On a budget, weigh it — Museum of Contemporary Art isn't cheap for what it is.
$15–22 adult
The MCA isn't trying to be the Art Institute — it's exhibition-driven, so what you get turns entirely on the big rotating show in the building at the time (it's the museum that mounted the David Bowie and Virgil Abloh blockbusters). The permanent post-1945 collection is secondary; the building itself — the grand Josef Paul Kleihues staircase and the sculpture terrace looking back toward the lake — is part of the draw. The honest catch is exactly that exhibition-dependence: check what's on before you go, because a between-shows visit can feel thin.