QAGOMA's Access programs aim to create lasting connections between visitors with disability, their communities and art. We offer customised programs and tours for visitors with disability, enabling them to experience and learn about art, to explore culture, artist practice and artworks from Australia and around the world.
'Thank you for always providing such intimate and inclusive experiences for everyone, with such kindness and care.' Visitor attending Art and Dementia program
To create meaningful experiences for visitors with disability, QAGOMA’s Access programs endeavour to support inclusive and accessible museum approaches including tactile and sensory engagement and narrated descriptions within enabling environments.
Inclusive tours and accessible programs facilitated by QAGOMA Learning are available for visitors with neurodegenerative disease, the d/Deaf community, visitors with hearing loss, people with low and no vision, and audiences with sensory sensitivity and other disability.
Information for your visit
Onsite Access & Parking
Mobility impaired and wheelchair access is available to both the Queensland Art Gallery (QAG) and Gallery of Modern Art (GOMA).
Accessible parking bays are located in the Cultural Centre car parks. More information
Wheelchairs
Wheelchairs are available free of charge for use during a visit. To make a booking, contact the Information Desk between 10.00am and 5.00pm on +61 (0)7 3840 7303. Bookings are subject to availability.
Assisted Hearing
A hearing loop system is installed in the Australian Cinémathèque at GOMA. Headphones or neck loops are available for visitors with cochlear implants or hearing aids. Enquire at the GOMA Information Desk on arrival.
Companion Cards
Companion Card holders receive concession priced tickets to all paid exhibitions and selected programs, and a complimentary ticket for their companion. Complimentary tickets for companions must be collected at the Gallery.
Sensory Kits
Sensory Kits are available for use free of charge whilst in the Gallery. Each kit contains a number of resources for self-regulation and calming. Please speak to a Gallery and Visitor Services Officer upon arrival to collect a Sensory Kit.
Hidden Disability Sunflower
QAGOMA supports the Hidden Disability Sunflower Program. Visitors can choose to wear a Sunflower lanyard as a discreet way to show that they have a non-visible disability. Please speak to a Gallery and Visitor Services Officer upon arrival to collect a free Sunflower lanyard or pin.
Assistance Dogs
Guide dogs and registered assistance dogs are welcome at QAGOMA.
QAGOMA’s award-winning Art and Dementia Program is a participant-focused gallery experience designed for visitors living with dementia and their care partner. It aims to support psychosocial wellbeing using non-pharmacological intervention approaches.
Slow art viewing of selected artworks incorporates specially curated visual, auditory and narrative prompts that stimulate exploration and reflection. The therapeutic creative making activity invites relaxation and socialisation, supports autonomy, and encourages meaningful engagement.
The program is suitable for all visitors who are diagnosed with various neurodegenerative diseases causing dementia, including specific dates for people living with younger onset dementia.
Our monthly community programs are designed for people with dementia who reside at home. Our Aged Care Group or Day Respite Group program is suitable for people with dementia who participate as part of a small group from a residential aged care facility or dementia day respite organisation. Groups from residential aged care or day respite can read more and submit your program booking request online.
QAGOMA offers customised programs and events that give visitors with disability the opportunity to connect with art in a safe and supported setting. Our Group Bookings Office can help plan a visit and explain how we tailor an experience specific to your needs or for those in your care. Volunteer guided tours for visitors with disability are available between February and November and are free unless otherwise advertised.
To acknowledge awareness in the community, QAGOMA's annual September Access Month offers additional programs for visitors with disability. Please check What's On Event Calendar for dates.
For all Access programs, contact the Group Bookings Office Monday to Friday, 8.30am to 4.00pm.
A minimum of 15 days’ booking notice is required to arrange a tour.
Free volunteer guided tours for members of the d/Deaf community are scheduled on the last Sunday of the month from January to November. A NAATI accredited Auslan interpreter accompanies our guide on these tours. For information about the next tour, check the events calendar.
Hearing Loss
Visitors with a cochlear implant, hearing aid or hearing loss are invited to join a small group tour led by a volunteer guide. Assistive listening devices (FM system) are available and tours are scheduled on the fourth Friday of the month between January and November. Capacity is limited and bookings are essential. Check the events calendar for information about the next tour.
