Access and Communities

The Royal Academy aims, wherever reasonably possible, to remove or reduce physical, sensory, attitudinal or intellectual barriers to access, to ensure that all aspects of our galleries, exhibitions and activities are as accessible as possible for all visitors.

All areas of the main building on Piccadilly are accessible, except the private Friends’ Belle Shenkman Room, which has three steps. An accessible unisex toilet is available on the ground floor. Portable folding stools are available for use in the galleries at the entrances to the Sackler Wing of Galleries and the Main Galleries.

Click here for a full programme of RA Access and Communities events

Tresham Resource Centre Gallery Tour of the Summer Exhibition 2010, led By Harry Baxter

We have two parking spaces available for blue badge holders.
To book call 020 7300 8028.

If you need someone to assist you with a wheelchair or lend a supportive arm, a trained volunteer escort can assist you. We also have standard-sized manual wheelchairs available for hire.
To book a wheelchair call 020 7300 8028.
To book an escort, contact the Access Officer.

Royal Academy volunteers are also available to escort blind and partially sighted visitors to and from bus stops and the tube.

Follow these links for the full list of Access services and support for:

• Visitors with Limited Mobility
  Audio Description Touch Tour Summer Exhibition 2009

• Blind and Partially Sighted Visitors

• Deaf, Deafened and Hard of Hearing Visitors

• Visitors with Dementia and Alzheimer’s

• SEN Schools

• People Affected by Drug and Alcohol Problems

• Communities

• InPerson at the RA: An Arts Club for Everyone

The RA is please to partner with:

• Action Space and the Leighton Project

• Portugal Prints

• Outside In

Access Volunteers
If you are interested in joining our team of Access Volunteers please contact the Access Officer. Further information about volunteering to take part in our Access Programme can be read here:
Access Programme Volunteer About Our Programme (150 KB)
Access Volunteer Application Form (279 KB)

Access Focus Group
The Access Programmes are created and moulded in response to consultation with an access focus group.

The Access Team
Kate Horbury (RA Access Officer), Harry Baxter (Artist Educator), Bridget Crowley (Audio Describer & Trainer), Will Bishop Stephens (Artist Educator), Abigail Hirsch (Artist Educator), David Johnson (Trainer), Nurul Hussain (Deaf Host), Philip Nix (Deaf Host), Paul Brandford (Artist Educator), Becky Jelly (Artist Educator), Francesca Herrick (Gallery Educator), Kim Jacobson (Artist Educator) and Jonathan Huxley (Artist Educator).

RA Access is pleased to work with:
Portugal Prints , Foundations Westminster , Richard Cloudesley School , Queen Eizabeth II Jubilee School , Stagetext , Shape , Aspirations Dept, Tower Hamlets College , HMP Holloway , Better Information Group, The Advocacy Project , Tresham Resource Centre , Westminster Arts , Westminster Memory Service , MOMA NY , Photosymbols , The Bridge School , Oaklands School , Carlton Dene Residential Home , WFS Create , The Evan Cornish Foundation , Combat Stress , Shaftesbury High School , Ellerslie Day Centre

Disability Arts Online
Disability Arts Online is a a unique journal for discussion of arts and culture. It gives disabled writers and artists the opportunity to share critique, showcase and blog about arts practice. You can read a review of David Hockney at the RA by Deborah Caulfield here.

• Royal Academy of Arts