INARTdis: Promoting Inclusive Art and Accessible Culture

The Centre for Studies and Research for an Inclusive Society (CERSIN) at the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB) led the INARTdis project, a Europe-wide initiative that promotes accessible art and culture for people with and without disabilities. The project, coordinated by the UAB and presented at the National Museum of Art of Catalonia (MNAC), aims to promote social inclusion through art and collaborative artistic creation.

Josep Maria Sanahuja, lecturer in the Department of Applied Pedagogy and director of CERSIN at the UAB, highlights the importance of this project as a means of giving a voice to all people, regardless of their training, and promoting the interrelation between the educational and cultural spheres. For his part, Josep Serra, director of the MNAC, underlines the priority of putting the visitor at the centre of the museum and the relevance of applying the results of the project to new exhibitions and installations.

The INARTdis project has brought 32 socio-educational institutions into contact with 34 European artistic and cultural institutions, promoting collaborative artistic creation. This collaboration has culminated in the creation of the guide "Building Inclusive Cultural Spaces", a document that helps cultural institutions to assess their level of inclusion. In addition, the project has resulted in a documentary entitled "We come to create. Cultural institutions for everyone", which explores the creative processes that have taken place in the six venues of the INARTdis project in different European countries. This documentary, made by Cecilia Barriga, highlights the importance of inclusive and participatory artistic creation.

In Catalonia, more than 150 people from 12 educational and socio-educational centres, as well as cultural institutions such as the MNAC, the DHub and the National Theatre of Catalonia, have actively collaborated in this project. The INARTdis project has highlighted the importance of art as a means to promote social inclusion and diversity in cultural and educational spaces.

This project, which began in 2020 and concludes this November, has been a paradigmatic example of how the arts can be a powerful tool for social inclusion and participation, helping to remove barriers and create more accessible spaces for everyone.