Yesterday, on the occasion of December 3, the International Day of Persons with Disabilities, the Institute (Zaprokul) in cooperation with the Museum of Contemporary Art, presented the results of the first ever research “Culture of accessibility: research on the accessibility of museums and galleries in the Republic of Serbia”. with the symbolic song “Touch me” performed by young artists, students of the School for Visually Impaired Students “Veljko Ramadonović”.
Marijana Kolarić, director of the museum, and Olivera Ignjatović, independent advisor, head of the group for the protection of immovable cultural assets, endowments and foundations at the Ministry of Culture, gave their welcoming speech, congratulating Zaprokul on his thorough, comprehensive and significant research. In his address, Marko Krstić, the director of Zaprokul, pointed out that the goal of the research was to look at the state of accessibility of museums and galleries as a whole, to face the problem in order to find the best possible way to overcome all obstacles.
In the continuation, Zaprokul researchers Marijana Milankov, Bogdana Opačić and Bojana Subašić held a workshop in the form of a “pub-quiz” where the audience could learn about the current state of museums and galleries, but also hear significant proposals for improvement and development.
The “Culture of accessibility” research carried out included 97 museums and galleries and 36 associations of persons with disabilities in Serbia. 70 questions were asked and 35 interviews and focus groups were held. The results show that 53.7% of museums and galleries are programmatically unavailable, physically even 57.5%. The results in the area of communication accessibility are particularly low, showing that 75.6% of institutions are not accessible. This is precisely why Zaprokul gave some of the most important guidelines and recommendations on how to improve the general state of culture. It is necessary to educate employees, but also hire people with disabilities, constantly adjust spaces and design, acquire adequate equipment and improve digital accessibility in all cultural institutions.
The publication “Culture of accessibility” will be sent to all institutions in Serbia in order to serve as a guide and instruction that will help them achieve greater accessibility, and with the same goal Zaprokul will conduct a series of trainings throughout Serbia during the next year.
