A story of collaboration: Open Museum x Museum Night Fever 

A story of collaboration: Open Museum x Museum Night Fever

Museum Night Fever is back – already celebrating its 18th edition!
Since its launch in 2008, this flagship event by Brussels Museums has become a staple of the Brussels cultural scene, constantly evolving over the years.*

Through its events, Brussels Museums aims to increase the visibility of museums across the city, attract new audiences, and cultivate future visitors. Museum Night Fever (MNF) aims to be dynamic, festive and evolving in order to nurture connection between the museums’ collections, the bubbling emerging Brussels scene and its young audience.

Another key mission of Brussels Museums is to support and connect its members.  What better way to foster collaboration than through a major event that brings together over 30 museums and more then 16 000 visitors every year?

It’s with this same conviction that Open Museum was launched in 2018, as a complement to Brussels Museums’ existing initiatives, to provide additional expertise in inclusion, accessibility, and participation, making these values enduring pillars of the federation and sector.

With each new edition of Museum Night Fever, the Open Museum 5P methodology (People – Public – Place – Programming – Partnerships) has been actively integrated, contributing to steady progress in terms of accessibility, diversity, and inclusivity within Brussels Museums’ public activities.

A well-thought-out start

In its early stages, Open Museum primarily focused on defining its vision and identifying the needs of museums regarding inclusion and accessibility. Since Brussels Museums aimed to lead by example, it was essential that the federation’s own events also reflected these values. Inclusivity has always been part of the event’s DNA, which at first came forward with a reflection on ticketing and social partnerships (ex. Article 27, Paspartoe and Cultuurbon).

In 2022, an accessibility audit was carried out by Access-i, marking the first step in developing a comprehensive understanding of the state of the event’s accessibility and create a tailored action plan for Museum Night Fever. As part of this process, Open Museum collaborated with Access-i to create a self-assessment tool that helps museums communicate clearly with their audiences about available facilities. This self-assessment accessibilityform includes practical questions about the museum’s infrastructure, such as nearby parking for people with reduced mobility, doorway width, accessible toilets, and the presence of elevators or ramps. The goal was to raise awareness about the importance of sharing clear and detailed accessibility information, thereby promoting visitors’ autonomy and freedom of choice.

In 2023, Museum Night Fever introduced its first team of accessibility volunteers. These volunteers participated in a training session led by Access-i, designed to help them understand what the museal experience is like with a physical or sensorial disability. The training provided valuable insights into the needs of people with disabilities, as well as practical tools for offering a warm and informed welcome to diverse audiences.

During this same edition, Open Museum’s Accessibility Handbook was distributed for the first time to volunteers and museums staff. This practical guide offers hands-on advice for integrating accessibility into both the event and the everyday operations of museums, with the long-term goal of making accessibility a structural and natural part of the museums’ landscape.

A work in progress

The 2024 edition of Museum Night Fever continued the collaboration with Access-i, and introduced a new partnership with AccessAndGo, who contributed to improving the accessibility forms developed in previous years. This collaboration led to the creation of a second version of the form, along with a public-friendly version that translates the technical information provided by museums into clear, accessible language for visitors. This was then made available on the individual museum pages of Museum Night Fever website.

In addition, Open Museum commissioned AccessAndGo to organise a two-part training programme specifically designed for participating museums.
The first session provided a refresher on the legal accessibility requirements that museums must comply with, such as doorway dimensions, lift access, and the admission of guide dogs etc., while also highlighting important considerations regarding safety and accessibility.
The second session consisted of personalised one-on-one meetings between museums and accessibility experts. These consultations gave museums the opportunity to review and discuss their accessibility forms, question the data provided, and address specific challenges, fostering peer learning and collective improvement in their practices.

Thanks to these accessibility forms, Open Museum now holds a comprehensive and up-to-date overview of the physical accessibility of the museums that have taken part in MNF. As the participating museums change from year to year, all participating museums are invited to complete or update their self-assessment form. This process also enables returning museums to re-evaluate their facilities, identify any changes since the previous edition, and continue improving their accessibility.

Expanding the scope

Beyond physical accessibility, Open Museum has also focused on ensuring that the programming of the event is as inclusive and diverse as the city of Brussels itself. Museum Night Fever aims to amplify the voices of talented artists who may simply need a reminder that they, too, deserve to take up space on stage, or in this case, in the museum.

