Beginning in April 2024, dedicated social inclusion personnel have been assigned to every metropolitan cultural institution managed by the Tokyo Metropolitan Foundation for History and Culture. Social inclusion staff at cultural facilities have been attracting attention as a new profession. To learn about their roles, we spoke with four of the newly assigned members who joined the foundation about half a year ago in the spring. Part 1 of the article features a roundtable discussion, and Parts 2 and 3 present interviews with the staff members.
*Department names and titles are as of the time of the interview
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People Inside Tokyo Metropolitan Foundation for History and Culture Vol. 2: Role of Social Inclusion Staff [Part 1/3]
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- 2025.01.29
What does a social inclusion staff do?
── Ms. Tomoko Tsukihashi works at Tokyo Bunka Kaikan, and Ms. Seiko Funanokawa works at the Tokyo Photographic Art Museum. What are your roles as social inclusion staff?
Tomoko Tsukihashi: Simply put, my understanding of social inclusion staff’s role is to make culture accessible to everyone. Each facility differs in scale and genre, so our responsibilities vary. At the Tokyo Bunka Kaikan, for example, an essential part of my job is to coordinate various activities within the facility.
Seiko Funanokawa: Before I joined the foundation, I experienced as a user, thinking it would be wonderful if a broader range of people could enjoy these facilities. I may feel comfortable in the space, but not everyone would feel the same. In my current role, I arrange and carry out plans based on what I realized back then.
──Ms. Yuriko Komai and Ms. Yukiko Ohtaka, Arts Council Tokyo offers intermediary support. Could you tell us about your initiatives?
Yukiko Ohtaka: The organization acts as a bridge between the 10 cultural facilities managed by the Tokyo Metropolitan Foundation for History and Culture and the Tokyo Metropolitan Government to coordinate various matters among them. For example, we gather feedback from visitors and facility staff and relay it to the metropolitan government. We also work with each facility to align their activities with the government’s goals. Like Ms. Funanokawa, I, too, used to use cultural facilities primarily as a visitor before taking on this role. As a Deaf person, I often felt frustrated by how information accessibility was not guaranteed, like the lack of captions for video works at exhibitions or sign language interpreters at events, which made it difficult for me to fully participate in the viewing experience. I believe accessibility should be considered as essential as infrastructure, not an accommodation for specific individuals.
Yuriko Komai: Shortly before our assignments, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, the Tokyo Metropolitan Foundation for History and Culture, and Arts Council Tokyo launched a project called Creative Well-being Tokyo to improve accessibility. This does not mean that metropolitan cultural facilities have not done anything in this regard: each has been making efforts on a daily basis. As Ms. Ohtaka described accessibility as “infrastructure,” it is something fundamental. With growing awareness, we were assigned as dedicated social inclusion staff to develop accessibility as an organizational and systemic framework. The change was also encouraged by Tokyo’s policy goal to enhance accessibility to arts and culture by 2030 (*).
*In response to Future Tokyo: Tokyo’s Long-Term Strategy and Tokyo Cultural Strategy 2030, the Tokyo Metropolitan Foundation for History and Culture formulated the Long-Term Vision 2030 of the Tokyo Metropolitan Foundation for History and Culture. The scheme aims to support Tokyo’s sustainability through the power of arts and culture and to contribute to realizing an inclusive society that respects the diversity of its people.
*In response to Future Tokyo: Tokyo’s Long-Term Strategy and Tokyo Cultural Strategy 2030, the Tokyo Metropolitan Foundation for History and Culture formulated the Long-Term Vision 2030 of the Tokyo Metropolitan Foundation for History and Culture. The scheme aims to support Tokyo’s sustainability through the power of arts and culture and to contribute to realizing an inclusive society that respects the diversity of its people.
──To make accessibility common practice, like infrastructure, you need to change the mindset of those operating the facilities. Is social inclusion staff also leading this transformation?
Tsukihashi: That’s right. At the Tokyo Bunka Kaikan, I work with all the departments in the building. When the concert hall needs certain improvements or new developments, it’s not enough to coordinate only with specific departments; I try to make sure all departments are on the same page before proceeding.
