By JOHN DEVLIN and MARTYN McLAUGHLIN
Disabled artists across Scotland have called on venues, curators, and further education bodies involved in the visual arts scene to make widespread improvements around access and representation, with several practitioners warning of a lack of understanding of the barriers facing artists and audiences at cultural spaces.
A new documentary for The Scotsman, filmed and produced by John Devlin, reveals how some physically disabled artists have been unable to attend venues due to a lack of disabled access, and left feeling “unwelcome” due to the restrictions in place. They have questioned whether organisations unable to stage accessible exhibitions should continue to receive public funding, and warned the knock-on effect of a lack of representation could discourage young disabled Scots from pursuing a career in the arts.
The issues around accessibility and representation have flared up ahead of the upcoming Glasgow International festival of contemporary art. The programme for the prestigious biennial event includes an exhibition at the Celine Gallery, located on the the third floor of a tenement building in the city’s southside, accessible only by three flights of stairs. One artist, Penny Anderson, described that decision as “wrong.”
The Glasgow-based artist and sculptor, who has multiple sclerosis, said it was unclear who, if anyone, was responsible for ensuring such exhibitions were accessible, and was left frustrated after raising the issue with Glasgow Life, councillors in the city, and Creative Scotland.
Under the Equality Act 2010, art galleries are required to make “reasonable adjustments,” if asked, to ensure that disabled people can use its services. Ms Anderson said the legislation should be followed by Glasgow International. “They have to make reasonable adjustments to allow inclusion, and I think a reasonable adjustment is only including accessible galleries,” she explained.”
Ms Anderson told The Scotsman the accessibility issues went beyond any one gallery, and said there was a widespread lack of knowledge across the sector about how to include disabled artists and visitors. “They don’t understand the different levels of mobility impairment of physical disability,” she added. “I’ve had people say, ‘But we’ve got a ramp’. Ramps make my life even harder. What I need is stairs and a handrail. Even if you have a ramp, wheelchairs might not be able to use the ramp, and I think people think they know, and just assume they know, but they don’t actually ask disabled people.”
Ruth Mutch, an illustrator, who is autistic and has Hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos syndrome - a condition that affects the joints, causing hypermobility, digestive problems and joint pain as well as extreme fatigue - echoed Ms Anderson’s concerns, recounting her experience at college where she was unable to access materials without assistance.
Disabled artists across Scotland have called on venues, curators, and further education bodies involved in the visual arts scene to make widespread improvements around access and representation, with several practitioners warning of a lack of understanding of the barriers facing artists and audiences at cultural spaces.
A new documentary for The Scotsman, filmed and produced by John Devlin, reveals how some physically disabled artists have been unable to attend venues due to a lack of disabled access, and left feeling “unwelcome” due to the restrictions in place. They have questioned whether organisations unable to stage accessible exhibitions should continue to receive public funding, and warned the knock-on effect of a lack of representation could discourage young disabled Scots from pursuing a career in the arts.
The issues around accessibility and representation have flared up ahead of the upcoming Glasgow International festival of contemporary art. The programme for the prestigious biennial event includes an exhibition at the Celine Gallery, located on the the third floor of a tenement building in the city’s southside, accessible only by three flights of stairs. One artist, Penny Anderson, described that decision as “wrong.”
The Glasgow-based artist and sculptor, who has multiple sclerosis, said it was unclear who, if anyone, was responsible for ensuring such exhibitions were accessible, and was left frustrated after raising the issue with Glasgow Life, councillors in the city, and Creative Scotland.
Under the Equality Act 2010, art galleries are required to make “reasonable adjustments,” if asked, to ensure that disabled people can use its services. Ms Anderson said the legislation should be followed by Glasgow International. “They have to make reasonable adjustments to allow inclusion, and I think a reasonable adjustment is only including accessible galleries,” she explained.”
Ms Anderson told The Scotsman the accessibility issues went beyond any one gallery, and said there was a widespread lack of knowledge across the sector about how to include disabled artists and visitors. “They don’t understand the different levels of mobility impairment of physical disability,” she added. “I’ve had people say, ‘But we’ve got a ramp’. Ramps make my life even harder. What I need is stairs and a handrail. Even if you have a ramp, wheelchairs might not be able to use the ramp, and I think people think they know, and just assume they know, but they don’t actually ask disabled people.”
Ruth Mutch, an illustrator, who is autistic and has Hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos syndrome - a condition that affects the joints, causing hypermobility, digestive problems and joint pain as well as extreme fatigue - echoed Ms Anderson’s concerns, recounting her experience at college where she was unable to access materials without assistance.
