Museums and Galleries

In 2009 Arts Access Australia will publish a research report into current access strategies used in the Australian museums and galleries sector.

Statistics available through the Cultural Ministers Council 2007 report Cultural Participation by Persons with a Disability and Older Persons indicate that both groups have significantly lower rates of cultural participation than the overall population. While 85 % of Australians attend at least one cultural venue or event in a year that figure falls to 74 % and 69 % for people with a disability and older Australians respectively.

There were 107 responses to the research. Key findings include the following.
  • There is a moderate level of recognition for Arts Access Australia.
  • The vast majority of organisations are attracting some people with disabilities as audience members and have some access services available.
  • The vast majority of organisations do not promote exhibitions to people with disabilities or monitor their attendance.
  • While organisations generally have a very low usage of existing access resources and organisations, this is combined with a very high desire to find out more about access.
  • People with disabilities have a low level of employment and even lower participation on boards and management committees of museums and galleries.
  • Regional and smaller organisations are often better at including people with disabilities than their metropolitan counterparts.


As a result of our research Arts Access Australia has developed an informal partnership with Museums Australia to share access related resources and identify and promote examples of best practice.

Related work supported by Arts Access Australia includes:

National Standards for Australian Museums and Galleries
Arts Access Australia provided input to the proposed National Standards for Australian Museums and Galleries. The draft Standards mention access at key points and we will continue to work with the National Standards Taskforce on the practical aspects of refining and implementing the Standards.

NSW Accessing the Arts Group
Accessible Arts NSW coordinates a group of arts professionals dedicated to improving access.

NSW Access and Heritage
Accessible Arts NSW is leading a team investigating the relationship between access (disability discrimination) and heritage through both legal and practical research.

 

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