In this “DEAI Research Report” series, DEAI Research Lab.* members present cases they have studied.
The third study article is a report by Takao Hiromi (Head of Marble Workshop LLC) who has promoted “plain Japanese” at museums**. The article presents the observations she has made and lessons she has learned after getting involved in and becoming familiar with activities at the Okayama Prefectural Museum of Art upon moving to Okayama. From a viewpoint of reasonable accommodation, how have museums worked to meet the needs of schools, groups, and individual users, and what lessons can be gleaned from this?

*DEAI: DEAI is an acronym comprised of the first letters of the following four words: Diversity, Equity, Accessibility, and Inclusion. Launched in August 2023 as an activity of the National Center for Art Research, DEAI Research Lab. conducts research on the concept of DEAI, which has become a global trend, and examines specific methods and requirements for raising the standards of museum accessibility. With participation from outside experts, in FY2023 the lab began to note specific cases and conduct activities to enrich understanding of reasonable accommodation in museums. For more information and explanations of the DEAI Research Lab. and reasonable accommodation, please read the following article: Launch of the DEAI Research Lab. and Reasonable Accommodation.
** ‘Museum(s)’ as used in this article includes not only art museums but also museums of the humanities such as archaeology, history, folklore, and literature museums; natural science museums devoted to natural history and science and engineering; aquariums; zoological and botanical gardens; and archives and memorial museums. This DEAI Research Report series introduces cases studied by lab members.

Introduction

I became involved in museums during my first year at university. Through volunteer activities and then work as a temporary worker at the Sapporo Salmon Museum, I became thoroughly fascinated by the museum as a space, through studying salmon ecology in rivers and the salmon breeding and outreach activities I conducted. Later on, I became based in Tokyo and worked at a natural history museum, and then as an exhibit designer and construction project planner at a national cultural facility. Through these experiences, I founded a small company with the purpose of supporting the learning of all kinds of people involved in museums. Since then, I have conducted workshop planning operations for various national facilities and run training sessions for staff. A turning point came when I was placed in charge of regional cooperation tasks as a Research and Exchange Group Leader and Multicultural Coordinator at the Tamarokuto Science Center (see Note 1). This place was created as a regional centre for five local governments in the northern Tama area of the Tokyo metropolitan area. A project to connect foreigners living in the area with the Science Center was launched in 2019, and I worked as the museum lead, alongside government administrators, universities, support groups, and private citizens. Through this experience, I re-examined what museums can do for regional society and for residents, and gained opportunities to learn. With these experiences in mind, I now conduct activities as an outside supporter, alongside on-site museum staff, while I study as a graduate student in my new home of Okayama.

In this article, I will discuss a hearing that was held with the Okayama Prefectural Museum of Art Senior Curator Okamoto Yuko on that museum’s handling of reasonable accommodation, how on-site staff thought about and engaged with the museum’s responses, and how these activities have been leveraged in facility administration there.

What is the Okayama Prefectural Museum of Art?

The Okayama Prefectural Museum of Art (OPMA) was opened in 1988 (Note 2) with the purpose of collecting and exhibiting outstanding works of art that have a connection to the region. It is an “art museum that creates bonds” through arts and culture, from the present to the past and future, and from Okayama to other countries and regions. The Okayama Art Exhibition, based on the key phrase “Okayama connections,” features works that exemplify the prefectural art museum and gives a true sense of connection with the local area through the collected artworks. The museum also regularly hosts large-scale exhibitions that tour nationwide, gallery talks by curators, and educational outreach programs such as workshops for children.

One thing that characterizes OPMA is the effort that it puts forth in its school-oriented educational outreach programs. Joint school-museum programs began in 1998, and after many twists and turns over the course of 10 years, these efforts led to the founding of the School and Art Museum Joint Project Committee, a permanent organization for coordination. Since 2020, the museum has held annual exhibitions in cooperation with elementary and junior high school educators’ associations in Okayama Prefecture. These exhibits boast the participation of not only elementary and junior high schools of the prefecture, but also special needs schools.

Exterior of the Okayama Prefectural Museum of Art

“Can we go to the art museum?”

What is the first thing you do when you are planning to go to a museum? Perhaps you look at their official website to find out information about when the facility is open, transportation for getting there, the types of exhibits they have, or any events you might be able to take part in. When you go on your own, you can visit when the museum is open and readily make use of its facilities, choosing exhibits or events that do not require a reservation. However, when groups such as school classes want to visit a museum, they need to bring a large number of students all at once, and it takes a lot of energy to arrange the schedule ahead of time and confirm methods of transportation and so on. This is all the more true when bringing in students from special needs schools, who sometimes have various needs including special equipment; even just the advance consultations involve more hurdles than they do for other groups. Those at the school or facility start off with inquiries that include certain thoughts: Can we get the museum to accept us? Can we even go there in the first place? Can we get their support?

Here, I will present real examples of handling reasonable accommodation at OPMA, in line with processes discussed at the DEAI Research Lab.
An after-school day service contacted the museum about a group visit. This service is attended by users who need diverse types of considerations and have various types of disabilities including physical, intellectual, and developmental disabilities. I will explain this process in three stages:


1. Details of the Problems/Demands of People with Disabilities and Supporters
2. Dialogue between Museums and People with Disabilities and Supporters
3. Content Ultimately Implemented through Mutual Agreement


1. Problems/Demands
The day service manager requested that the group enter the building all at once, if possible, because there would not be enough aides on hand when they would enter and leave the building.
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2. Dialogue
・Because the existing elevator would only fit one wheelchair user and one aide at a time, it would be difficult to have them enter through the museum’s entryway and elevator.
・When using wheelchair-accessible taxis at the entrance to enter the museum, there are level changes, and some distance involved. There is also no roof on that section, which would make it difficult to move about in the event of rain.
After exchanging views with the day service manager, we had a few meetings to arrange how to handle things in the best way possible.
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3. Mutual Agreement
・Museum staff arranged things within the museum ahead of time, confirming plans for other group visits and museum facility usage plans. In addition, involved staff were notified of this information ahead of time.
・In order to allow for children with diverse considerations, such as wheelchair use and difficulty walking, to enter the building all at once, they used the truck entrance side instead of the main entrance.
The day service manager was satisfied that they were able to enter all at once, relieving some of the burden of transport.

