Museums Association

The museum sector is building high quality, through codes of conduct and knowledge sharing and through solid and future-oriented business operations, which encourage healthy, motivated and productive volunteers, freelancers and employees in their development. In consultation with more than 400 museums, the Museum Association - as a trade association - puts the public interest of those Dutch museums first, in a national and European context. To enable a permanent bond of all inhabitants of our country with museum collections. No one excepted.

What we do

Strong support from politics;
Firm support among the public;
High quality of the sector. 

Quality care

• The Museum Register is an independent body that looks after the quality standard for museums. An unregistered museum cannot become a member of the Museums Association. 
• The Ethical Code (in Dutch - based on the ICOM code of ethics). Commission monitors museum ethics and gives advice on issues such as the exhibition of human remains. 
• The research project on the investigation of museum acquisitions from 1933 to 1940 and from 1948 to the present day.
• The portal Museumcontact.nl especially for museumprofessionals. 

Professional groups

We produce and organise tangible members’ benefits by offering professional committees. Groups within the association, managed by museum colleagues, who organize round table discussions, study days and educational trips. There are nine committees. Employees of member
museums can join them. The professional committees are called Cultures, Collections, Historical Museums, Castles & Stately Homes, Art Museums, PR & Marketing, Public & Presentation, Information Provision for Dutch Museums (SIMIN) and Security & Facility Management.

Collective Promotion 

We aim to create a positive image of museums and to encourage a greater and more diverse public interest in museums and we offer:

Museumkaart (Museum Pass)
The Museum Pass grants admission to ± 400 museums. There are 1,4 million pass holders.

Museumkids
The portal Museumkids.nl especially for kids, with the primary goal to stimulate the interest in museums. 

Museumportal museumkaart.nl 

This is the only site in the Netherlands on which all museums and their exhibitions are easy to find.

More than worth it 

Our continuous programme More that worth it focuses on the social significance of museums. We support our museums in getting this message across to politicians and other stakeholders. We provide them with a publication on the five social values, offer lobby training seminars and we have developed a successful internship format for politicians, shown in the clips below.

Contact 

Museumvereniging
Rapenburgerstraat 123
1011 VL Amsterdam
Postbus 2975
1000 CZ Amsterdam
T + 31 20-551 29 00

Publications in English

Tried-and-Tested Partnerships 
Publication More than worth it: The social significance of museums
Publication Agenda 2026: about the future of Dutch museums
Publication Children visiting museums: investing in the audience of the future
LAMO 2016: Guidelines for the Deaccessioning of Museum Objects