Funanokawa: The Tokyo Photographic Art Museum is not as large in scale as the Tokyo Bunka Kaikan, but I also ask all departments for cooperation. This includes working closely with those who interact directly with visitors, like staff at the reception, security, shop, and café. While I’m taking a leading role, it feels less like starting from scratch and more like expanding the work they have done in the past. For example, when exhibition posters are ready for review, I look at aspects like colors and contrast to determine their accessibility. I do take into consideration the design and creative intent, but I sometimes suggest things like colors being a bit too light. These issues are often overlooked or considered low priority but can become discussion topics when a social inclusion staff member brings them to the table. That may be the purpose of having a specialized role.
Ohtaka: Balancing artistic aspects with accessibility for artworks and events can be challenging, just like poster designs. But what Ms. Tsukihashi and Ms. Funanokawa said reminded me of how important it was not to ignore but to acknowledge and address feedback we receive from visitors pointing out accessibility shortcomings.
Profession of raising minus to zero
── Arts Council Tokyo plays a key role in coordinating accessibility improvements across metropolitan cultural facilities and organizes a meeting where social inclusion staff members from all the facilities come together. It must be a valuable opportunity to meet regularly.
Komai: You are talking about the monthly liaison meeting. We use the opportunity for business communication, opinion exchange, and feedback gathering. I think the most important aspect is that it brings together all the social inclusion staff members. Our responsibilities are different, but we can share and confirm our common goals and challenges at this meeting. Personally, I want to make it more than just a meeting: I want it to be an event people look forward to attending.
Funanokawa: I’m not being polite, but I genuinely enjoy it every time I attend. I also appreciate the subcommittee meetings. We recently had one for tactile maps (diagrams that allow people with visual impairments to feel and understand spaces with their fingers). An expert joined the meeting and showed us examples from other institutions, teaching us the key points and schemes for creating one.
Tsukihashi: The upcoming subcommittee meeting is on plain Japanese.
Funanokawa: Not all social inclusion offers have studied “inclusion” as specialists. The scope of our role is vast. I, too, had a different job before joining the foundation, so I’m learning many things from scratch. I’m the only dedicated staff member at the Tokyo Photographic Art Museum, which sometimes makes me feel isolated. It’s really reassuring to meet other staff members at the liaison and subcommittee meetings.
Tsukihashi: It’s valuable to be able to leave the meeting with a sense of reassurance. It has also become a place for exchanging information or asking other members for advice on things their institutions have already worked on.
Komai: We try to finish the meeting as quickly as possible and encourage participants to use the remaining time freely. Recently, people have started to make requests like “I want the meeting to be like this” or “I want to discuss this topic.” As a meeting organizer, I’m thrilled to hear those requests.
Ohtaka: During one of the meetings, Ms. Komai said, “We’re not doing something extraordinary; we’re just doing what’s necessary.” Those words resonated with me, and I hope to continue doing my job with that mindset.
Funanokawa: It’s not about doing something extra on top of the basics.
Tsukihashi: I also remember what Ms. Komai said on the same day: “We are moving from minus to zero.”
Komai: This is something I value personally, but I believe we are starting from the minus range. We can think about pluses once we reach zero. Right now, cultural facilities are in a minus state when it comes to accessibility. Our job is to bring that to zero.
Interview and text: Emi Sato, photography: Osamu Kurihara, sign language interpretation: Naoko Iizumi and Yuki Toi
Translation: Erika Ikeda
Creative Well-being Tokyo
The project endeavors to improve accessibility to arts and culture so that everyone—from infants to the elderly, people with and without disabilities, and those with roots overseas—can encounter and participate in cultural facilities and art programs. It collaborates with domestic and overseas cultural facilities and NPOs that tackle community issues and draws on their diverse viewpoints and experiences to promote initiatives critical for future arts and culture activities.
Organized by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government and Arts Council Tokyo (Tokyo Metropolitan Foundation for History and Culture)
https://creativewell.rekibun.or.jp/en/about/
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