Top 5 Art Museum Membership Schemes in London – are they worth it?
Are you thinking about getting an art gallery membership for Christmas? Can’t decide which Instagram ad to click on? Here are my top 5 picks.
Santa at the National Gallery, Credit: Boo Productions
First a special mention to the Art Fund’s National Art Pass. With over 700 partners in the UK it offers 50% entry fees and starts at £73 a year for individual membership (£45 for those under 30). Plus-one and kids are at additional cost. If you travel around the country, go to many different exhibitions, and want to support the important work that the Art Fund does – this is the one for you. If you like to see exhibitions several times, prefer certain galleries or museums, would enjoy special perks like private views, member-only events, spaces, and discounts, then read on.
William Hogarth, A Scene from ‘The Beggar’s Opera’ VI, 1731, Tate.
Currently on display at Hogarth and Europe, 3 November 2021 - 20 March 2022, Tate Britain
TATE
The top spot goes to the TATE. Mostly because their membership gives access not to one, but to four galleries, two of them in London. Their core interests are in Modern and Contemporary and British art. For £72 a year you could get free access to all exhibitions for yourself and up to 6 kids under 16 at Tate Modern, Tate Britain, Tate Liverpool and Tate St Ives. On top of that there are special members’ hours, beautiful member only rooms, 10% discount in shops, dedicated magazine, and digital tours. Certain private view events are included, while others are an extra.
By becoming a member you will be helping with conservation, education, and acquisitions – to name a few good reasons to support them. Pre-pandemic you could just come up to the exhibition entry, flash your card and you are in – no queue, no booking, no fuss. Even at sold out shows, there was always a place for you. Not any longer. Now everything needs to be booked in advance, numbers are extremely limited, and everything is always sold out. But there are occasional day tickets available.
Without membership though you would need to pay £18 for yourself and £5 for a child over 12 to go see Hogarth currently on display. So, for a parent with one teen visiting about 3 exhibitions a year, this membership will be worth it at least financially – and then all other perks are a nice extra. If you, for some reason, can’t find 3 worthy exhibitions to visit at all the Tates, well then you console yourself that you’ve done a good deed and donated to a charity. Current and 2022 exhibitions are dedicated to Hogarth, Lubaina Himid, Surrealism, Cornelia Parker, Lynettte Yiadom-Boakye, and Cezanne.
V&A Café, V&A Press Office
The Victoria and Albert Museum
My second favourite is the V&A’s membership scheme. Are there any people who can’t find something that will warm they heart at this museum? I think not. Every item they show is a masterpiece of design and craftsmanship from Britain and around the world. Just like at the rest of the museums in this list the permanent collection is free to all. Membership allows free entry to all exhibitions, previews, member events, special digital content, member’s room (which I never found, and with the restaurant being so glorious there was never a need), magazine and a discount in their shop (I believe at the café too, but that’s not on the website, maybe I am imagining it). All this for £70 a year (or £45 for under 26) for you and up to 4 kids under 18. This seems to be the only one with a dedicated Membership Advisory Group which represents members’ concerns and views.
Since the pandemic the museum has cut opening hours – they are now shut Mondays and Tuesdays. I find this very irregular, we are accustomed to ‘open daily’ standard in London. Nowadays walking into the museum at any time that pleases you is out of the question. Everything needs to be booked in advance and, once again, everything is sold out. In any case the current Fabergé show is sold out till March. There are limited number of day tickets available. If you were not a member you could get in for £18 with kids free only up to the age of 11. If you have secondary school kid/s that you want to tag along having the membership seems worth it from around 3 exhibitions up. And if, like me, you like to go more than once, well, then it is a done deal. Current and 2022 exhibitions include Fabergé, Alice Curiouser and Curiouser, Bags Inside Out, Beatrix Potter, Fashioning Masculinities, the Korean Wave and Africa Fashion.
