We are beyond happy to reveal that our “History Rocks” museum charity project was a success, and the feedback we have received from the participating museums has been amazing.
We released this charity project to raise awareness on the importance of history and encourage more people to visit and support their local museums – this is something that is incredibly important to us. The main aim of us donating “The War To End All Wars – The Movie” to museums was to help to boost their visibility and introduce them to a previously untapped audience made up of our amazing fanbase!
140 museums big and small spanning 30 countries participated in screenings from November 4-19, 2023, and according to their feedback, our movie helped to spark a resurgence of interest in historical narratives through the lens of heavy metal. The maximum number of screenings held by a museum over the two-week period (November 4-19) stood at 72, with some museums reporting up to 1,200 visitors in total who were visiting solely to watch the movie.
Following a successful collaboration with us, Nancy Bentley, the curator and event coordinator of the Hutchings Museum, Lehi (Utah, USA), shared: “This was one of the most exciting projects we’ve ever participated in. We were excited about it but couldn’t have anticipated how it exceeded expectations! The energy simply buzzed at the museum in anticipation, during and after the screening.”
Riding a similar wave of enthusiasm, Rob Phillimore, the marketing manager of Bodmin Keep (Cornwall, UK), told us about the impact the project had on the museum, stating: “Screening the Sabaton movie gave our visitor numbers a huge boost. We only have a small screening room, but each screening we held was sold out!”
Ian Flint, the CEO of Stow Maries Great War Aerodrome (Essex, UK), echoed the sentiment, emphasising the profound connection fostered by the project: “It was wonderful to see the metal and museum communities merge through our shared appreciation of history. By understanding it, by making it relative, we can learn from it. Sabaton has taken a huge step forward in making our history relative and real to millions of fans worldwide, and we’re hugely grateful to them for the History Rocks project.”
We wanted to be there and experience this unique project with you all, so some of us decided to venture out and attend a number of screenings across Europe. It was an absolute pleasure meeting you all and thank you for being there. It makes us even more excited to hear that a handful of war veterans attended some of these screenings, adding a poignant layer to the project.
Pär stated: “I am incredibly happy to see the overwhelming turnout for the screenings of “The War To End All Wars – The Movie”. It’s heartening to witness the dedication of fans who travelled significant distances to attend these events. The response and the experience have been amazing, and we’re grateful for the opportunity to share this historical journey with our fans.”
He added: “This project honestly went better than we could have even imagined. The feedback we received both during and after the event was incredible, and the fact that we’ve actually made a difference to the museums with the “History Rocks” project means everything to us. Mission accomplished.”
We have been blown away by the media coverage surrounding the “History Rocks” project. The story was picked up by the likes of Metal Hammer UK and Rolling Stone France, to name a few, plus various other non-music-related publications and outlets such as Associated Press in the UK, Movieweb and Yahoo News, among many others.
Our project also caught the attention of educational institutions, some of which have expressed keen interest in utilising the movie as an educational tool.
Highlighting the potential of “The War To End All Wars – The Movie” as an effective educational resource for people of all ages was Diane Stephen, the manager of Heugh Battery Museum (Hartlepool, the UK), who said: “I think the film is an excellent resource and source of information. Apart from the value it has for adult audiences, we feel that students and pupils of teenage years would get a lot from screenings of this film and it would create a lot of discussion. It is an excellent way to show those studying WW1 at this level in the UK how the war was not simply a trench war in France where the British and Germans fought – which can be the line which is most closely delivered to those being introduced to the topic. We feel the film clearly shows it was a World War with many nations involved, which was fought on many fronts, including the sea and air.”
Meanwhile, Petar Stefanov the head of the guide department of the National Museum of History (Sofia, Bulgaria), explained that during the museum’s organised screenings, many student groups led by teachers visited. “They watched the movie and asked us when the next project is so they can bring their students as a learning activity outside the school,” he said.
To collect some information and statistics and get some further insight into the experience participants had, we sent all museums a post-event survey. All respondents confirmed that they would be open to future collaborations with us on projects of a similar nature. We are excited for what the future holds!
As for “The War To End All Wars – The Movie”, we are exploring ways to present the film to a wider audience. No plans have been finalised yet.
Stay tuned!
