It bears responsibility for the management of museums and theatres, the maintenance of landmarks and historical sites, and the promotion of Austrian cinema.

Traditionally, the interest of Austria's civil servants (Beamte) were protected by their strong union (the Beamtengewerkschaft) and by the fact that civil servants were overrepresented among the upper ranks of every major political party.

A precursor of the current Ministry called the Ministry of Public Services and Sports (Bundesministerium für öffentliche Leistungen und Sport) was established by the Schüssel I cabinet in 2000, then unceremoniously disestablished by the Schüssel II cabinet in 2003.

[2] On 29 January 2020, it was renamed Federal Ministry for Arts, Culture, the Civil Service and Sport by the Second Kurz government.

[1] Since January 2020, the ministry consists of the Minister and his or her personal staff (Kabinett), the office of the general secretary, and four departments:[5] The Minister and his or her staff are political appointees; the general secretary and the section heads are career civil servants.