of 1 hour prior to stand a chance. One doesn't have to stand the entire time either. Plenty of people do sit around the edges, and almost everyone does during interval. The advice to bring a blanket to sit on is good.
- chr15p 12y ago
  It very much depends on who's performing and what they're performing. When I used to go we'd start queuing maybe an hour before the doors opened but we were normally fairly near the front. The one time we struggled to get in was something like famous enough to get played on Classic FM (Grieg?). If you're not sure get there a couple of hours early, have a look at the queue and if its non-existant pop down to the Science Museum for a bit, or The Natural History Museum, or the V&A, they're all within 5 minutes walk of the Albert Hall, all free, and all worth the trip by themselves. I'm not really a classical music fan but I would certainly recommend going to the Proms at least once just for the experience.