Trento Science Museum launches suspended ticket to make museum accessible to all

MUSE - Trento ’s Museum of Science launches the “suspended ticket,” a new project designed to boost cultural participation and make its activities usable by an increasingly wide audience. The initiative is supported thanks to funds raised through 5×1000 and through the direct donation of tickets, which can be purchased either physically at the museum ticket office or online through the PagoPa platform.

The concept behind the suspended ticket is simple but powerful: it is a gesture of solidarity, in which a person buys an additional ticket to offer it to another person, without knowing him or her. It is a generous act that allows those in financial hardship to visit the museum. Alternatively, you can contribute to the same cause by allocating your 5x1000 to MUSE when you file your tax return.

“Museums are public spaces and working for ever greater accessibility and inclusion is the most fundamental of our goals,” explains director Massimo Bernardi. “With this project, borrowed from the famous suspended coffee, we will give the opportunity to enter the museum for free to those who have difficulty in bearing the cost of the ticket. A social solidarity project of which we are proud.”

How will the collected tickets be distributed? “Through the ’suspended ticket initiative’ call,” explains Alessandro Zen, project coordinator, “we have identified ten local realities operating in the field of economic poverty, to which MUSE will provide the suspended tickets collected and which they will distribute to their users,” thus respecting the confidentiality of each one. Each reality, at the application stage, communicated the number of tickets requested based on a selection of users who could enjoy free admission to MUSE.

Allocating 5x1000 to inclusion initiatives is now an established practice for MUSE. In 2024, for example, these funds made possible the creation of Culture & Care, a new membership program designed to combat educational poverty affecting girls, children, and adolescents. Through a call for proposals, the museum selected ten organizations working to support children in fragile social and economic conditions. These organizations were distributed membership cards with exclusive benefits, allowing free or facilitated access to exhibitions, educational activities, events and special projects.

In 2023, 5x1000 funds were used to make the museum even more accessible through various structural and content interventions. These include the creation of the Quiet Space, an area designed to provide a rejuvenating break for those who are particularly sensitive to the museum’s visual and aural stimuli, thanks to a multi-sensory environment with soft lighting, soothing sounds, and delicate scents. A tactile model of the building, tactile maps for the gardens and biotope, and the temporary exhibition Books for All People, dedicated to Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) languages, were also created to make content more accessible to all and sundry.

Trento Science Museum launches suspended ticket to make museum accessible to all

Warning: the translation into English of the original Italian article was created using automatic tools. We undertake to review all articles, but we do not guarantee the total absence of inaccuracies in the translation due to the program. You can find the original by clicking on the ITA button. If you find any mistake,please contact us.