Accessibility to cultureAn overview from Finland

Outi Salonlahti / Culture for All ServiceCulture and Accessibility Conference

Helsinki 12.11.2015

Equality of culture

Starting point Means Aim

How do we define accessibility of culture?

•Regional possibilities•Accessible communication • Social accessibility•Accessible pricing•Accessibility of the build environment•Various possibilities to use different senses•Understanding made easy

Some examples

What kind of good practices there are in Finland?

Social accessibility: ”Cultural companions”

www.kulttuuriakaikille.fi/kaikukortti

Accessible pricing

Various possibilities to use different senses:Audio description

Jill and Joy’s Winter and The Fencer

MovieReading application

Various possibilities to use different senses:3D printing

The Sports Museumof Finland

Open captioning = OC

Closed captioning = CC

The various possibilities to use different senses: Captioning

Interpretation to Sign Language

The National Opera: Carmen

Mainstreaming & inclusion

Absolutely AbNormal, Exhibition at The Finnish Labour Museum Werstas

What are the means of the cultural administration to direct cultural institutions to be more equal?

Non-Discrimination Act• New act 2015• Reasonable adjustements to realise equality of persons with

disabilities

• Non-Discrimination Ombudsman

The Ministry of Education and Culture•Working groups, reports, action plans and strategies•Working groups have diverse members• ”The Accessibility of Art and Culture” (report 2014)•Monitoring or evaluation of how the planned actions have

been carried out can be missing?

The Ministry of Education and Culture• Financing for accessibility• Grants for promoting the accessibility of culture• Grants for cultural activities of the language minorities and

disability organizations• Grants for easy-to-read literature• Grants for buying accessible materials to libraries

• Information: e.g. The Culture for All Service

The system of state funds for the cultural institutions• The quality and effectiveness of the institutions will maybe affect on

how much money the institution will get in the future (to about 3 % of their fundig)• Planned indicators include some viewpoints of accessibility• The culture field has mostly been against the indicators• 2014 some indicators were removed• E.g. Accessibility considering the build environment

Arts Promotion Centre Finland (Taike)

•Peer review• On 2014 the disability organizations were asked to

propose artists for the first time

How accessible is the culture field in Finland?

Survey about the accessibility and diversity of art and cultural institutions funded by state(survey 2012)

Source: The Ministry of Education and Culture. Valtionosuuden piirissä olevien taide- ja kulttuurilaitosten moninaisuus ja saavutettavuus - syksyllä 2012 toteutetun kyselyn tulokset sekä vertailu vuoden 2007 kyselyyn. DRAFT, will be published 2015?

Overall conclusions•Most of the institutions had done improvements for

accessibility or diversity•Museums have been working with accessibility

longer, so they have developed accessibility more than other institutions• Institutions seem to take the public better into

account than the needs of the staff

Planning• The institutions had included accessibility and

diversity aspects into their action plans and budgets quite often •Most of the institutions did not have a special plan to

improve accessibility or diversity

Accessibility surveys• The institutions had done much more accessibility

surveys than in 2007

Communication and information• Information about accessibility is given in• 73 % of the museums• 65 % of the theatres• 57 % of the orchestras• 30 % of the libraries

Communication and information•Accessible websites•71 % of the orchestras•About half of the museums•30 % of the theatres•34 % of the libraries

Various possibilities to use different senses•Many institutions provided cultural experiences and

information for different senses• e.g. combination af sound and picture, possibility to touch or the

possibility to do something yourself, e.g. visual elements in concerts

• Interpretation is rarely offered

Staff of the institutions

• Training of the employees includes more and more accessibility issues• Less than half of the institutions told they support the

employment of the minority and special groups

Biggest challenges•Limited resources• especially money•Also time and challenges with the

premises/buildings•There is interest and will to develop the accessibility, but the resources limit the possibilities

How accessible are the cultural events and festivals in Finland?

Source: The Culture for All Service 2011. Kulttuurifestivaalien ja -tapahtumien saavutettavuus. Keväällä 2011 toteutetun kyselyn tulokset. Kulttuuria kaikille -palvelu / Kehittäminen ja yhteiskuntasuhteet KEHYS. Valtion taidemuseo. www.kulttuuriakaikille.info/saavutettavuus_tutkimukset_ja_raportit_festivaalit

Overall conclusions

•Many festivals had contributed to develop their accessibility• The physical accessibility was taken into account quite

well•80 % of the festivals estimated, that they should

improve their accessibility•About half of the festivals was going to develop their

accessibility

Festivals had…

•Accessible entrance: 92 %•Accessible toilets: 76 %• Information available in many languages: 90 %•Free entrance for the personal assistants and interpreters: 68 %

But there was…

•Not so much accessible parking possibilites• Stages and other places where people perform were

mostly not accessible• Lack of information about the accessibility of the

festivals•Websites are not so accessible• Lack of interpretation possibilities•Not so many possibilities to use different senses

The biggest issues•Small staff•Money•Premises:•Rental venues•Historic venues

•Outdoor challenges: pathways grass and gravel/soft sand, weather•Lack of knowledge

What do the people with disabilities think?(Survey published 2012)

Source: Kähkönen, Kirsi 2012. Vammaisten ihmisten kokemukset taide- ja kulttuuripalvelujen käyttäjinä - Kyselyyn ja haastatteluihin perustuva selvitys vuonna 2011. Kulttuuria kaikille -palvelu / Kehittäminen ja yhteiskuntasuhteet KEHYS. Valtion taidemuseowww.kulttuuriakaikille.fi/saavutettavuus_tutkimukset_ja_raportit_kulttuuriala_yleisesti

Communication and information: challenges

•The information doesn’t reach the right people•The information isn’t always in accessible form•Lack of information about accessibility of cultural services and premises• There is too little information or no information at all• The information isn’t always reliable

What is needed?•Cultural institutions should provide more assistance• The producers of cultural services need more

knowledge• There should be different alternatives for booking and

buying tickets

Comparison to a similar survey in 2002•No significant development of the accessibility of the

art and cultural field during 10 years• Interviews: the attitudes have become significantly

better towards accessiblity• In some areas of accessibility people were even less

satisfied in 2012, for example about the information of accessibility

Other conclusions• Younger respondents were most critical and not so

satisfied with the services • The respondents who were over 65 years old were the most satisfied

•People living in southern Finland and bigger cities were more satisfied with the amount and location of services• Investing in accessibility and services is worth the

effort, because it increases the degree of satisfaction

How can one become an artist?

Art and culture universities and univerisites of applied sciences• Researches show, that the attitudes of the teachers and lack of

knowledge can make the studying difficult• There is lack of wide strategies, which include every aspect of the

education• Marketing• Entrance examinations – who gets to study?• Studying, support• Teaching• Equality monitoring?

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