Low Sensory
On selected days throughout the year, Autistic visitors and people with sensory sensitivity or disability are invited to experience the gallery in a relaxed environment, and where possible, outside of usual gallery hours. These events are generally scheduled to coincide with major exhibitions or community awareness days. Volumes within the Gallery are lowered or turned off where possible. High sensory areas are signposted and quiet zones are available. An information sheet with sensory floorplan is developed to assist with planning a visit.
The next low sensory viewing is planned for Saturday 28 June 2025. GOMA will be open from 9.00am to 10.00am for a quieter viewing experience.
This information may assist with general visits to QAGOMA:
Sensory kits are available for use whilst in the Gallery and contain a number of resources for self-regulation including earmuffs, fidget toys and emotion cards. Please speak to a Gallery and Visitor Services Officer upon arrival to collect a sensory kit.
Low Vision or No Vision
Audio-described tours offer a narrated description of the visual elements of selected artworks. A tactile experience is also included where possible. Check the What's On Event Calendar for information about the next tour.
Vacayit Audio Travel Guide
Get a rich and detailed description of the sensory experiences you can encounter at QAGOMA through this one‑minute audio guide.
Physical and/or Cognitive impairment
Tours are suited to small groups and tailored to the needs of group members. Bookings are available on weekdays (excluding public holidays), between February and November. A minimum of 15 days’ booking notice is required and tours are subject to availability.
To support visitors with non-visible disabilities, QAGOMA is a member of the international Hidden Disability Sunflower Program. Hidden disabilities can be difficult for others to recognise, which is often the biggest barrier for people accessing additional support and understanding.
The Hidden Disability Sunflower is a simple tool for visitors to voluntarily share that they have a non–visible disability or condition that is not immediately apparent. Anyone with a hidden disability or their carer or support person can collect and wear a Sunflower lanyard at QAGOMA. We encourage visitors who need assistance to look out for our trained staff wearing a Sunflower Supporter pin. Sunflower lanyards and pins are available free to visitors from the information desks.
QAGOMA has recently introduced a new initiative to support visitors with disability, particularly a hidden or ‘invisible’ disability that might not be immediately apparent. We are now a proud member of the Hidden Disability Sunflower Program, which enables visitors with disability to tacitly communicate their need for support by wearing a sunflower lanyard or pin. Our trained staff can then assist such visitors by offering more time, a quiet space, access to a seat, or simply more understanding during their visit. The Hidden Disability Sunflower Program ensures that all visitors to QAGOMA can feel safe and supported. Sunflower lanyards and pins are free for visitors and are available to collect from the information desks.
Hidden Disability Sunflower Program
Here at QAGOMA, we are committed to creating a space that is accessible to and inclusive of all people through our involvement in the community, which contributes to a broader message of empowerment for people with disability; and through our range of accessible tours and programs that aim to provide a safe and welcoming environment to visitors of all abilities.
As a society, it is important that we switch up our thinking to advance the issues of equity and inclusion, and to regard disability as a positive social identity both for individuals and throughout the wider disability community. Art galleries and other cultural institutions play an important role in driving social change, shifting perceptions and challenging negative attitudes around accessibility and inclusion, yet visiting an art gallery can pose unique challenges for people with disability, and the complex nature of those challenges can lead to social and physical exclusion. QAGOMA recognises this importance, valuing inclusion and access as central to how we work with audiences, artists, supporters and each other.
A variety of accessible features and programs are currently available for the immersive sensory exhibition, ‘Iris van Herpen: Sculpting the Senses’ at Brisbane’s Gallery of Modern Art (GOMA) until 7 October 2024 — a first for Australian audiences — which features 130 garments and accessories from across the designer’s career. The exhibition brings van Herpen’s designs into conversation with contemporary artworks, natural history specimens and rare manuscripts to explore these myriad influences.
Included is a sensory information sheet and exhibition floorplan, accessible digital wall labels and didactics, a video introduction of the exhibition delivered in Auslan, and a range of special accessible tours and programs for visitors who are members of the deaf community or who have hearing loss, and visitors with low or no vision. A low-sensory, relaxed viewing of the exhibition is intended to enable visitors with Autism or sensory sensitivity to experience the exhibition outside usual opening hours, and a quiet zone and sensory kits are available to anyone feeling overwhelmed.
