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With a $3 million donation to the University of Rochester’s For Ever Better campaign, the Memorial Art Gallery says it is now halfway toward its goal of implementing free admission for all.
The donation comes from Abby and Doug Bennett, longtime members of UR’s George Eastman Circle, the university’s leadership annual-giving society. Doug Bennett, an alum of UR’s Simon Business School, was named a trustee of the university in 2024.
In partnership with the Sands Family Foundation, the Bennetts’ donation has established the Abby and Doug Bennett and Sands Family Foundation Free for All Endowment to implement free admission at UR’s art museum in perpetuity.
MAG director Sarah Jesse joined the Bennetts on Nov. 1 in announcing the endowment’s campaign to raise $6 million, which the museum states is required to implement free admission permanently.
“(The Memorial Art Gallery) is doing what it’s done for over a century, bringing the art of the world here for the people of Rochester for their enjoyment,” said Jesse. “Exhibitions are also bittersweet at the museum because we’re always preoccupied with the question of who isn’t able to see them.”
Admission to the museum was free on all days except Friday when it first opened, before admission fees were abolished in 1920. Since their reinstatement in the 1980s, general admission fees to the museum have increased incrementally to its current rate of $20 for adults. The museum offers discounted rates for seniors, children, and senior citizens, as well as evening half-price admission on Thursdays and the second Friday of each month.
“It’s not just a casual thing that someone walks into a museum and sees something,” said UR president Sarah Mangelsdorf. “The idea that we can welcome all members of our community to experience that, it’s a wonderful thing.”
The donation falls under the university’s For Ever Better fundraising and engagement campaign, announced in September, to raise $1.75 billion by 2030. With the Free for All Endowment halfway toward its fundraising goals, the Bennetts’ announcement Saturday invited others to donate to the initiative.
“Twenty dollars might not seem like a lot to (most), but for some families, students, and neighbors, it’s enough to keep them from ever walking through that door,” said Doug Bennett. “Every family in this region deserves the same chance to make those memories, without worrying about whether they can afford it.”
Narm Nathan is a Rochester Beacon contributing writer and a member of the Oasis Project’s inaugural cohort.
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