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NewsTranscript
00:00 [Music]
00:05 My name's Penny Anderson. I'm an artist, a sculptor, based in Glasgow.
00:16 I'm getting increasingly irked and vexed by the fact that there's a lack of representation, inclusivity and access for physically disabled artists.
00:25 You look around the art scene, within Glasgow and out of Glasgow, when you consider the percentage of physically disabled people in the UK, how does that compare to visibility within the art world?
00:39 I just never see work by physically disabled artists and I think there were so few of us, we're easy to ignore.
00:46 There was one artist shown in Dundee and he was from Mexico via Berlin and he was a blind painter. So that's the only one I know of and that's me, apart from me there's no one.
00:58 There must be others who are available to show work but the problem is I spoke to somebody from an arts organisation about where are we all, where are the physically disabled artists?
01:10 And the sad conclusion we came to was there's so few of us because it's so hard. Actually being able to physically make the work is a challenge for me.
01:20 Getting through the door is a challenge for some people who are mobility impaired.
01:24 How many disabled artists did you see in Glasgow practice?
01:29 I've maybe seen one that was years ago but I've never seen anyone else in the colleges or anything.
01:37 Why do you think that is?
01:38 I just don't think they're welcome or it's just not accessible enough for them to be there in the first place.
01:45 Access and even understanding varies from gallery to gallery I would imagine. There'll be good practice and probably not so good practice. Is that your findings?
01:55 Totally. Some galleries really understand the fact that you need to have someone to... there's a gallery in the Gallery of Modern Art in Edinburgh where somebody very quietly walked up and said,
02:06 "Are you okay? Do you need any help?" And I said, "Thank you, that's the only time someone's offered."
02:12 And you don't have to be very loud about it, just discreetly ask. Open the door for people when you can see they're struggling.
02:19 Don't have shiny floors which are my bugbear. Putting your walking stick on the floor should not be thrilling, it shouldn't slip and that is so common in some temporary spaces.
02:30 I think some spaces where they're off the usual beaten track, no one's thought about disability access sometimes.
02:39 My name's Katrina Brown and I'm the Director of the Common Guild which is a visual arts organisation based in Glasgow.
02:45 Katrina, I believe you had a space that wasn't really accessible for physically disabled artists and visitors but you decided to do something about that. Can you tell us what happened?
02:58 We were previously based in a really grand and very beautiful 19th century townhouse up in the Park District which allowed us to do some really exquisite exhibitions and we loved it, lots of people loved it,
03:09 but it became really apparent over time that the access issues in the building were something we just couldn't address.
03:15 We talk about access not just in terms of visitors and public but also in terms of our staff and of course the artists that we work with and the artworks frankly, they need to be brought into buildings as well.
03:26 So it's a multifaceted issue, access for us, and we couldn't really adapt the building where we were based so the only thing we really could do was to move building and that's what we've done.
03:36 We've taken on a temporary space that's got step-free access from street level that allows us to afford full physical access for staff, artists and audiences.
03:45 We made this commitment to make our programme fully accessible, I'd say it was maybe five or even six years ago and we concluded our exhibition programme in the previous premises in 2018 in order to be able to focus on making the change.
03:59 And we have made everything that we've done since accessible by working in different venues, we've worked in different spaces across the city.
04:07 So it takes a while for the message to get through that that's now our programme, there's no physical barriers to accessing the programme.
04:14 We're able to say that both our operational base and our programme are physically accessible which feels like a big achievement.
04:21 Looking at the percentages of physically disabled people in the UK versus the amount of artists, it doesn't seem to add up. Is that your experience?
04:31 Yeah, I think that's a fair assessment. At a surface level it seems to be out of kilter.
04:36 I think what we probably all need to start doing is looking at what's happening in the art schools and what the proportions of people studying fine art are
04:43 to see if there's an issue there with whether the art schools are fully accessible or whether artists with physical disabilities are not drawn to studying those environments.
04:52 I don't have the answer to that but I think it's really healthy that people are beginning to ask those kind of questions and look at what the so-called pipeline is, how we get from student populations through to professional artists.
05:03 And they say, yeah, we've got a disabled toilet, we're disabled friendly, we've got a sign, you see. We welcome disabled people and you go, well then how come you can't get through the door?
05:12 How come the door's so heavy? How come you can't get a wheelchair into the toilet?
