It is our pleasure to launch the National Portrait Gallery’s second Disability Inclusion Action Plan (DIAP). This document will act as our roadmap over the next three years, as we continue to improve the accessibility and inclusivity of our organisation and the exhibitions, programs, events and facilities we provide for our community and staff. It covers onsite, online and outreach work.
Everyone has a right to engage in arts and cultural activities. Eighteen per cent of our population live with disability, and they are represented in our visitors, artists, portrait subjects, staff, volunteers, donors, contractors and other stakeholders. As a National Cultural Institution, our job is to serve the public – we take our responsibility to this seriously and believe our collection is for everyone. Our DIAP is our public commitment to communicate our vision and plan to ensure we are a place where everyone feels welcome and can participate. It outlines specific priority actions, monitoring and reporting approaches which we will be delivering over the next three years.
Our DIAP is focused on the social model of disability, and what we can do to remove barriers that people with disability may experience in being able to engage with us. It builds on the work undertaken during our last DIAP, much of which has now become business as usual. Through our consultation process for this DIAP, we have gained a deeper understanding of issues and barriers impacting on the Gallery’s engagement with people with disability, helping us to identify what is working and what needs to be improved. We would like to thank everyone who contributed to this process – our DIAP is more robust because of this participation.
DIAP actions are spread across all aspects of the Gallery’s operations, to ensure the principles of access and inclusion are embedded throughout our business and that we are taking a whole-of-gallery approach. The DIAP is a living and breathing document and will be regularly monitored, reviewed and updated where required, reflecting a continuous cycle of feedback from and consultation with our stakeholders with disability.
Our staff are committed to working together to make the Gallery a place where people with disability feel welcome and safe to visit, work or volunteer, and where they can also see themselves represented. This work is ongoing, and realising the actions within this DIAP will help us to get there.
Trent Birkett
Acting Director
2023
