Press releases

Which offers in theaters, museums, concert halls, opera houses and ballet houses are real street sweepers? Which target groups are addressed by the cultural offerings? And what are the reasons why audiences stay away? The Ministry of Culture and Science of North Rhine-Westphalia has now given the city of Aachen the opportunity to be one of four cities in NRW to take part in the "KulturMonitoring" (KulMon) visitor research project of the Institute for Cultural Participation Research (IKTf) in Berlin. These and similar questions are to be answered with a unique, three-year long-term study with a well-founded, representative data collection.

Heinrich Brötz, Aachen's municipal councillor for education, youth and culture, says enthusiastically: "I am very grateful to the Ministry of Culture and Science that Aachen has been included in the group of four municipalities nationwide that can carry out a professional visitor survey in their municipal cultural institutions. This will provide us with important insights into the motivation and satisfaction of our customers, as well as information on how we can improve our audience appeal. The methodology of the Institute for Cultural Participation Research also enables comparison and exchange with the other participating municipalities, which I am very much looking forward to."

After internal administrative coordination and consultation with the IKTf, the Stadttheater and Musikdirektion (differentiated according to drama/music theater and classical concerts), the Ludwig Forum, the Suermondt-Ludwig-Museum and the Centre Charlemagne will participate in the research project. The total costs for the City of Aachen's participation in KulturMonitoring amount to 186,305 euros, with the state funding accounting for 90 percent. The required own funds will be covered proportionally by the Kulturbetrieb and the theater.

The survey of visitors is carried out on site in the facilities in the form of personal interviews by a survey institute commissioned by the IKTf. The questionnaire used for the interviews is currently being drawn up in close cooperation between the IKTf and the City of Aachen in consultation with the theater, the cultural sector and the museums. An expert from the IKTf is supporting the city in this process. At the same time, the IKTf is setting up the
survey location in Aachen and selecting and training surveyors. The visitor surveys are voluntary, anonymous and comply with data protection regulations. The Aachen KulturMonitoring is expected to start in May in the museums and in September in the theater.

With around 500,000 visitors interviewed in over 100 cultural and leisure facilities in eight cities since 2009, KulMon is the largest cultural monitoring system in Europe. It helps cultural venues to find out more about their audiences and to work on the basis of data in all areas. KulMon is financed by public funds. It is managed by the Berlin-based non-profit Institute for Cultural Participation Research (IKTf).