The Exhibitions Group Launches Grant Scheme to Boost Accessibility

This article was first published by The Exhibitions Group.

The Exhibitions Group has today launched a new pilot grant scheme, offering its members the chance to secure up to £4,000 to improve access to exhibitions across the UK for disabled people. 

The pilot – named the ‘Access to Exhibitions Grant Scheme’ – will help to advance accessibility for the exhibitions sector and aligns with the charity’s mission ‘to empower everyone in exhibitions to create relevant, sustainable, diverse and accessible exhibitions’. 

Despite progress in some areas, there remains significant evidence that arts and cultural organisations in the UK are failing many people who face disabling barriers – both in terms of audience access and workforce access.  

recent survey by All In found that 7 out of 10 disabled people struggle to find clear accessibility information about cultural events; that disabled visitors are nine times more likely to struggle with booking tickets online; and that 38% of disabled people report missing cultural events altogether due to ‘accessibility uncertainty’. 

According to Unlimited – an arts‐funding initiative for disabled artists and disabled-led work – if disabled people make up ~23% of the working-age UK population then arts organisations should aim for similar representation in staffing, programming and leadership – but they do not.