In November 2019, BOP was invited by British Council Brazil and Instituto Tomie Ohtake to attend the 6th International Congress of Education and Accessibility in Museums and Galleries.
The congress hosted representatives from museums and galleries from countries all over the world, including France, Mexico, Spain, Japan. Happening in Sao Paulo from 27th – 30th November 2019, a variety of workshops, discussions, round table talks and creative, happened in different cultural organisations within the city. The activities that we contributed to included:
- A 30-minute presentation from Mairi and Michelle looking at Participation and Representation of New Audiences, held at Itaú Cultural.
- A three-hour workshop delivered by Mairi, Michelle and Callum, focussing on what actions cultural organisations and artists can take to make their organisations more accessible to working with disabled people, held at Tomie Ohtake.
- Michelle was interviewed by Claudio Rubino (Culture and Participation Department, Tomie Ohtake) as part of their webseries Corpos Divergentes (Divergent Bodies)
In addition to the events that BOP was directly involved with, we attended talks presented by other organisations invited to the congress that explored how different cultural insititutions from across the world approach accessibility.
Michelle and Callum were able to participate in a two-hour workshop lead by the theatre collective O Grão, exploring the different ways that bodies can interact with different stimuli.
Mairi and Callum were invited on a tour of the Memorial of Resistance in which they showcased the different materials they have developed to make their permanent collection more accessible to visually impaired people and people with learning impairments.
Mairi and Michelle give their presentation at Itau Cultural 
Mairi speaking at the BOP workshop at Tomie Ohtake 
Posing with people who attended the workshop 
Michelle and Mairi speaking through an exercise 
Mairi speaking at the BOP workshop 
An excellent example of some of the many great accessible features of the city – this one to be found in the airport at baggae reclaim. 
Posing with Paula in front a graffiti mural of a peacock – almost a bird of paradise 😉 
Michelle and Callum posing with the team who took part in the workshop from O Grão 
Taking a break after having been round the art gallery Pinacoteca do Estado de São Paulo 
Listening intently to a speaker using the Portuguese to English headsets 
Out to dinner with Paula, Juliane and Cristina from British Council Brazil 
The subway is also incredibly accessible, with lots of clearly marked level access routes from street level through to the carriage. 
A glass of complimentary wine on top of São Paulo’s tallest building, Edifício Itália