Oglethorpe University is committed to diversity, equity and inclusion. The Oglethorpe University Museum of Art (OUMA) embraces DEI with a particular focus on accessibility.
What Makes OUMA Accessible?
- Convenient ADA Entrance Access to the museum is available at the rear door of Lowry Hall, adjacent to visitor parking, with wayfinding to the elevators to the 3rd floor. Stairwells are open.
- Clear Signage Exhibition labels are feature sans serif font, with high contrast and large type, QR codes, and are placed low enough to be easily seen.
- Accessible Inside The galleries offer up lights that are adjustable in both brightness and adjust to warm or cool light; wide travel areas; wheelchairs available to borrow; comfortable gallery seating; ADA restrooms.
- Inviting Programming
- 5-Minute-Museum – Brings a museum visit directly to your phone or tablet every week
- Lectures – Open to the public and recorded
- Videos – Always captioned
- Interpreters – ASL and/or DCI interpreters can be provided with 2 weeks’ notice
- Touch Tours – Provided upon request
- Museum to You – Lectures into area retirement communities
- General Admission – Free
- Virtual Museum For those who cannot visit in person, OUMA has access to current major exhibitions via 360-degree, high-definition imaging of the museum. This imaging is redone with every new installation, a minimum of three times yearly.
- Sensory and Meditation Rooms In collaboration with neurodiverse and other disabled students and faculty at OU and with the support of the Student Government Association, OUMA is developing a meditation room and a sensory room within the Rubin Gallery. Estimated completion date is spring 2023.
- OUMA Celebrates Disability Culture! OUMA has a history of exhibitions of artwork by disabled artists and in support of disability history and life and is continuing to expand exhibition programs. OUMA supports students/faculty/staff in their own access needs providing, for example, testing areas for those with accommodations and student club support. We are also developing community partnerships with Deaf organizations in metro Atlanta, and connecting with The Ikouii Creative, which celebrates and promotes the work of disabled artists in the U.S. and worldwide.
Why Promote Accessibility?
With any increase and improvement in accessibility, everyone benefits—including those who are not currently living with a difference in ability. After all, with these changes “all boats rise.” At OUMA, we strive to be radically welcoming and, in that spirit, we welcome your comments and suggestions for continued improvement.
Contact
For inquiries, please contact OUMA Director Elizabeth Peterson Jennings at [email protected]. Office: 404-364-8559.
Peterson has been involved in museum disability advocacy since 1997 at MoMA in NYC. She has worked with VSA CT and VSA GA (now Art InCommunity), and exhibited the work of disabled artists both in the northeast and southeast. She is driven by family and personal life and long experience with difference and disability. Peterson is the sister of a sibling with mental illness, an adoptive and foster mother of children with multiple disabilities, and a CODA (Child of a Deaf Adult).