Museum Sunday

With more than 2.2 million visits and 5,000 events, Museum Sunday has become an integral part of Berlin’s cultural calendar. The concept is as simple as it is ingenious: on the first Sunday of every month, all Berliners can visit nearly all of Berlin’s museums for free.

The funding and financial support for Museum Sunday provided by the State of Berlin for state-funded institutions and Kulturprojekte Berlin GmbH, which was responsible for the overarching communication and organization of the project, will no longer be continued due to cuts in the cultural budget. The State Museums are also no longer receiving funding for their institutions. As a result, the joint, pioneering project of more than 80 Berlin museums aimed at fostering cultural participation and reducing admission barriers has been discontinued. All efforts to continue the project in a reduced form within the framework of budget consolidation (e.g., once every two months or once a quarter) were unfortunately unsuccessful. The Berlin governing coalition has decided against continuing the initiative.

Large and small institutions, publicly funded and private, showcasing art, history, nature, and technology—the museums attracted visitors to their exhibitions a total of 42 times with special accompanying programs, tours, and events. Most recently, more than 70,000 people regularly took advantage of the offer. Compared to the previous year, Museum Sunday saw significantly more guests each month, achieving an overall audience increase of 35 percent. On average, about two and a half times as many visitors attended the museums as on regular Sundays.

With Museum Sunday, the participating museums pursued the shared goal of sustainably reducing barriers to access and enabling cultural participation for as many citizens as possible—especially those who had not previously been museum visitors.

The results of a visitor survey conducted in October and November across 24 participating institutions, involving more than 1,000 visitors, clearly show that the goal of inspiring non-visitors to come to the museum was achieved:

• 63% of respondents visited the museum specifically because of Museum Sunday and would not have gone to a museum that day otherwise.
• 73% of respondents are Berlin residents → target audience reached.
• 32% of respondents are non-native German speakers → target audience reached.
• 43% of respondents are under 35 years old → target audience reached.
• 39% of respondents attended Museum Sunday for the first time on October 6 or November 3 (showing that even after more than 3 years, new visitors continue to engage).
• 52% of respondents were visiting the museum where they were surveyed for the first time → target audience of non-visitors reached.
• 48% of respondents became aware of Museum Sunday through targeted communication efforts, and 81% of respondents know about Museum Sunday Berlin → successful communication campaign.
• 98% of respondents believe Museum Sunday is important for the city of Berlin!

The last admission-free Museum Sunday will take place as part of an action day on December 1. All information on the participating museums and the program can be found on the website www.museumssonntag.berlin in a clear, filterable and accessible format.