Putting It All Together
Principles of an Accessible Creative Practice
This list of "Principles of an Accessible Creative Practice" is inspired heavily by both the Principles of Universal Design and Sins Invalid's 10 Principles of Disability Justice. Many of these points solidify topics covered throughout this guide. They aim to go beyond just a "checkbox list" approach to accessibility and instead provide artists with a framework that can accommodate many different circumstances, communities, and environments.
This is a work in progress - Socially Distant Art is in the process to developing these principles through discussions and collaborations with our residents.
Access must center the thoughts, first-hand experiences and needs of Disabled people
Creative approaches to accessibility features should first and foremost serve the needs of those who require them in order to engage with your artwork.
Let Disabled artist and arts workers lead the conversation around Disability experiences, disability culture and access needs within the arts
Disability Justice must be (and is by definition) intersectional
Prioritize working with arts organizations that are Anti-Capitalist, Anti-Rasict and Anti-Colonial
Create and participate in projects and exhibition that have free admission or low cost opportunities for participation and engagement
Remember that your value and the value of your fellow artists is not determined by an ability to produce or perform within traditionally expected timeframes or environments
Hold space for Disabled people in your creative community
Access to community and flexible support
Practice and foster reciprocity within your creative community
Transparency + Resource sharing
Embrace art-making that is iterative and interdependent
Universal Design as a foundation
Multimodal and multisensory
Multiple ways of engagement
Provide equitable and flexible engagement opportunities
Create artwork (exhibition, performance, etc.) that can be experienced by people with diverse abilities and socioeconomic backgrounds
Ensure that your artwork, exhibition, performance or program accommodates a wide range of individual preferences and abilities.
Consider multiple ways of engagement as a foundational part of art making, curation, and/or management
Provide the same means of experience for all: identical whenever possible; equivalent when not.
Avoid segregating or stigmatizing any visitor / viewer
Provide adaptability to the viewers / participants’ pace of engagement
Create simple and intuitive art statements, project instructions, and exhibition guides
Aim for your language to be easy to understand, regardless of the user's experience, knowledge, language skills, or current concentration level.
Eliminate unnecessary complexity in the language your artistic and/or program statements
Be consistent with viewer / participant expectations and intuition.
Accommodate a wide range of literacy and language skills in your exhibition guides