In the lower gallery of the Lehigh University Zoellner Arts Center, Ricardo Viera, LUAG director and chief curator, wished to thank all those who made the evening’s “Accessible Art Tour” Nov. 18, possible. With the help of Lehigh’s staff, students and volunteers from local organizations, a visually-impaired individual can now experience some of the art on display by touching a 3-D tactile copy of the work and listening to an audio description of it by dialing a local number on a cell phone,

The journey began three years ago, when LUAG historian Patricia McAndrew came across an article titled “How can my museum help visitors with vision loss?” in the July-August 2012 issue of Museum magazine. After finding out that the Lehigh Valley Arts Council was involved in a tri-county program to make art more accessible, she asked Ricardo Viera if they could get on board with it. After much research and community outreach for funding and volunteers, Lehigh’s “Accessible Art Tour” was created.

Managing Director of LU’s Design Labs, as well as a partner at Isosceles Design Studio, LLC, Brian Slocum organized Lehigh architecture students to come up with the 3-D representations of some of the teaching collection art. A variety of materials were used, not only to represent traceable outlines of the images, but with hard and soft textures to assist in a fuller experience for those who “see” the art by touch.

The audio recordings were a major challenge for those who volunteered to write the scripts for describing different pieces. They had to be objective. Just the facts … no opinions.

Each description was limited to 200-300 words, no more than could fit within 90 seconds when read. The training for the daunting task of making the gallery accessible for those with disabilities was provided by the Lehigh Valley Center for Independent Living. Advanced Communication Technologies, LLC of Bethlehem handled the technical aspects for the audio recordings.

Rita Lang, manager of Innovative Programs, along with her clients at the Center for Vision Loss in Allentown, were integral in making the program work. Lang, relying on her own experience with vision loss, and the others, each tested out the 3-D representations and audio recordings, providing much needed advice in how to make improvements.

The journey making the LUAG galleries accessible to the visually-impaired is far from over.

“It is our goal to continue audio describing the rest of this collection.” Denise Stangal, LUAG operations manager, told an enthusiastic audience.

The Nov. 18 Lehigh University event is part of the “Arts & Access” program which commemorates the 25th anniversary of the Americans for Disabilities Act. Associated with the Lehigh Valley Arts Council, the “Arts & Access” year-long celebration, continues to June 30, 2016.

For more information on upcoming disability-friendly cultural events, check out ArtsandAccess.org.