TheMuseum of Art & Photography (MAP) is a new museum that has recently opened in the heart of Bangalore. On February 18th, MAP launched a week-long celebration both in the digital and physical realm with our annual festivalArt is Life: New Beginnings.
MAP’s mission is to democratise the arts by making them accessible to the widest possible audience. With the help of our accessibility partner, the Mphasis F1 Foundation, MAP is able to place accessibility at the centre of all our endeavours. As the Director of MAP, I am happy to see the organisation define its identity as a modernising force in terms of accessibility and inclusion.

Physical space and its features

MAP has taken a 360-degree approach to accessibility right from the outset. The Museum building has been planned as an inclusive space, and this is reflected in its structure as well as its interiors. The HDFC Ltd. Learning Centre and the Mazumdar-Shaw Auditorium are equipped with hearing loops that help with the sound quality for those who use hearing aids.

Our full-time inclusion manager is the first point of contact for accessibility queries and helps identify gaps at MAP.

Digital offering

As a digital-first museum, MAP has ensured its website is compliant with WCAG.AA guidelines. Most of the video series and digital events we offer online have Indian Sign Language interpretation.

MAP features on the Bloomberg Connects app with a thoughtfully curated museum guide, which is currently live. The guide offers content about exhibitions, such as audio guides and artwork descriptions; an overview of the MAP collection with well-researched writeups about the artworks; video learning series and a summary about MAP’s partnerships and events.

The app offers the lookup-by-number feature which can be used to read artwork descriptions by keying in the number displayed on the labels. MAP’s guide is inclusive in use, as the content is carefully crafted for people with disabilities to access and learn and is translated in 25 languages including our local language, Kannada.

MAP Content

Our effort is to ensure that our exhibitions and events can be enjoyed by the widest possible audience. We currently offer audio guides for two of the main exhibitions – Visible/Invisible: Representation of Women through the MAP Collection and Time and Time Again. The audio guides were live tested by people with disabilities and their feedback was incorporated into the audio guides that are now live on the Bloomberg Connects app.

Madiya and Madin tactile response created by Artist Gurjeet Singh, Image captured by Monica Kulkarni

MAP’s permanent exhibition Visible/Invisible has six selected tactile artworks for people with visual disability to better understand the type of material and shapes of the objects.

HR activities at MAP

The HR department at MAP is focused on inclusive hiring practices, an open door policy, safe working environment, good employee benefits including benchmarked compensation, inter-departmental learning, medical benefits and performance-based growth opportunities. We strictly follow all necessary compliances mandated by the statute. We regularly conduct disability sensitisation and inclusion best practices training for our teams.

A career in the arts is an opportunity that must be open to meritorious candidates, without discrimination. We launched an internship programme exclusively for individuals with disabilities, and we are currently in the third phase of this very successful programme. The call for applications invites individuals with disabilities who were interested in starting a career in the arts across all teams at MAP. We welcome applicants who are interested in joining various departments, and select successful candidates based on their commitment to pursuing a career in the arts, their genuine willingness to learn and the requirements of the teams at that time. We know we are on a steep learning curve when it comes to making art organisations more accessible in India and we hope to inspire other institutions to take a similar approach.Produced by the Rereeti Foundation, the report that we are about to launch, will offer the entire sector, best practice guidelines that have been created after conducting surveys and in person conversations with people with disabilities. The findings are being compiled in a comprehensive report, soon to be launched and publicly shared.

About the Author

Director of MAP, Kamini Sawhney. Image courtesy: Orange & Teal

Kamini Sawhney, Director of the Museum of Art & Photography (MAP), Bangalore, India, has brought together a young, inspired team that is focused on creating a new museum experience for audiences in India. In leading this founding team, Sawhney has helped shape a vision for MAP that seeks to inspire people to interact with art in ways that encourage humanity, empathy and a deeper understanding of the world we live in.