Feature
The first head of Accessible Programs at the National Gallery of Art discusses her journey and the future of museum accessibility.
Lorena Bradford at the National Gallery of Art in 2025 (all photos Emma Cieslik/Hyperallergic)
WASHINGTON, DC — Lorena Bradford initially pursued a career in speech-language pathology but discovered a passion for art history, ultimately earning a PhD in 17th-century Dutch and Flemish printmaking. Her introduction to arts accessibility came in 2010, two years into her role as an educator at the National Gallery of Art (NGA) in Washington, DC, when she attended her first Leadership Exchange in Arts and Disability (LEAD) Conference.
During this time, Bradford realized her belief that verbal communication equated to engagement was flawed, as she shared over Zoom in January. With increasing numbers of autistic children visiting galleries through school programs, she explored ways to create programs specifically designed for disabled students and adults. This led to her appointment as the NGA’s first head of Accessible Programs.
While many museums combine ADA compliance and accommodations into a single role, Bradford’s position allowed her to concentrate on customizing programs for individual needs. “I was a sub-department of one,” she humorously noted.
In subsequent years, she introduced a monthly American Sign Language tour led by deaf guides and launched the Just Us program for individuals with memory loss and their caregivers, which ran from 2017 to 2024. She also developed a program for Georgetown medical students to improve their care skills, focusing on observation, communication, and empathy.
One of Bradford’s significant achievements was the Short Description Project. While many museums offered verbal descriptions for visitors, this initiative aimed to enhance online accessibility. “One of the things that’s really amazing is that you put everything online,” Bradford explained. “There’s no paywall, and that’s a huge part of accessibility, getting to access information online.”
Started during the COVID-19 pandemic, the project devised a process for crafting comprehensive written descriptions for online art viewers. This involved establishing guidelines for description length, content, language, reading level, and training procedures.
However, the Trump administration affected accessibility progress. “The strides that I and colleagues from across many, many museums were making related to diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility were curtailed or stopped,” Bradford noted, despite most programs being linked to visitor services and protected by the ADA.
Two years ago, Bradford began cancer treatment, reducing her NGA hours to part-time before officially leaving the museum in July.
Her commitment to accessibility remains strong. She now works as an audio describer at the Kennedy Center, writes alt text and image descriptions for Scribeley, teaches art history at a local community college, and curates content for LEAD conferences.
Recognizing the unconventional nature of her educational and career journey, Bradford is optimistic about the future. As more museum education programs emerge, she notes, “there’s not necessarily a place you can go to learn to do cultural accessibility like what we’re doing in museums and theaters.”
She envisions a time when arts accessibility will be a formalized educational path, with accreditation for programs and services. “[Art is] a universal language, and everyone should have access to it,” Bradford stated. “You don’t have to speak a foreign language to look at a painting made in a different country, or to listen to a piece of music. As a universal language, it should be accessible to the universe.”
