The network of Museums AltoVicentino (Museums of the Northern Vicenza Province) – which includes the Civic Museum Palazzo Fogazzaro – started, in 2022 and in collaboration with the Rindola Impresa Sociale Association, a new and important shared project, financed by the Veneto Region, called Easy Welfare. Its goal is to promote policies and projects in favour of healthy, participated and conscious ageing by favouring accessibility to museums for people affected by Neurocognitive Disorder (ND).
The project has involved technical experts, municipal institutions, local associations of people affected by ND and various people operating in the Museum sphere. The goal is to work together on accessibility as a cultural paradigm that involves communities and grows with them, by working on the removal of physical, sensory, cognitive, cultural, emotional and financial barriers, in order to help any user feel part of the cultural experience.
In 2022 the ICOM (International Council of Museums) defined museums as “opened to the public, accessible and inclusive, […] interested in promoting diversity and sustainability.”
The guidelines produced by this work group aim at promoting and spreading a culture of inclusion to build a new idea of active citizenship.
Using special guided tours, activities and itineraries, the Civic Museum Palazzo Fogazzaro is committed to making the museum accessible to everyone, working on various levels to guarantee physical, cognitive and relational accessibility, built on the needs of our visitors.
Thus, the museum and artistic itinerary become tools for cognitive rehabilitation, self-expression and belonging. This way a museum is not just a place of collective memory, but also a place where everyone is welcome.