05:18 A lot of places are either totally inaccessible or, oh yeah, we're accessible but we've just got to spend 20 minutes hunting for the ramp or whatever.
05:28 So you kind of feel like you're not really welcome sometimes. It's like, well, you're too much hassle.
05:34 They don't understand the different levels of mobility impairment and physical disability.
05:39 I've had people say, but we've got a ramp. Now ramps make my life even harder. What I need is stairs and a handrail.
05:46 And even if you have a ramp, wheelchairs might not be able to use the ramp. And I think people think they know and they just assume they know, but they don't actually ask disabled people.
05:59 It's kind of just like, oh well, if you can get in the building, that's our job done sort of thing.
06:04 There's no thought of how is the actual space accessible or the exhibition itself or the displays.
06:11 There's so many times when there's a table, it's just a little bit too high and I can't kind of see into it.
06:19 And all the items in it are flat. So if they were at a slight angle or if there was a space underneath the table to wheel under, that would just make a huge difference.
06:29 They could ask disabled people what would help with accessibility. Organisations like the Glasgow Disability Alliance, they do do a kind of mystery visits to galleries and museums to see what is working and what is not.
06:45 But I mean, I've done one of these visits myself and I've never seen any changes actually being made. So what's the point in these visits if nothing is actually implemented or altered after them?
06:59 They need to have some sort of consequence for not following them or people just go, oh well, there's no reason for us to do that because there won't be any punishment.
07:09 I'm pretty tough, but there are times when I think I just can't do this, I can't get through the door. And I think, imagine being an aspiring 16 year old artist in a wheelchair and you arrive at a gallery and it's on the third floor with no lift.
07:23 How are you going to feel? You're going to feel that you just aren't wanted. And there's so much talent being lost when that happens. This is the problem. When you do that, you exclude people who are gifted.
07:35 You're up for the art world. Do you feel welcome in that world?
07:39 At times, yes. I was at an event in a transmission and I was the only one in a wheelchair.
08:03 But I felt completely equal.
08:13 The question asked, they took their time with me, listened and I felt on the same level, whereas others talk down to you.
08:39 There's this catch in the law which is reasonable adjustments. As long as they can claim they've done the reasonable amount, then they're off the hook basically and there's no one chasing them up for it.
08:49 Some of them have made differences. I know that Pipe Factory has got a lift in and when I exhibited at Pipe Factory, all of my friends agreed that we wouldn't show work on the second floor because there was only staircases and they all supported me in this. So Pipe Factory I think might be accessible.
09:07 The main thing that annoys me once you actually get in is all the signage seems to have been put up by six foot tall people. It's always absolutely impossible to read. The sign next to the painting saying what it is, I'm kind of craning up to look at it. Why? Tall people can look down to read it. So why is it up there in the first place?
09:31 We are still people and we just need a helping hand.
09:41 Disability friendly, I really hate that phrase. I really don't know what it means. Actually properly inclusive should mean toilets, ramps, handrails, self-opening doors, which so few places have, able to get around the corners. And if you're using an old building, it's hard. So I know people are trying and that is hard. But please don't say you're disability friendly when you're a gallery with a slippery floor, no ramps and no handrails.
10:08 Are you passing this information on to relevant organisers and authorities?
10:14 Yeah, I do pass it on, but often you get, oh, we don't have funding to change anything or, oh, that's just the way it was built. So what can we do about it?
10:23 So, you know, I think it's important to look at it from a different perspective. So, I think it's important to look at it from a different perspective. So, I think it's important to look at it from a different perspective.
10:44 I think we've all got work to do to make sure it's more accessible. I think sending out the signals that we want to have accessible to people with disabilities is really important.
11:09 I think we've all got work to do to make sure it's more accessible. I think sending out the signals that we want to have accessible to people with disabilities is really important.
11:15 One of the challenges, particularly in a city like Glasgow, is so many of the buildings that people love so much, the historic 19th century buildings, are very difficult to make accessible.
11:25 They tend to have staircases, they tend to be listed, and it's quite challenging to work out how access can be afforded to those types of space.
11:33 But I think you see incrementally people beginning to have maybe more imaginative ways about doing that. One of the things we've been doing occasionally is working out in other places.
11:42 We've just done a project where we've worked across ten libraries across the city, and of course the libraries are typically quite accessible because they're there for local communities.
11:50 So just thinking about where work can happen, where artists can be invited to make work, can also make a difference to how accessible it can be.
11:58 You have an issue with an inaccessible gallery that's included in Glasgow International 2024.
