Cultural friends event on 15 November at the Turku Art Museum

The Capital of Culture year has increased the accessibility of culture

The accessibility of the Turku Capital of Culture programme has been supported, among other things, by improving the accessibility of the event locations and arranging interpretations and assistants. On Tuesday 15 November, volunteers will take elderly persons to explore the Carl Larsson exhibition.

The Turku 2011 Foundation will organise an event on 15 November at 11 am in co-operation with the Turku Art Museum, ILOA! Action, Turun Lähimmäispalveluyhdistys Association, Turun Seudun Vanhustuki Association and Centre for Assistance Services, where volunteers from each organisation along with cultural friends will take elderly persons to see the Carl Larsson exhibition.

This operations model is part of the Cultural Friend project endorsed by the Ministry of Education and Culture, where trained volunteers ensure safe cultural visits for elderly persons from their home to the destination and back again as well as perform some light assisting tasks when necessary.

The Turku Art Museum, Forum Marinum, Logomo’s Fire! Fire! exhibition, and Turku City Theatre participate in the cultural friend activities in Turku during the pilot year. These cultural destinations offer free entrance for the cultural friends. On the event day of 15 November, the Turku Art Museum also offers free entrance to those participating elderly persons who have been invited.

Active actions for accessibility

Turku was one of the four finalists in the Access City Award competition (2010) organised by the European Union. Active measures in implementing accessibility in Turku have also been emphasised during the Capital of Culture year.

Separate trainings have been organised on the topic in connection with the Turku 2011 programme projects. The projects have been able to borrow accessories from the Turku 2011 Foundation to improve the accessibility of the facilities, such as ramps and induction loops. Accessibility volunteers have been working at Logomo and at various events serving as assistants in the accessible auditoriums of major outdoor events, among others.

In addition, sign language interpretations and written and descriptive interpretations have been arranged for the Capital of Culture year programme. The descriptive interpreting education programme, organised in co-operation with the Turku University of Applied Sciences, was the first education programme in the field in Southwest Finland. The graduates of the programme prepared, as their final work, descriptive interpretations for over ten performances of the Capital of Culture year.

The accessibility of the events can be checked at www.turku2011.fi/en/calendar. The accessibility symbols indicate besides unobstructed access also the availability of possible assistants, induction loop, and sign language or descriptive interpretation. Information about the Capital of Culture events has also been provided monthly to target groups via plain language and sign language newsletters that are also published on the Turku 2011 website.

The Turku 2011 Foundation has been working closely with organisations of the field. One of these is the Threshold Association. The Threshold Association has also been involved in producing programme content for the Capital of Culture year. The musical TaiKa closing festival of the Bridge Builders project entity will be organised at the Turku Volunteer Fire Department building on the International Day of Disabled Persons on 3 December. Signmark and Pertti Kurikan Nimipäivät will perform, among others.

Additional information

Accessibility
Cultural friend activities for the Fire! Fire! exhibition (in Finnish)
Bridge Builders and TaiKa festival
Cultural friend service: Kotikunnas, tel. +358 44 0820 213.
From January 2012, the service will be provided by the Finnish Red Cross/tel. +358 2 232 2063, weekdays 10 am–2 pm.

Pauliina Mäkinen
Project Coordinator
Turku 2011 Foundation
tel. +358 44 907 5707
pauliina.makinen(a)turku2011.fi