We have been gradually removing barriers that might prevent people from exploring the city and its architecture. Thanks to our collaboration with a number of partners and, newly, thanks to the financial support from Open House Europe and the European Union, we were able to offer a program that focused on accessibility and inclusion. Aside from the now traditional special tours for visitors with visual and hearing disabilities, we also organized a discussion on accessibility of the city, a workshop focused on physical accessibility of buildings, and an interactive city game titled Open Senses.
For the seventh time, people with hearing disabilities could visit selected buildings on the weekend. In collaboration with the Institute of Deaf Studies, Charles University and the Czech Union of the Deaf, we offered six tours with Czech Sign Language translation. Simultaneous transcription was also provided for visitors who cannot use sign language. These tours took place at the House of Agricultural Education, historical building of the National Archives, Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Czech Republic, Liechtenstein Palace, Eliška Pešková Creative House, and Vila Lanna. In total, 44 registered visitors attended these tours.
For the fifth time, the festival also offered tours for visitors with visual disabilities guided by trained volunteers. These tours took place in six buildings – Electrical Enterprises Prague – Bubenská 1, Mama Shelter Prague, ARA Palace, Strahov Monastery, Sokol Gymnasium in Vinohrady, and Troja Chateau. Around 50 visitors with visual disabilities attended these tours. The tours also included tactile plans and urban maps of the buildings and their surroundings, provided – as usual – by the Teiresias Centre at Masaryk University (Support Center for Students with Special Needs) and ELSA at the Czech Technical University (Support Center for Students with Special Needs), including necessary professional consulting.
SONS ČR (Czech Blind United) provided route descriptions and means of transportation between buildings. We also used 3D models of buildings that were designed and printed in the past by students of the Faculty of Arts and Architecture, Technical University of Liberec, and we also provided a new model of the Sokol Gymnasium in Vinohrady. Volunteer tour guides of these special tours were trained by professionals from the Teiresias Center and ELSA. For the first time, double factsheets in braille were also available in the buildings. We thank our partners for the professional collaboration.
Thanks to our extended collaboration from last year with Rytmus – od klienta k občanovi, z.ú., we were able to also engage people with intellectual disabilities in the volunteer program. With the help of assistants, ten clients were able to help us coordinate traffic in the buildings and try out direct communication with visitors and social interactions while experiencing the magic of community sharing. This collaboration was also a beneficial experience for members of the organizing team and other volunteers.
As part of the accompanying program, we held a discussion during the week titled Otevřeně o Praze: Město přístupné všem (“Openly About Prague: A City Accessible for All”), where we discussed how the capital could be open and accessible for all citizens. The discussion aimed to point out various barriers in our city and suggest solutions and show examples of good practice. Held in the wheelchair-accessible hall of building A at Hybernská Campus, the panel discussion was attended by: anthropologist Blanka Klimešová (Pěšky městem initiative), geographer Karolína Klímová (transportation department at Prague City Hall), methodologist of accessibility for people with hearing disabilities Kateřina Pešková (Deaf Friendly), social geographer Michaela Pixová (Department of Sociology at the Faculty of Social Sciences, Charles University), and Czech Sign Language teacher, translator, interpreter, and leader of the deaf community Petr Vysuček (Deaf Friendly). Hosted by Michal Šedivý, the discussion was interpreted into Czech Sign Language and simultaneous transcription was also provided. Estav.cz acted as the media partner.
Registered attendees could join the seminar Fyzická přístupnost akce (“Physical Accessibility of Events”) held as part of the series Jak na přístupnou kulturu (“How to Make Culture Accessible”) in collaboration with Jeden svět, an international festival of documentary films about human rights. The seminar was held at Eliška Pešková Creative House (one of the festival buildings), where the attendees learned from Ema Rónová what to keep in mind before an event, how to mark and describe the area of an event, and what to do on the spot. The seminar aimed for the attendees to map out and try out physical accessibility in a selected building and show solutions that could remove barriers.
What is it like to move around the city when you use a wheelchair or have limited visual abilities? That was the main topic of Open Senses, an interactive city game focused on accessibility of the city for all. The game was organized by students of the Department of Arts Management, Prague University of Economics and Business as part of the festival’s accompanying program. On five check-points placed near the open buildings, visitors could try out the challenges that people with disabilities face daily and experience space from their point of view. The game included fun tasks designed so that players would discover the city space using their senses. After solving the crossword puzzle, attendees received a reward from the game’s partners. The game was popular among all generations, especially families with children. In total, 200 rewards were claimed.
On Saturday, the Center for Architecture and Urban Planning (CAMP) held a special tour of the premises, which serve as the main office of the Prague Institute of Planning and Development, with Czech Sign Language interpretation and simultaneous transcription. In the afternoon, an accessibility coordinator was present on site who disclosed to visitors what measures can be taken to make cultural institutions accessible for as many people as possible. On Sunday, CAMP had tactile plans and a model of the building available for visitors with visual disabilities, and there were also tour guides who introduced these visitors to the architecture of the premises and the activities of the center.
Visual Stories 2024
In late 2023, we – alongside Open House Barcelona – became a new partner organization of Open House Europe. Co-financed by the European Union, the project connects 12 cultural organizations across the continent – Open House in Athens, Bilbao, Brno, Dublin, Essen, Stockholm, Lisbon, Slovenia, Milan, Tallinn, Thessaloniki, and Vilnius. The project aims to promote quality architecture in Europe and engage the public in a discussion about the city and its construction development with regards to sustainability. In 2024, accessibility and inclusion was the main theme, which was reflected in the diverse offer of accompanying activities of all organizers. The topic of accessibility was also reflected in the international open call for Visual Stories 2024. Required to reflect the festival experiences of visitors, submitted works could have any artistic visual form – a film, a photo, or a drawing. We have selected works of three female authors.
The accessible program was made possible thanks to the support of:
