You should spend about 40 minutes on this task.
Write about the following topic:
All museums and art galleries should be free because they are an important part of a countries culture. How far do you agree with this statement?
Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience.
You should write at least 250 words.
Sample Answer 1:
Tourism is a major driver for the economies of several countries, for instance, Sri Lanka, Mauritius, The Bahamas, etc. People come to these countries for a vacation and also to learn about the country’s culture by visiting national monuments, art galleries, museums, etc. Thus the question arises, should the entry to art galleries and museums be free?
Art galleries and museums can serve as a source of income to the government or the organisation owning it. Also, these structures need regular maintenance to keep them up to date and without a fee, it can become difficult to arrange required money to maintain them. In addition to this, if the art gallery or museum becomes a success, the revenue emanating from it can not only be used to expand existing infrastructure but also build new such structures.
However, apart from tourists, the local public should also be taken into account. The local people may not be able to afford the entry fee, especially those of a developing country and thus may miss out on important information about their motherland. A youngster missing out, on such information may be found wanting during discussions on the culture of his homeland when he visits foreign countries for study or work. Moreover, with people tending to adopt foreign culture easily these days, it is critical that the home culture is infused in them to preserve the integrity and originality of a nation. All of these can be encouraged by making entry to museums and art galleries free to local people. Apart from this, for students, it becomes easy to relate to the characters and events in their history books when they see them portrayed in the gallery or museum. Schools can organise free trips as part of learning series to these places.
In conclusion, I strongly feel that the entry to museums and art galleries should be free as they are an important part of a country’s culture. The maintenance of these structures can be sponsored through individual donations or government support.
[ Written by – Ripal Vyas ]
Sample Answer 2:
The issue of whether all museums and art galleries should be free to the public is of great interest to the public. Since they play a key role of countries’ culture, museums and galleries are widely regarded by people as free places. While some people think that it would be a waste of money and the government should pay the money to other important facilities. To my point of view, these museums should be free to us.
Admittedly, not every person is interested in museums or art galleries and the government should spend the money on public facilities which most of the people can make use of them, for instance, the public transport, roads, parks, .etc. As the tax is from people’ effort, they should spend on most people’s requirement.
Nevertheless, museums and art galleries play an important role in building up a country’s culture and it’s a key sign of modern developed society. Since these art products are from people’s daily life which we didn’t realise but more than daily business, they sometimes show some higher level ideas. For instance what’s people’s real dreams inside the heart, what’s beauty and dirty. The most important reason that we visit the museums and enjoy the art product is that we need these positive elements. People need positive courage to strongly face the problems in life or need further suggestion to make their dream come true and sometimes the successful art can make it. When we fully understand the important role of art in museums or galleries, we would not regard them as wasting time or money.
In conclusion, museums and art galleries make a contribution to a better society because they provide a wide variety of good art which would make a great effect on people’s work and life, so they should be free to the public.
[ Written by – Jianhua ]
Sample Answer 3:
In today’s modern world, one of the most controversial issues relates to whether the museums and art galleries around the globe should be made free to the tourists or not due to the reason that they play an indispensable role to educate the public about the cultures and traditions of a country. Personally, I strongly agree that all museums and art galleries should be made free access to the public.
There are a couple of reasons why the museums and art galleries should be made free. To begin, free admission fees will definitely be able to attract more tourists to visit. It is important to ensure that the cultures of a nation can be well-spread and known by both the local tourists as well as the foreigners. It is, indirectly, opening up an avenue to widen their horizons so that they can become more knowledgeable who can contribute endlessly to the society. It will also help them to reduce the experience of culture shock when they arrive in a new place in the future.
The factor which supports the view of making all the museums and art galleries free access to the tourists is that they may soon become one of the famous tourist attractions in their countries which are effective in promoting the traditions of the locals. With free access to the museums and art galleries, the locals and foreign tourists can visit them at no cost and it is proven to be one of the successful methods to attract those backpackers and low expenditure tourists to visit. Undoubtedly, they will be able to acquire knowledge about the history of a country and also the cultures of the local people which will make their travelling more meaningful. In addition, sooner or later, they will learn how to respect others cultures which may be slightly or totally different from theirs and become more open-minded.
In conclusion, I think all the museums and art galleries should be free in order to spread the cultures of a particular country effectively to all over the world. I believe every individual will no longer experience any culture shock once these places are free to access by everyone when they arrive in a new place.
[ Written by – Alfred Lee ]
Sample Answer 4:
There are many cultures and traditions in this world and people believe and respect them from them from various points of views. While considering about a culture in a country, we cannot even forget its museums and art galleries as it plays a great role in preserving the culture. Moreover, they are the best method of displaying the history and values to the youth in a country. Therefore most probably this is a better idea of giving free entrance to them for people.
Firstly, museum and art galleries are doing a great job in protecting the value of the history of a culture. Furthermore, they have all the relevant things such as artefact, statues etc. which are important to be kept with it for saving. As an example, in many countries, there is even one museum or art gallery which keep valuable historical things in it which otherwise might have been lost.
Secondly, displaying of the things which give memorable and valuable feeling to people is also an important role of museums and art galleries. Moreover, people can visit there and see for their past lives of ancestors and how the society has developed up to now. For instance, we can see most of the displays illustrates the ancient stories.
To sum up, by looking at the major roles of museums and art galleries, which are preserving and displaying of historical values to the future world, I totally agree for giving the free visits to everyone as it helps to protect the heritage of a countries society.
[ Written by – Ashesha Paveena ]