Each year, Brussels Museums organises a meet-and-greet between artists and museums, providing an opportunity for both to connect and explore potential collaborations for Museum Night Fever. For the 2024 edition, Open Museum issued a proactive open call to artists from a wide range of communities, with particular attention to artists with disabilities. The call received an enthusiastic response, leading to inspiring partnerships between artists and museums. Visitors had the chance to experience, for example, the Rolling Stars dance group performing at Train World, or Compagnie l’Esperluette’s captivating sign language performance at the BELvue Museum.

When it comes to reaching diverse audiences, Open Museum also partnered with PR-insider, a lifestyle influencer passionate about culture, who explored Museum Night Fever from a PRM (Person with Reduced Mobility) perspective. Through her socials, she shared tips and insights, helping visitors make the most of the evening.

Innovating

As part of its ongoing research on accessibility at Museum Night Fever, Open Museum launched a pilot project last year: MNF on Wheels. Accessibility is best understood through practical experience, and MNF on Wheels aimed to create a parcours that was realistically navigable for all visitors.

One of the main accessibility challenges of Museum Night Fever is its size and complexity: multiple locations spread across different neighbourhoods, each with unique facilities and collections. MNF on Wheels offered a human scale alternative to visitors. The parcours included six accessible museums, all reachable within 20 minutes of distance, eliminating the need for often overcrowded shuttle journey.

At the same time, Open Museum continued advancing its efforts toward accessible information and communication. A dedicated accessibility page was created on the Museum Night Fever website, featuring:

• Brussels Museums’ statement on accessibility

• The criteria used to determine whether a location is considered accessible

• Frequently asked questions about event accessibility

• Detailed information on accessible ticketing options for visitors with disabilities and their companions

• Highlights of existing ticketing partnerships.

This initiative aimed at ensuring that visitors could plan their Museum Night Fever experience with predictability andconfidence.

This year’s efforts

For its 18th edition, Open Museum’s commitment to accessibility and inclusivity continued to shape Museum Night Fever. The accessibility forms have now become standard and remain a permanent resource on Museum Night Fever website. The dedicated accessibility page features the organisation’s definition of inclusion and its commitment the make a safe and enjoyable event for all visitors.

A new partnership with the European Disability Card has been established, offering discounts for the event and promoting access to culture and leisure for people with disabilities across Europe.

Museums are not neutral; it remains vital to ensure equal access for diverse voices in shaping the programming of each edition. In line with this goal, the ‘Open Museum-label’ has been introduced to highlight activities that reflect diversity and inclusion. This label showcases the creativity of Brussels’ artists through a variety of activities, including:

• Performances centred on LGBTQIA+ identities

• Projects promoting openness to the world or decolonisation of cultural narratives

• Workshops and performances conducted in sign language

These labelled activities raise awareness of diverse topics while allowing different audiences to fully enjoy the event. The label is clearly displayed in the printed brochure and on the website, making Open Museum’s values visible as a public statement.

Communication remains a central focus. Articles on the Museum Night Fever website now highlight activities with the Open Museum label, as well as family-friendly and low-stimuli options. Social media content has also been expanded to promote these activities.

In addition, a new partnership was formed with Sortir avec les mains, an NGO which provides content and activitiesin Belgian French Sign Language (LSFB). This collaboration enables a group of young hard of hearing and deaf museum lovers to enjoy the event, while celebrating and fostering a sense of community inclusion.

Shaping Inclusive and Accessible Museum Experiences

Over the years, Open Museum has developed a clear vision of what a festive and cultural event can be, by bringing together diverse aspects of the cultural sector, amplifying the voices of multiple narrators, and letting their experience and expertise guide and shape major cultural events.

Open Museum demonstrates that pooling resources and knowledge allows for greater impact, making accessibility and inclusivity integral, rather than optional, elements of cultural programming. The organisation’s approach has always been collaborative: working with people, ensuring that communities are genuinely involved in shaping the events.

Through this work, Brussels Museums and its Open Museum initiative, aims to serve as a model for museums, proving that accessibility is not a mere add-on, but a core value that can be implemented in creative ways, even for large-scale events like Museum Night Fever.

* You can read more about this in this article on the Museum Night Fever website.

© Photo : Jonas Polet