‘Iris van Herpen: Sculpting the Senses’
Human diversity stimulates creativity, artistic expression and imagination; it’s essential in the arts. Without measures in place to ensure equitable access and inclusion, people will remain separated and stagnant — the creative spark is lost in a veritable sea of sameness. The more accepting of human diversity we can become as a society, the more we will challenge each other to greater heights of creativity. QAGOMA proudly champions access, diversity and inclusion, allowing artists to push the boundaries of what is possible and inspiring visitors of all abilities to create lasting connections with art. Through its ongoing commitment to Access programs, such as September Access Month, low-sensory viewings, and our award-winning Art and Dementia program, to name just a few, the Gallery strives to create a truly inclusive space for the whole community.
Laura Walker is Program Officer, Access, QAGOMA
This text is adapted from an essay first published in QAGOMA’s Members’ magazine, Artlines
The Gallery’s Hidden Disability Sunflower Program membership is generously supported by Alida Rae Mayze.
The Art and Dementia program at QAGOMA is supported by 20/20 Optical and Morgans Foundation.
Recently, Dementia Australia acknowledged QAGOMA as a dementia-friendly organisation. QAGOMA is leading the way at Queensland’s Cultural Centre Precinct as it joins the ranks of organisations that have become members of the global Dementia Friendly Community. Dementia-friendly organisations demonstrate a commitment to supporting and enabling people living with dementia to remain active and engaged in normal daily experiences alongside other members of the community.
Since QAGOMA’s Art and Dementia Program kicked off in 2014, attendance has grown by an extraordinary 500%. The program, which has been developed around evidence-based research and contemporary dementia care principles, has supported the wellbeing of 1300 visitors living with dementia and almost 800 care partners. The Art and Dementia audience accounts for approximately 60% of visitors who engage in Access programming at QAGOMA.
While the Art and Dementia Program spearheaded QAGOMA’s dementia-friendly recognition, many gallery staff have completed dementia awareness training with the Dementia Awareness Advocacy Team, as well as Dementia Friend training through Dementia Australia. Collectively, there is a team approach that contributes to the gallery’s dementia-friendly commitment. Dementia-friendliness in return fosters greater inclusive practices, which enhance visitor experiences across a range of different abilities and ages.
Over the past few years, Art and Dementia program sponsors 20|20 Optical and Morgans Foundation have supported impactful additions that assist attendees living with dementia to remain active, socially connected and able to participate in the program for longer. For example, travel assistance has broadened the program’s outreach and reduces potential barriers that some may encounter in getting to QAGOMA.
During the program, participants are essentially guided through narratives and subject matter depicted in two specially selected artworks from QAGOMA’s Collection. Slow looking in a dementia-accessible, safe environment fosters and acknowledges perspectives and experiences of the viewer. The painting’s aesthetics stimulate neurological processes and create an island of stability for each person. Opportunities for reminiscence, validation and socialisation sustain viewer attention and may increase spontaneous communication. Following slow looking, the group engages in a therapeutic creative activity, which includes tactile and sensory-based elements to complement the art viewing, and further supports autonomy and independence.
One of the program’s participants, Kristin, is living with younger onset dementia and explains that being with the art in the quiet of the gallery, is very soothing. “We ‘experience’ a particular painting. As we admire the piece, we are encouraged to quietly explore the work …. what stands out? … what might be more subtle? With so many sets of eyes upon the work; we are each discovering something, that we may otherwise, not have noticed. The session allows quiet contemplation …. and sometimes, robust debate! Enthused by the earlier viewing, we are given the opportunity to release our ‘inner creativity’. Group members take charge of their inner Picasso and the materials at hand, to display different perspectives in their own artwork.”
QAGOMA’s Art and Dementia program is free and currently offers five separate in-gallery programs each month for people living with dementia who reside at home, plus their care companion. Programs are also available on request for dementia day-respite groups, community associations or residential aged care homes. Bookings in advance are essential and are subject to program capacity limits.
Contact QAGOMA Group Bookings Office for more information: Email groupbookings@qagoma.qld.gov.au, visit our website or telephone us at (07) 3840 7255
Debbie Brittain is Project Officer QAGOMA Learning
QAGOMA’s Art and Dementia program is proudly supported by 20|20 Optical and Morgans Foundation
