5 years since its launch the Museum Pass that offers access to many of the country’s museums is more popular than ever. For a fixed annual subscription, the pass offers unlimited access to 235 museums across Belgium. The number of subscribers has increased from 100,000 to 165,000. The pass has already paid out a total of 12 million euro in revenue to the participating museums.
The Director of museumPASSmusées, the organization behind the pink-coloured pass Erika T'Jaeckx told VRT News that "The aim of the museum pass is to get people to explore what’s on offer at museums through rose-tinted spectacles. The idea that museums are gray and dull is outdated."
The idea behind the launch of the museum pass five years ago was to get more people to visit museums. This aim has been realised and the number of subscribers has increased considerably year-on-year.
Last year a study showed that people with a Museum Pass visit a museum four times more often than they otherwise would. “We are a motor that generates more visits. This is beneficial to the museums. They not only get more visitors, but also more money."
A total of half a million Museum Passes have already been sold, accounting for 2.5 million museum visits. Currently, around 165,000 people have a Museum Pass subscription. This is up from 100,000 subscribers last year. The pass is especially popular among people over 65. However, the number of young people with a Museum is also increasing.
59 euro per annum
The idea of the pass is simple, for a fixed 59-euro subscription fee those with a Museum Pass gain access to 235 musums all over Belgium. Each time someone with a pass visits a museum, the museum receives 50% of what they would normally charge as an entrance fee from museumPASSmusées. So far, the 235 participating museums have received a total of 12 million euro in this way.
The participating museums include big names such as Bozar in Brussels and the recently renovated Royal Museum of Fine Arts in Antwerp. Smaller museums such as the Strawberry Museum in the Walloon village of Wépion are also participants.
Among the 5 newcomers to the Museum Pass this year are Breendonk Fort (Antwerp Province) and the Trench of Death at Diksmuide (West Flanders).
Some federal museums such as the Museum of Fine Arts in Brussels are not included in the Museum Pass. Ms T'Jaeckx told VRT News that her organisation is talking to them behind the scenes and it is possible that they might join the list of participating museums at some time in the future.
What does the future hold?
Ms T'Jaeckx looks back with satisfaction on the past five years. "Our greatest success could be that we survived the corona pandemic period. I am also proud of the museums for having started up again so quickly."
To celebrate the 5th anniversary of its launch the organisation behind the Museum Pass is handing out a total of 5 tonnes of chocolate. Earlier this week a birthday event took place in the Comic Strip Museum in Brussels. The pass itself has been given a temporary new design that was created by the artist and Instagram phenomenon Jean Jullien. The Museum Pass app has also been given a thorough update.
The organisation behind the Museum Pass hopes that it will continue to grow in the future. "We want to focus more on families and children and we want to focus more on innovation and the digital aspect. Hopefully we can also convince some of those big players to join the list of participants."
Three museum tips from Erika T'Jaeckx
1) Museum de Reede in Antwerp is dedicated to graphics. The collection consists of works on paper: lithographs, engravings, etchings, woodcuts and drawings by more than a dozen artists. The work spans five centuries from the 17th century to the 21st.
2) LABIOMISTA in Genk (Limburg) includes an open-air exhibition with (living) works of art and installations. The works try to make topics such as diversity and human rights tangible and discussable.
3) Red Star Line in Antwerp centres around European migration to America from Antwerp based on personal stories of emigrants during the 20th century.