The accessibility of art

The accessibility of art is a broad, complex, and multifaceted issue; woven from threads comprised of - amongst others - social, economic, and physical access hurdles. In 2016, the number of visitors to some of the UK’s most prominent museums and galleries “fell by nearly 1.4 million [in the] the first [instance of] decline in almost a decade” (Ellis-Petersen, 2017). The drop was postulated to be due to a combination of factors; a reduction in educational visits, security fears linked to terrorism, and a lack of large scale exhibitions that appealed to a wide audience. These are reasonably clear cut issues, and as such could be largely mitigated with targeted solutions; in comparison, it is far harder to ascertain why some people are not engaging with art at all, and therefore even more challenging to implement effective strategies to improve the numbers.

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There are too many factors to adequately explore within the constrains of the word count, but one issue is perhaps the location and design of art galleries themselves; many, - particularly the most notable - are situated in major cities. According to a ranking of the ten most visited galleries in 2016, seven are located in the capital cities of their respective countries (Woodie, 2017).  For some people, that fact alone could be enough to severely limit their ability to access the art; there are clear economic factors to consider in regards to travelling both to and within cities, but there are also issues in terms of manoeuvrability. Although most - if not all - buildings cater comprehensibly for a wide range of physical disabilities, many cities themselves do not. In London, very few tube stops are step free from the train to the street and all too often public transport is inaccessible for wheelchair users due to overcrowding. As such, many people may find themselves able to enter and navigate a gallery, but totally unable to actually get to the gallery itself. 

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Aside from potential physical restrictions, there are psychological effects related to location too; many galleries are housed in large, grand imposing buildings that not everyone may feel comfortable entering. Whilst it would largely be neither feasible nor practical to adapt entire buildings or relocate whole institutions, venues themselves could certainly implement initiatives specifically targeted to shed their perceived highbrow, exclusive perceptions and become more welcoming to newcomers. 

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Although it’s marginally easier to discern reasonable solutions that could improve the accessibility of art solely in regards to the buildings that it is typically housed in, it’s far harder to tackle the wider issue when considering the more subjective facets of the problem. Additionally, it must be considered that many people who work or study in artistic fields have too great a degree of inherent, ingrained bias to be able to truly understand the issue on a bipartisan level, and as such are not best placed to neither identify problems nor propose realistic solutions. As such, perhaps the best placed people to consult on the matter are those who do – or would – want to access art but, for whatever reason, don’t or can’t. 

Reference List

 

Ellis-Petersen, H. (2017) ‘British museums and art galleries hit by 1.4m fall in visitors’, The Guardian, 2nd February. Available at:  

https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2017/feb/02/british-museums-art-galleries-hit-by-2m-fall-visitors (Accessed: 18th November 2017).

 

 

Woodie, M. (2017) The Top 10 Most Visited Art Museums of 2016. Available at:  http://www.artistsnetwork.com/new-articles/top-10-visited-art-museums-2016 (Accessed: 18th November 2017).