Incluvisity

People and experiences at the centre of inclusive itineraries for visitors to six museums

Every day, thousands of museums open their doors to people from all over the world and become places where ideas, knowledge and experiences are exchanged. Promoting wider access to our cultural heritage is therefore not only a goal to pursue, but a way to reach important social and workplace inclusion milestones. This is why many museums are exploring new ways for people to experience their collections: because art belongs to everyone and it’s important for everyone to feel welcome.

“Incluvisity” is our project to support this commitment, amplifying the initiatives of several of our partner museums that are introducing inclusive itineraries for the widest possible audience. Each museum has chosen to be more inclusive based on its own offering and developed specific tools for this purpose, by making sure exhibitions are accessible for visually impaired people, or by promoting tours led by guides with disabilities, or by creating workshops for elderly people suffering from cognitive decline, or itineraries that meet the needs of parents with newborn babies. Because the language of art is a universal tool, one that can engage with and connect different cultures and communities, as well as opening up learning perspectives that would otherwise be impossible.

Launched in 2023, the project initially focused on supporting test experiences that were often developed and implemented with local organisations and associations. Then the feedback collected through a voluntary post-visit questionnaire was used to improve the range of itineraries, which are now optimised based on comments and suggestions received from people who experience diversity on a daily basis.

The History of Photography in Your Hands

“Don’t touch” is a common warning in many museums. Camera - Centro Italiano per la fotografia (Italian Centre for Photography) in Turin decided to turn this rule on its head by developing, with our support, a visual-tactile itinerary that lets visually impaired people experience the emotions conveyed by the photographs. “The History of Photography in Your Hands” is the permanent exhibition in which twenty of the most representative images in the history of photography are reproduced by means of adduction, a technique that faithfully renders the image on panels in a form that can also be read by touch. A transparent overlay marks out the main features of the subject portrayed in relief, so that the images can be appreciated from a sensory perspective. Each panel has a caption in Braille as well as an audio-visual and LIS (Italian sign language) description.

“Nella Pancia di Tauret”

The Egyptian Museum in Turin offers new parents with children up to nine months old the chance to spend time together and visit its collections in a calm and discreet atmosphere when the museum is closed to the public. Visitors are accompanied by an Egyptologist as part of the “Nella Pancia di Tauret” project. Taking its cue from the name of the Egyptian goddess of childbirth and fertility, the initiative features an itinerary that explores the subject of motherhood in Egyptian culture, one that’s designed to spark debate among visitors about something they easily identify with. The visit ends with a presentation of the activities developed for young children, in the hope that taking part in the project is the first in a series of visits to the museum.

“In Tandem”

The “In Tandem” learning project, developed by MUSE (Museo delle Scienze di Trento - Trento Science Museum) with our Group’s support, aims to prepare people with a disability to take Museum visitors on a tour guided by two people working “in tandem”. In this way, a museum guide and a person with a disability turn a visit to explore the museum into an exciting experience seen through the lens of interpersonal relationships. Visits are currently available for Renzo Piano’s Big Void at the centre of MUSE, containing dozens of suspended animals that lived and live at all altitudes in alpine areas.

Learning Through Art

Learning Through Art (LTA) is the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum's annual art education program that sends teaching artists to collaborate with classroom teachers in New York City public schools where they develop, facilitate and integrate art projects into the school curriculum. During the twenty-week residencies, students examine, discuss, and create works of art, with visits to the Guggenheim serving as a stimulus for critical thinking. At the end of the school year, selected works are presented in the annual exhibition “A Year with Children” held in the Guggenheim galleries, on view to the public. LTA was founded in 1970 by Natalie K. Lieberman in response to the elimination of art and music programs from New York City public schools and has since served more than 200,000 students from diverse economic and cultural backgrounds in all five boroughs of New York City.

I Go to the Museum

The Peggy Guggenheim Collection in Venice has developed a learning path for people with migrant backgrounds, offering visits through which the museum promotes intercultural dialogue, helps break down stereotypes, and encourages participants’ emancipation. The “I Go to the Museum” project is based on the translanguaging method, which promotes multilingual education and encourages people to embrace a vision in which all the world’s languages and cultures have the same value: the itineraries encourage everyone to use all the languages they speak, and especially their own mother tongue, to emphasise similarities and differences between different cultures through comments about the works on display. In this way, people have the chance to meet, familiarise themselves with the Italian language, and exchange experiences in a plural and inclusive environment.

“Mi ritorni in mente”

Triennale di Milano has developed a workshop for elderly people suffering from cognitive decline and their families. The learning path is tailored to the specific needs and characteristics of participants and managed by specialist personnel, offering dementia sufferers an opportunity to stimulate their mental faculties. How? Through iconic design objects: the initiative explores the collection of the Italian Design Museum, which contains over 300 of the most representative items from 1923 to the present day. It’s intended to stimulate the emotions, feelings, memories and stories of elderly people, but most importantly to encourage them, through culture, to combat social isolation by creating connections with other families in similar situations.

NOVE E 3/4

The "Nove e ¾" project developed jointly with the Non-profit Abele Group Foundation turns the Lavazza Museum into a hub for the reintegration into civil society of young “hikkikomori”, the Japanese word for people who withdraw from society and spend their time at home on their smartphones and computers. The aim of the project is to support young people who are experiencing social withdrawal through special workshop activities that help them rediscover their senses.