Expanding the Circle of Understanding in Museums

In order for people with disabilities to safely enjoy a museum, the museum managers need to understand how to respond appropriately, but the full knowledge and cooperation of all museum staff is indispensable.
For example, in some cases, it will not be possible for all wheelchair users to take the elevator at the same time if they are using the elevator typically used for transportation. Cases like these can be handled by using a service entrance or commercial elevator so that everyone can travel at the same time, but arrangements need to be made with the museum ahead of time.
The most important thing is that not only the curators and administrative staff at the museum, but the reception staff that directly receives visitors, monitors in the exhibition rooms, security guards, and resident volunteers are fully notified about the visit. Rather than having many of the museum staff give special treatment to users that need some kind of support, this will lead to creating an environment in which they look after the visitors as a part of their regular duties.
The following is an anecdote I heard at OPMA. A person with visual impairment requested that an art museum staff member look at the paintings with him/her because he/she usually went to appreciate works of art with help from a family member, but that day his/her family was unavailable. In this case, a volunteer handled the request. Afterward, that person visited the museum alone, and enjoyed the artworks together with volunteers. In this way, I believe that it is ideal for the entire museum to be able to meet visitor requests and offer a warm reception at any time.

Responding to Each Individual Leads to Creating Spaces in Which More People Can Participate

Reasonable accommodation is made according to individual requests, but these can spark the creation of new education programs. For 10 years, OPMA has been hosting field trips for students who attend a school for the blind. This has led to curators and teachers at the school repeatedly reflecting on the content of these activities, and producing tactile images (Note 3) and artworks that can be touched (Note 4). These past accomplishments have also led to the Workshop in the Dark (Note 5) (see two photos), still hosted by OPMA, which is open to anyone regardless of whether or not they have visual impairment. These kinds of programs may become opportunities to learn a fresh mindset, beyond disabilities. Furthermore, I think that the museum’s programs are a chance to take note of “microaggressions (Note 6)” that we may be committing towards people with disabilities without knowing it.

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  Photo from “Workshop in the Dark: Touch, Create, Observe”
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  Photo from “Workshop in the Dark: Touch, Create, Observe/Stone and Dry Lacquer”

Conclusion

Through this research, I learned that, although museums are spaces that anyone can use, the act of visiting a museum itself is something that may cause hesitation for people with disabilities. To help improve this situation, curators at OPMA who receive inquiries currently work alongside school or facility managers to encourage understanding at the museum while considering how to best handle each situation and implement reasonable accommodation. I also found out that responding to these situations has led to new ideas that are being developed into universal programs.
Museum staff want every type of user to have a nice time as much as possible, and they think about what they can do to make that happen, and work on these challenges day by day. Nevertheless, the number of people who are aware that museums offer reasonable accommodation is probably still low among the general public. We need to let all the people involved in schools and social welfare facilities know that people with diverse issues who struggle with not being able to go to a museum actually can use these spaces in a format somewhat close to what they wish for, if they just consult with the museum about it.
If someone you know is hesitating to visit a museum, why not ask him/her if he/she would like to start by discussing it with the museum? Small nudges from each person can turn into a whole range of possibilities.


Notes
1） Tamarokuto Science Center https://www.tamarokuto.or.jp （viewed 2024.2.18）
See the following for information on the Multicultural Cohesion Project:
https://www.tamarokuto.or.jp/blog/rokuto-report/2020/04/27/tabunka/ （viewed 2024.3.27）
2）Okayama Prefectural Museum of Art
https://okayama-kenbi.info（viewed 2024.2.18）
See the following book for more information on joint programs with schools for people with blind:
Okamoto Yuko “Chapter 1. Planning Educational Programs through Dialogue: Based on Joint Programs between an Art Museum and a School for the Blind” Kind Museums to Human: New Developments of Universal Museums, Hirose Kojiro, editor, Seikyusha （2016） p.36-49
3） “Tactile images” are those in which the elements depicted in a work are replaced with dots, lines, and surfaces, and expressed with textures so that they can be understood through touch.
4）Okamoto Yuko “New Developments Using Tactile Images?!” UNIVERSAL MUSEUM: Exploring the New Field of Tactile Sensation, National Museum of Ethnology compilation, Hirose Kojiro, editor (2021) p.182-185
5）Okamoto Yuko “Praxis Report on ‘Workshop in the Dark: Touch, Create, Observe’” Art Museum News No. 138 (2022)
https://okayama-kenbi.info/kenbi/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/138.pdf（viewed 2024.2.18）
6） “Microaggressions” are unintentional offenses that people in the majority unconsciously commit towards those in the minority, through words, etc.
According to the definition given by multicultural cohesion education expert Watanabe Masayuki, microaggressions are “words and actions that are usually hidden in our minds, that cause psychological damage to the person on the receiving end because they include messaging that is hostile, slanderous or disavowing, that slights or insults the targeted person or group, regardless of whether the speaker intended to discriminate against or harm someone.”
https://www.nippon-foundation.or.jp/journal/2023/89893/education （viewed 2024.3.19）

All photos provided by the Okayama Prefectural Museum of Art

Editorial Support: Yonezu Itsuka