{"id":76,"date":"2020-10-13T13:05:56","date_gmt":"2020-10-13T20:05:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ac.nau.edu\/pandemicstories\/?page_id=76"},"modified":"2020-11-19T22:12:47","modified_gmt":"2020-11-20T05:12:47","slug":"covid-19-the-arts-and-accessibility","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/ac.nau.edu\/pandemicstories\/covid-19-the-arts-and-accessibility\/","title":{"rendered":"COVID-19, the Arts, and Accessibility"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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What Has COVID-19 Revealed About Accessibility and the Arts?<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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Accessibility is the concept of whether a product, service, or space can be used by everyone. In accordance to building infrastructure; accessibility questions whether the building is equipped with wheelchair ramps, elevators, automatic doors, etc. so as to make it accessible<\/em> to persons with disabilities. Museums have gradually changed toward prioritizing accessibility in their space, many museums even have accessibility pages on their website, accessibility managers are hired in order to make the space accessible, etc. However, accessibility does not only refer to whether or not a museums infrastructure is navigable and available to persons with disabilities, it is also a means of whether the contents of their space is available to everyone.<\/p>

Over time, some museums have made it so that their exhibits or collections are accessible to visitors online, their outreach ranging far beyond their in-state demographic. This pandemic has seen an increase in similar online programming implemented by museums in order to reach their audience whilst containing the spread of the virus. One arts administrator discussed the importance of maintaining this accessibility, and reveals how it is colored by race and class.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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A data visualization by Mona Chalabi, depicting the composition of a US museum collection if it were to represent the entire population. 189 figures would need to be added: 79 white women; 26 Latinx women; 18 black women; seven Asian women; five women of another race\/ethnicity; 22 Latinx men; 16 black men; 12 white men; and four men of another race\/ethnicity. (image courtesy Mona Chalabi via Hyperallergic)<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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As the U.S.’s racial and ethnic makeup has become more diverse, it has been made apparent that museums and arts organizations do not reflect the country’s changing demographic. The preceding photo is artist and data-journalist Mona Chalabi’s interpretation of a report from the National Endowment for the Arts. In one year, white Americans were almost twice as likely as black or Hispanic Americans to have done at least one arts activity\u2026\u201d As such, the current closures mostly affect white museum-goers. which led to a newfound but long-awaited concern to make the arts accessible to individuals who haven’t always felt welcome in the museum space.<\/p>

The pandemic has made it clear that there is an increased need for new ways to experience the arts. Darren Walker, president of the Ford Foundation, said in a New York Times op-ed, \u201cI believe that museums have the responsibility to hold a mirror up to society.\u201d Understandably, museums have been slow to “go digital” or make their collections, exhibitions, etc. available to visitors online because of a concern of in-person attendance. However, the pandemic has put a kibosh onto traditional experiences such as visiting museums. It has imposed the need for museums to be more active on social media in order to continue interaction with their audience, make their collections accessible to them from the safety of their home leading to an increased interest and anticipation to visit their museum once they reopen, etc.\u00a0<\/p>

Whilst nothing can ever replace the experience of seeing a work of art in person, this new development in accessibility has made it so that museums are becoming better equipped to serve all audiences in an ever-changing world.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Ragbir, Lise. \u201cCOVID-19 Pandemic Sheds New Light on Access to the Arts.\u201d Hyperallergic, 17 June 2020, hyperallergic.com\/554214\/arts-access-covid-19\/.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What Has COVID-19 Revealed About Accessibility and the Arts? Accessibility is the concept of whether a product, service, or space can be used by everyone. In accordance to building infrastructure; […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":95,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ac.nau.edu\/pandemicstories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/76"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ac.nau.edu\/pandemicstories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ac.nau.edu\/pandemicstories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ac.nau.edu\/pandemicstories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ac.nau.edu\/pandemicstories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=76"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/ac.nau.edu\/pandemicstories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/76\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":319,"href":"https:\/\/ac.nau.edu\/pandemicstories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/76\/revisions\/319"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ac.nau.edu\/pandemicstories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/95"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ac.nau.edu\/pandemicstories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=76"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}