Photo by Eric Brady | The Roanoke Times. The finished ladder sculpture "Rise Up Roanoke" by Floyd County artist Charlie Brouwer, located in the atrium of the Taubman Museum of Art, is the centerpiece of the museum's new membership campaign.

Effective Thursday, the price of general admission at the Taubman Museum of Art drops from $10.50 to $7.

The new price is even lower than the original rate of $8.50 the museum opened with in November 2008.

The Taubman raised its admission prices in July 2009 as it began coping with revenues that fell well short of projections. The admission price then became one of the most frequent sources of complaints about the struggling museum.

With the change announced Tuesday, the Taubman follows through on a pledge made last summer — and amplified in its November town hall meeting with supporters — to become more accessible.

“We’re trying to make it so that more people come through the doors,” said Taubman membership manager Maria St. Clair. The museum’s gambit is that whatever income might be lost through the change will be made up in volume.

With greater accessibility the hope is that visitors will “start coming back more often and decide to join” as members, St. Clair said.

The new price is more in line with other Roanoke museums. The Virginia Museum of Transportation and the Science Museum of Western Virginia both charge $8 general admission, O. Winston Link Museum $5 and History Museum of Western Virginia $3.

The Taubman museum’s general admission isn’t the only price that will drop. The rate for seniors will go from $9 to $6, for children up to age 13 from $5.50 to $3.75, while children ages 4 and under get in free. There will be a new rate of on.

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