Social Inclusion

A social inclusion policy within a gallery or museum is primarily about reconnecting marginalised people with local services and opportunities, and ensuring that the multiple issues associated with personal problems and circumstances continue to be addressed. A social inclusion policy means a commitment to finding out which approaches are most successful.

As with cultural diversity, in the context of exhibitions for touring, questions of social inclusion can be considered both by the venue receiving an exhibition and by the organisation producing the exhibition to tour.

The host venue needs to consider social inclusion/ exclusion levels and problems within its own local population, while for the exhibition producer, social inclusion questions might be highlighted by the subject of or associated themes that can be drawn from the exhibition, or it may be an exhibition that lends itself particularly to participative educational or interpretation work, which can be especially valuable for organisations working with socially-excluded groups. For both parties, understanding the needs of the local population and the priorities of the venue, and understanding the opportunities for sensitive engagement offered by an exhibition, will allow more thoughtful selection of an exhibition to host.

Suggested contacts for possible partners:

• Community Safety Partnerships www.gov.uk/government/publications/community-safety-partnerships-contact-details
• Career Connect [https://www.careerconnect.org.uk/]
• Drug Action Team (DAT) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drug_action_team
• Youth Offending Team (YOT) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Youth_Offending_Team
• Age UK; other age-related charities.
• Homeless charities and resettlement projects
• Housing Associations

Other contacts include the police, sports clubs, schools and the Social Services and Youth Services of the local authority, and other arts and cultural organisations working with similar audience groups with whom you might collaborate to provide better or more consistent provision for those people.

• Abilities and skills of staff play an important role in attracting and keeping disadvantaged people involved in projects, as well as in supporting the development of the groups
• Ambassador schemes – where individuals from the community are introduced to the organisation and involved in its decision-making – have also proved successful in reaching new audiences, particularly when run in partnership with local community-based organisations. These schemes have enabled trust to be built up between the community and the venue
• Prepare all gallery staff for the visit, including front-of-house; introduce the group of visitors to the attendants who can give their names and what their role is in the gallery
• Handling materials are particularly useful: perhaps a selection of up to four key works that could have extended labels in larger print and simple language or perhaps tour an exhibition with these labels as part of the show or with labels in other languages e.g. Urdu or Punjabi
• Keep the sessions informal and approachable in order to get the group used to the gallery environment
• Relationships will need to develop slowly over time. Do not be put off by a quiet, seemingly unresponsive first session with a group
• Get to know the group on its own ground, including team-leaders and carers
• Build on work that it is already doing, but give it an extra dimension by bringing a specialist, e.g. an artist working with digital photography, if the group has used digital cameras
• Invite the group to the gallery, taking care to brief the staff to be helpful and welcoming
• Develop a project which is personal to the group, with definite objectives for each individual to work to, e.g. an exhibition. Include an interactive element to a touring show giving each venue a lead for the staff to work with, e.g. a purpose-built prop in the gallery space to be decorated by the group within the theme of the exhibition or an interactive ‘learning table and chair space’, especially designed for placing within the exhibition for the perusal of related books, journals, note taking, comments etc.

Make the opening an event that helps to bolster pride in their work and boosts their self-esteem. The benefits to the gallery or museum are possible appointments of new co-ordinators/outreach officers, staff training and development and local partnership funding. Gallery staff will develop their abilities to be patient and tolerant, to engage, empathise and motivate and to deal with challenging behaviour and situations. They will also become more aware of the needs of each target group and the work and expertise of their partners, and might be able to access other resources and facilities.

Author: William Brown (2015)