Eleventh International Conference on The Inclusive Museum

Abstract

This research has been carried out in art museums in three Chilean cities with the aim of making a first approach to the educational offer aimed at people with disabilities and artistic education institutions in those museums. At present, Chile does not have any studies that would make it possible to systematize the educational offer and the target audience. The choice of these cities corresponds to the fact that they are the towns with the most art museums and are located in regions that in their totality own half of all museums in Chile. The study was carried out with a mixed methodology, a first quantitative phase that allowed, by means of an instrument, to know and classify the current offer of museums aimed at this group and later on, a qualitative phase based on interviews with those in charge of the education areas, where it was possible to study in depth the challenges and future projects regarding inclusion in art museums. The conclusions of this research establish that most of the museums studied do not have a specific offer for people with disabilities, or training in the subject, or more budget to generate universal accessibility. Along with this, it has been observed that the most closely related disability is sensory (blindness and deafness) in comparison with the psychic and intellectual disabilities that remain the most invisible to museums. Among the positive aspects, it can be seen that the initiatives carried out so far are beginning to consolidate.