More than a year after reintroducing paid general admission for the first time in more than two decades, the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia has conceded entry fees have been “no silver bullet” for its bottom line.
The MCA – which will host Australian Fashion Week from May 11, and is ramping up its own version of the Met Gala – also defended the inclusion of a $3 million grant bolstering its claims that it has returned to surplus in its latest financial report.
Sydney’s harbourside gallery recorded a statutory $2.8 million operating deficit in 2025, the first year of entry fees, after posting a $2 million deficit in 2024.
But chair Lorraine Tarabay and her directors have claimed a wafer thin surplus after adjusting the accounts for the $3 million instalment, which the museum’s auditors had first counted towards its previous year financial results.
MCA directors said the inclusion of the grant in 2025’s accounts in the year the money was spent better reflected the organisation’s “underlying performance” and its “turnaround in a challenging environment”, achieved through stringent cost management, and were in line with accounting standards.
The arts organisation did not disclose ticket sales or ticketing revenue in its annual report released Wednesday, and declined this masthead’s request to provide them.
MCA director Susanne Cotter said $20 general admission fees for visitors over the age of 18, introduced on January 31, 2025, had “delivered part of the additional cash required” by the gallery. While not a “fortune” the gallery “never set out for it to be the silver bullet”.
“We wanted to ensure continued accessibility to the museum, especially for young people who are a key demographic,” Cotter said. “Revenue from general admission has delivered at expected levels and is growing.”
MCA is a rare national major public gallery to have reintroduced general admission fees – a move it said at the time was to secure its future and navigate a perfect storm of high inflation and stagnating public funding. Public galleries and museums across Australia are closely watching MCA’s paid model as they, too, face economic headwinds and a cost of living crisis. Anecdotally, cultural institutions say global uncertainty is keeping increasing number of Australia’s at home.
Total commercial income improved at the MCA by $2 million or 18 per cent last year, but the museum did not distinguish if this came from the renegotiation of leases for restaurants and cafes, events or admission charges. To mitigate costs, the museum disclosed it had reduced its workforce, cutting roughly 23 casual positions over a two-year period, representing about 20 per cent of non-rostered roles. “We are not planning any further reductions at this time,” an MCA spokesperson said.
On site visitation – inclusive of visits to its public forecourt sculpture – fell by some 14,000 visitors, a slight dip of 1.7 per cent to 819,504 in 2025, but overall engagement with MCA and its artworks increased to 1.5 million. Membership grew 43 per cent. The museum had been expecting a slump in domestic visitors not accustomed to paying for general entry.
The MCA has signalled its future may lie with the fashion crowd, and it is to be the central hub for Australian Fashion Week starting next week, after the event moved from Carriageworks, its home for 13 years.
Philanthropy was now the lifeblood of the MCA, Tarabay said, with private giving up 31 per cent, excluding $2.5 million raised in extra contra support. The independent not-for-profit organisation raises more than 85 per cent of its revenue each year through donations and commercial activities.
The MCA Artists Ball, its signature gala fundraiser now in its third year, is being positioned as a smaller version of the Met Gala fundraiser.
The sold-out event last October honoured artist Daniel Boyd and raised a record $1.67m. This was up 55 per cent on the year before when the artists ball celebrated artist Shaun Gladwell and raised $1.1 million to support the MCA’s programs.
A year after reintroducing paid admission for the first time in 24 years, the Museum is leaning on a roster of Indigenous artists, free entry days, and late-night openings to attract visitors. Later this month it will open the largest ever survey of work by Australian artist Tony Albert. In November, it will showcase the work of French artist Philippe Parreno.
Tarabay said the MCA was experiencing shifts in cultural participation impacting consumer habits, along with other national and international museums.
At the same time, local consumer sentiment had been impacted by cost-of-living pressures and geopolitical and global economic uncertainty with continued inflationary pressures on costs.
“We are the most cost-effective public museum in the country on a per visitor basis,” Tarabay said.
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