Visitor figures, visitor studies and sociological studies show that the profile of the audience for museums is overwhelmingly predicted by an individual’s level of income and education. Museum visitors are white and middle class. This is so even when you take account of gender, ethnicity, age and wealth. Furthermore, visitors to museums are part of a minority of the population who engage with State funded cultural activities on any regular basis. Recent work on this in the UK has shown that this minority is just 8.7% of the population (Taylor 2016). Given that the aim of leading edge museum practice is to effect social change serious acknowledgement of these limitations and a rethinking of how museums offer service to the majority must inform museum practice now and into the future. This presentation will reflect on some of these stark facts and using excerpts from interviews discuss some of the emerging findings from the ‘Understanding Everyday Participation’ project and the implications for the museum sector and indeed the cultural sector more broadly.