Washington, DC, 5/20/2003 - - The American Association of Museums (AAM) will honor the Metropolitan Museum of Art with the 2003 Museum Accessibility Award on Tuesday, May 20, during AAM’s 2003 Annual Meeting in Portland, Oreg.

The Museum Accessibility Award recognizes an American museum that has made an outstanding contribution to improving accessibility for people with disabilities by using the principles of universal design in its programmatic or structural accommodations. Awarded to institutions by AAM and the National Organization on Disability (NOD), the Accessibility Award promotes full accessibility and diversity in museums. The citation carries a $1,000 cash award donated by Aetna, Inc.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art is being honored for its Picture This! workshops, a museum program designed for people with visual impairments. Embracing the principles of universal design, the workshops focus on part of the permanent collection or a special exhibition and include a wide range of accessible and engaging elements, such as descriptive guided tours, handling artworks and artists’ materials, tactile pictures, and art activities. Now a monthly program, it was initiated following the success of two pilot workshops in 2001 and 2002.

The first pilot workshop was a handling session offered in conjunction with the “Fifth Annual Lighthouse at the Met” concert and the “A Century of Design, Part III” exhibition. Handling sessions use objects from the museum’s Touch Collection, a variety of artworks from the permanent collection as well as casts and high-quality reproductions. Visitors are able to touch and hold these special collection objects, which are similar to those on display.

A second pilot workshop was offered in 2002 in conjunction with the Lighthouse concert and an exhibition tilted “Benjamin Brecknell Turner: Rural England through a Victorian Lens.” That workshop included a descriptive guided tour of the exhibition followed by a photography demonstration by Shooting Blind, a New York-based collaborative of visually impaired photographers.

In August 2002 the museum began the regular series with a Picture This! workshop showcasing the “Thomas Eakins” exhibition. The most recent workshop was centered around the popular exhibition, “Manet/Velázquez: The French Taste for Spanish Painting.” As with the pilot programs, each workshop features a mixture of engaging activities to complement the exhibition or permanent collection objects it highlights.

Capacity crowds at all of the Picture This! workshops are a testament to the quality of the programs and the need for regular scheduled activities for visually impaired visitors. Workshop participants are asked for feedback at each session and have helped improve the program. To ensure that it reaches out to the widest possible audience, the museum works with community organizations that serve people with visual impairments.

In addition to its Picture This! workshops, the Metropolitan Museum of Art also is recognized for its ongoing commitment to making all of its programs and services accessible to everyone, including people with physical, sensory, and developmental disabilities.

The Access Coordination section of the Met’s Education Department aims to ensure the highest level of accessibility to the museum’s events, information, collections, and building. Staff accomplish this by developing programs for visitors with disabilities, ensuring access accommodations at all museum events, and providing information and advice to all museum departments.

AAM strongly supports museums’ efforts to be accessible to the entire community. AAM is proud to partner with the National Organization on Disability in this effort and is grateful for the financial support for the Museum Accessibility Award given by Aetna, Inc.

As the national service organization representing the American museum community, the American Association of Museums addresses the needs of museums to enhance their ability to serve the public. AAM disseminates information on current standards and best practices and provides professional development for staff to ensure that museums contribute to public education in its broadest sense and protect and preserve our cultural heritage. Since its founding in 1906, AAM has grown to more than 15,800 members, including over 10,000 museum professionals and trustees, 2,300 corporate members, and nearly 3,000 museums.

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