Free entrance comes at a price. An exploration of some perceptions of museums and monuments audiences

This paper considers the theme of audiences' perceptions of free of charge entrances in nationalFrench museums and monuments. It relies partly on the results stemming from a study made atthe request of the Département des Etudes et Prospectives of the French Ministère de la Cultureet de la Communication. The results show that, from an individual perspective, perceptions offree entrance are linked to perceptions of price, of money and of the act of payment, hencecomplementing perceptions expressed by the audiences in a collective perspective, generally putforward by advocates and opponents of free entrance in their discussions. In an individualperspective, exemption from payment is perceived as related to fee schemes and price, while, in acollective perspective, this is a symbolic measure, in other words a policy causing adhesion orrejection. This different vision of free entrance has managerial implications for the managers ofmuseums and monuments