The Reina Sofia Museum and the ONCE Foundation promote the ACAI Accessibility Program

Within the framework of the collaboration agreement reached between the Reina Sofia Museum and the ONCE Foundation, the ACAI Program (Contemporary Art as a Methodology for Integral Accessibility) has been launched, a project related to accessibility and social inclusion in the Museum, two priority lines of force in the Education Area of this institution, within its GIRA program.

The Reina Sofía works on and from the functional diversity in the design and development of projects related to accessibility, which are transversal to all the programming of the Area of Education. It is in this context that it is part of the ACAI program, a pioneer in museums that recognizes people with disabilities, not as objects of it, but as subjects of development and addressing work with audiences, architecture and museography. Its application means that two disabled workers are part of the team of the Museum's Education Department, the idea of their high involvement in the development of different aspects of the project.

Specifically, the artist and cultural mediator Costa Badía has joined, who will be responsible for the elaboration of a manual of good practices and will provide training to the Museum's Mediation team, in addition to participating in the design and development of different activities. The analysis and preparation of reports on issues related to architecture, signage or global accessibility, are the responsibility of the architect Fabio A. Colombo.

The art for comprehensive accessibility

In this project, a pioneer in museums, there are several lines of force that will be present throughout its development. First, the consideration of functionally, cognitively, and sensorially diverse audiences as cultural agents; It is also important that the idea of accessibility is not consolidated through a specific program but as a transversal line that is present in the Museum's relationship with its audiences. Lastly, it should be noted that this is a research project that can be applied to other museums. The direct participation of the ONCE Foundation in the implementation and subsequent development of this initiative is in line with the General Law on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and their Social Inclusion and has as its main objective the use of contemporary art. as a working methodology for comprehensive accessibility. Programs are developed for the deaf and hard of hearing; of behavioral, cognitive, and psychological diversity; new audiences and groups: people included in the autism spectrum, with different cognitive abilities or clinical mental disorders) and blind and visually impaired people.