Beyond barriers. A guide for analyzing the accessibility of cultural places

Available online "Beyond barriers. Compass for the analysis of accessibility of cultural places" , an operational tool for self-analysis and self-assessment of levels of accessibility and inclusion for cultural places, developed by the National School of Heritage and Cultural Activities with Antonella Agnoli and Maria Chiara Ciaccheri within the program Personeper. Accessibility in cultural places.
The publication is designed to help museums, archives, libraries, and archaeological parks map their barriers: not only the visible ones - physical, sensory, cognitive, cultural, economic - but also the invisible ones, of a strategic, organizational, and decision-making nature, which can equally compromise full accessibility.

The Compass comes from the experience of Beyond barriers, a series of workshops conducted with the staff of four cultural institutions — the State Archive of Venice, the MeMo Montanari Media Library of Fano, the MACRO Museum of Contemporary Art of Rome, and the Archaeological Park of Gabii — and from an international review of similar tools.

Each barrier is analyzed not only in its immediate and tangible manifestation, but also in the organizational and decision-making conditions that produce it and make it persistent over time: this allows to distinguish between episodic problems and structural criticalities that require more complex responses. The tool is valid regardless of the institution's size — from a large state museum to a small civic library — and does not require specific technical skills, but the willingness to look at one's institution with eyes different from the usual ones. It works better when used by multiple people with different roles, because barriers are rarely visible from a single viewpoint.

The Compass is divided into six sections: an overview of the theme of cultural accessibility and the objectives of the tool; a self-analysis proposal common to all types of institutions; variants and in-depth analysis by type; a section dedicated to small institutions; guidelines on how to read and use the results; some operational suggestions.

The product completes the set of tools that the program Personeper. Accessibility in cultural places delivers to cultural professionals: the editorial series in three volumes "Personeper. Towards accessible cultural institutions", published by Nomos editions; the reprint, revised and corrected of "Good practices of first reception for museum staff. Brief guide to accessibility", revised and corrected in light of recent regulatory changes and reprinted by popular demand; the podcast Don’t touch! curated by Giovanna Brambilla