12:05 The gallery in particular, the Saline Gallery, now it's three floors up, there's no lift, and the three floors, even the handrails, the banister, there are bicycles chained to it and they can't even hang on to it.
12:17 I didn't realise once how bad it was because they don't say, they refused at the time to say we are not accessible to people with a mobility impairment, let alone in a wheelchair.
12:27 I mean unless you can fly like the Daleks did, you're not going to get up the stairs.
12:32 There's a new director and I met with him and said please can you make it inclusive this year.
12:37 And I thought he meant well, I thought we might have moved on, we might have someone who understands.
12:42 But having met them, they were quite embarrassed when they said it, but they still did it, they've still gone ahead and included as a part of the programme.
12:50 Actually what they're saying is this is not part of the director's main programme.
12:55 And they say our director's main programme will be inclusive.
12:58 But what about the satellite events, which Saline is?
13:01 It's not part of the main programme, but it's still a gallery that's being funded by Creators Scotland and Glasgow Life to exhibit.
13:09 I want to talk about access, I want to talk about Gali Saline.
13:13 I spoke to Penny Anderson who was frustrated that GI have funded an exhibition.
13:21 She can't access it, visitors can't access it, old people can't access it.
13:25 What was the thinking behind funding this exhibition?
13:31 I think what's maybe important to reflect on is that within the history of artist-led activity in Glasgow,
13:41 which is a really amazing history, a really significant history for the city, for the UK more broadly,
13:47 the use of spaces around the city for studios, for exhibitions, for temporary projects, long-term projects, has been a key to that.
14:00 And as we know, in Glasgow, a significant part of the built environment is pre-1960s, pre-20th century.
14:11 So for decades, artists and organisers, and I should mention that in the majority of these cases,
14:22 it's still consistently people doing projects where they're not paid, it's voluntary.
14:27 They're organising projects with their friends, with their peers, with artists that they admire,
14:33 and giving space to those artists, but using spaces that they have access to.
14:39 So their own flats, their own, kind of like, finding temporary spaces that might be available for a short period of time when they're vacant.
14:49 And GI as a festival has always been really rooted in that history.
14:56 It was founded really on wanting to give a platform to that history of artist-led organising in the city.
15:03 So as a festival, we have quite an unusual model.
15:06 We essentially include projects that are organised by arts organisations, artists, artist-led spaces,
15:17 independent curators around the city, alongside projects that we initiate as a curatorial team.
15:24 So that's very important for us to uphold that structure, to continue to platform the work that's happening in the city at that level.
15:35 Have you taken these issues that you have to GI and have they replied?
15:41 Yeah, they have. They said, kind of like, this is not who we are, we'll do better next time.
15:48 We can't find another gallery for, if you can't put the work from Celine, if it's so good, then you can't have the show, surely, if you can't access the gallery.
15:58 This is publicly funded. This is funded by Creative Scotland, who also said it's not their job to police galleries.
16:05 Whose job is it? No one is responsible for making sure.
16:10 I contacted everyone after I found out Celine. I contacted the head of Glasgow Life. I contacted so many counsellors.
16:19 I contacted Creative Scotland. Nobody replied. I didn't get a single reply. They've ignored it.
16:26 I'm actually looking at legal action. I found somewhere that represents disabled people because it's quite hard to find.
16:33 So we'll see how that goes. You can't make threats, hey, I'm going to sue you or anything.
16:38 But I'm going to see what can be done because this is wrong. This is a big wrong that's being done.
16:43 Where does the law stand on this Penny?
16:45 That's the law. I have the right to inclusivity or they have to make reasonable adjustments to allow inclusion.
16:51 And I think a reasonable adjustment is only including accessible galleries.
16:56 Could it not have been considered that maybe the gallery had a pop-up somewhere, especially if it had been publicly funded, just for the duration of GI?
17:07 Yeah, yeah, no, I understand. And that's definitely a conversation that's happened.
17:12 Again, I think it's probably important to speak to to Celine about the reasoning there.
17:18 I think that the space has become part of their identity.
17:22 And I think this is also a significant challenge if we're thinking about what is a DIY art scene in Glasgow.
17:30 And certainly what for us is is GI. We're not a festival that really is solely about presenting artists' work and isolating that artist's work from its context.
17:41 We're a festival that's really focused on also highlighting the amazing organizing work that's going on in the city and the qualities that organizing work has.
17:51 And there are particular spaces in the city for which part of the identity of what they do, part of the way in which they work is tied to a physical space.
