Social accessibility

Different ways of bringing the activities and content of cultural and artistic services closer to people's lives and everyday life will increase social accessibility. For example, an individual cultural operator can visit schools, shopping centres or even sports facilities to tell people about their activities. The way in which activities are communicated can also influence whether the idea of participation feels possible and safe. Whenever the activity is not specifically targeted at a particular group, it is worth communicating that everyone is welcome and that the activity is for everyone.     

Social accessibility is also about friendly and equal customer service. Everyone should be served in a friendly manner and should feel welcome as they are. Defining safer spaces principles together with customers and stakeholders and making them visible in your own facilities, events and communications can enhance the experience of being included as one's own person.     

The content, narratives and stories that are created can have a large and direct impact on whether people feel ownership of the activity. Content that reflects different experiences, for example the perspectives of different minorities, can reinforce the feeling that "it is me" who has been taken into account and that I am a welcome visitor. It is also important that the authors and artists are also people from minorities.

Some municipalities are using tools and instruments to bring cultural services closer to the lives of families with children and schoolchildren, for example through cultural advice centres, cultural education pathways and godparenting, where a born child is godparented by a cultural operator. Cultural operators should take advantage of these opportunities. To find out how to get involved, contact your local cultural producer, for example.   

Be active 

• Ensure that customer service is provided equally to all and that inappropriate treatment is addressed. Train your staff. 
• Emphasise in your communication that everyone is welcome and that the activities you organise are for everyone. 
• Invest in communicating accessibility information about your activities and facilities, as well as the works on display.
• Provide a social story, i.e. a description of a visit to your venue. You can explain in words and pictures how to enter, who to meet and how to act before and during the art experience. 
• You can also create a photo story in advance, i.e. a story in words and pictures about how, for example, the content of the performance unfolds. 
• Organise enough staff to answer visitors' questions and help with practical matters. Staff on site can also actively offer their help. 
• Make sure that staff speak directly to the client, not to an assistant or interpreter. 
• Invest in outreach activities such as artist meetings, talks, workshops and events. 
• Collect feedback in a variety of ways and from a wide range of people. 

Reach out to new audiences and partners 

• Collaborate and plan activities with a wide range of people.
• Include diverse interests in your content and bring out stories from outside the mainstream and hidden.
• Give space and time to creators who have not had it before. Organise open calls and invite and recruit people from different minority groups as creators and facilitators of activities. 
• Provide opportunities to participate in decision making, choices and planning. For example, set up working groups or client councils with people from different minority groups.   
• Support the arts in diverse communities. 
• Invest in different languages, both in communication and in the works - offer works in different indigenous languages, sign language and plain language. Make use of pictorial symbols and supporting signs. Also provide interpretation and subtitling.

Offer flexibility

• Ensure that there is variety in performance and opening times and, where possible, be flexible when requested. 
• Indicate your quietest and busiest times so that people who want to avoid crowds know when to attend. 
• Encourage and facilitate joint participation, for example through reduced group rates and a range of tailored services for groups. 
• Find out if there are volunteer "cultural friends" in your area and get involved. 
• Ensure that your communication and offer reaches people living in institutions and in different parts of the community, for example, and is visible where people move, including in unusual and unexpected environments. 
• Discuss with the artist and the creators whether they could provide assistance in experiencing the work, if needed, and how this would be organised in practice. 

Make it clear that you will not tolerate discrimination 

• Discuss with the workplace and provide training on how to identify and address discrimination, harassment and inappropriate treatment.
• Create concrete guidelines for dealing with discrimination, harassment and inappropriate treatment together with all staff and ensure that these guidelines are always available.
• Make a commitment to prevent discrimination and report it with the Discrimination Free Zone logo. The campaign gives a boost to the fight against discrimination (go to yhdenvertaisuus.fi)
• Emphasise in your communication that everyone is welcome and that discrimination is not tolerated.
• Create a safer space policy together with your customers and stakeholders.