Katsushika Hokusai, Under the Wave off Kanagawa (The Great Wave), from the series Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji, c. 1831. Colour woodblock, The British Museum, London. © The Trustees of the British Museum
Currently on display at Hokusai: The Great Picture Book of Everything, 30 September 2021 - 30 January 2022, The British Museum
The British Museum
The British Museum is not strictly speaking an art museum, but it does show art regularly. At other times, we must be content with 2 million years of human history in their permanent collection. For £69 (£49 under 26) you get free access to all exhibitions, member events, member room, magazine and 10% discount in both shops and cafe. As all under 16 have free entry to exhibitions, they are not mentioned separately in membership benefits. This is the only museum on my list that has a children’s membership card for 8-15 year olds which allows special discounts for sleepovers and a kids’ magazine.
Exhibition entry is bookable in advance, but this is not a requirement and showing up at the door is usually ok. Members also get a fast route to beat the queue at the outside security tent. Once in, you have a choice of exhibitions on and coming soon – Hokusai, Peru, and Stonehenge. Ticket for Peru is £15. You would need to see about 5 exhibitions to make the membership worth the money or go more than once to each. The museum is still open daily though - so lots of opportunities.
Sir Hugh Casson Room, Royal Academy of Arts, London © P. Graham, Wonderhatch.
Royal Academy of Arts
This one is a bit more costly than the rest at £131 (£62 for under 26). Their membership scheme is called ‘Friends’, because you would literally be a good friend of the RA by keeping it afloat. It is sustained entirely on support and donations, as there is no Government input unlike at other museums on this list. You would also be getting free entry to exhibitions, member hours, The Keeper’s House as members room, magazine, 10% off at their fabulous shop, and exclusive digital content.
Since before the pandemic their shows needed to be booked in advance with no or limited tickets on the door. During the pandemic they also decided to be shut on Mondays. All this makes ‘sold out’ a rather familiar situation here. Under 16 go free, everyone older and non-member must pay £17 to enter Constable exhibition currently on. Which means you would need to come around 8 times if you wanted to use the membership to its full potential. In addition to Constable, the Summer Exhibition is on at present while Bacon and Whistler are coming soon.
Santa at the National Gallery, credit Boo Productions
The National Gallery
With text-book Western art history for collection this one is also expert at staging regular big name shows. Dürer and Poussin currently on and Raphael, Freud and Picasso-Ingres coming soon. Membership is £60 and includes a lot of the familiar perks – free entry to exhibitions, priority booking, private views and special events, access to a collection of on-demand films including tours and highlights. Discounts are mentioned, but not specified, in my experience they are only given on special occasions, and there is no members’ room. As a non-member you need to pay £20 to see Dürer, but children under 18 go free. Seeing more than 3 exhibitions, or 3 times the same one counts as saving money.
Other noteworthy membership schemes to check out are at the recently reopened and revamped Courtauld if you are into Impressionists or early Renaissance. If you lean towards contemporary art than access to Hayward Gallery is within the Southbank scheme, alternatively opt for an edgier Barbican or slightly quirkier Whitechapel with discount on limited edition artworks!
The pandemic has turned the world upside down. It also made museum memberships less appealing – the access-at-any-time component is entirely lost, opening times and capacity are limited and exhibitions are regularly postponed or cancelled. But that is also the reason to have a membership. It is a rather pleasant and rewarding way of supporting organisations which suffered a great deal, lost their ticket and shop revenues, and had to cancel long-in-the-planning shows. There is never a bad time to support cultural bodies, but if there was a really good time - it is now. All these museums are registered charities, and your membership fee is a donation supporting their work.
On top of that, quality and quantity of digital content has increased in the last two years, with members often getting exclusive access to pre-recorded and live online tours and interviews with artists and curators. Additionally, all these museums offer a ‘plus one’ membership, which is good value for money if you plan to treat your friends to days-out – a great way to beat consumerism by investing into shared experiences. This one is definitely not just for Christmas, in a good way.