18:02 It's the Glasgow miracle. You have an exhibition in your front room and if you're in a tenement and you're on the third floor, I get it, you're going to do it at home.
18:11 But when it's part of a publicly funded event, no, you can't do that. You have to find somewhere else.
18:17 But they casually say, oh yeah, we've got nowhere else, we'll change next year.
18:22 And I'm not being melodramatic and I'm not getting out a violin, but I've got multiple sclerosis.
18:26 Saying we might be able to do this in the future isn't going to help me because I don't know for sure I'll be around.
18:32 I don't think they should get the funding unless they can show that they've at least made an attempt to be accessible
18:40 or put on an exhibition in an accessible venue. If they were told, right, you have to do this, this and this to be more accessible, you won't get the funding anymore.
18:52 If they're not providing access for all, should they be getting as much funding?
19:09 I don't know if that's my place to, yeah, but yeah, it just seems a bit, yeah.
19:23 I don't think it is good enough now in 2023 to think that it's OK for there to be physical barriers for people to publicly funded culture.
19:32 I think we all need to embrace the fact that we're a diverse populace and we should all be able to get equal access to equally high quality culture when we want it.
19:41 People don't protest and there's something called tone policing, which is when someone from a minority disadvantaged group protests,
19:49 more attention is paid to our anger than to the reason why we are angry.
19:54 I think it's partly about visibility, you know, I think, and this is something that artists I know who have physical disabilities are always saying that until we see ourselves in programmes,
20:03 in buildings, in organisations, it's very difficult for some people, not for everyone, but for some people to imagine that that's a path for them.
20:11 You know, I was talking the other day about being a woman in the arts and how when I started out 30 years ago, all of the senior jobs were done by men and that's not the case anymore.
20:20 So things do change, it might not seem like it, but they do change. Hopefully it won't take 30 years.
20:25 I mean, I think the visibility has been there, but it's structurally been really problematic in terms of the number of disabled artists,
20:35 people with disabilities in the industry has been significantly not representative of the kind of people in the population who have physical disabilities.
20:46 So I think there's really a question there for the sector as a whole to address what are the barriers that are in place to people working as artists,
20:56 presenting their work as artists and being involved in organising around art as well.
21:02 So being in the kind of roles that, you know, as curator or working in an organisation,
21:08 there's also real barriers as there are in many other workplaces, but they're significant.
21:14 And I think the awareness has improved a lot in the time that I've been working in the art industry.
21:20 The conversation has been a lot more widespread around disability justice and the cultural sector.
21:27 I think the kind of changes that need to be made are moving too slow.
21:32 I think that's very clear and as they are in society in general.
21:37 But I think that contemporary art, visual arts is a space where there should be leadership being shown.
21:44 And I think that's what is being looked for.
21:47 Now, I think physically disabled artists will be considered equal when a physically disabled artist gets Paul Hamlin funding,
21:56 goes to Venice, has an exhibition in a major gallery, not the self-produced things I've been doing and a lot of people have been doing.
22:04 I guess it sort of runs in parallel to current issues around the environment also, that it can seem a bit overwhelming.
22:10 It can seem like we can't do anything and therefore we'll do nothing.
22:13 But actually if you tackle one thing at a time, which I feel like has been our approach to access,
22:18 that we've managed to make the programme fully physically accessible,
22:22 seems like a small step if you forgive the pun, but it's a really, really important thing to try and do.
22:27 And that maybe piece by piece focus is maybe what helps us get to the bigger picture.
22:32 Do you feel that the visual arts is lagging behind the rest of the arts, with regards to physical disability access issues?
22:42 I think there's some really strong conversations, for instance in the realm of performance and dance,
22:48 that the visual arts sphere has learnt from in recent years and really needs to learn more from.
22:55 That's just my personal experience and other people might have more to say on that and more knowledge about that,
23:03 but that's definitely where I feel we're learning a lot from.
23:07 Mari, what does painting mean to you?
23:09 Everything. It's freedom, it's shape. I just love it.
23:28 I think Creative Scotland are very aware of the need to think about funding structures
23:35 in relation to questions of access, access for artists, access for audiences.
23:42 I feel very confident they're foregrounding that in the work that they're doing.
23:47 I had a meeting with Amanda Cato, the now retired head of visual arts at Creative Scotland,
23:52 and she said that the problems physically disabled artists are facing
23:57 are the same as artists of colour told her they were facing ten years ago.
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