Poland Grows Beautiful - 7 Wonders of European Funds

A statuette for the Regional Museum in Stalowa Wola for “Accessible Museum. Integrated Program for Disabled Persons” from the hands of Elżbieta Bieńkowska, Minister of Regional Development, received the author of the project, Director Lucyna Mizera, together with Edyta Lisek-Lubaś, who collaborated on the program.
Of the 138 projects submitted to the third edition of the “Poland Grows Beautiful” competition, the chapter awarded 7 main prizes in various categories, including the “Accessible Museum” in the “Cross-border and international tourism” category.
The idea behind the competition is to select the best projects implemented with co-financing from European Funds, which contribute to increasing Poland’s tourist and cultural attractiveness. This year, the submitted projects included both large tourist facilities or nationwide campaigns promoting the tourist assets of the regions, as well as smaller, but very interesting cultural, tourist and sports projects.
“Accessible Museum” is an innovative educational program for people with disabilities, encapsulated by artistic, pedagogical, publishing and multimedia initiatives, constituting a field of comprehensive educational and promotional impact. The project was implemented with funds from the Interreg IIIA/Tacis 2004-2006 Neighborhood Program Poland-Belarus-Ukraine.

The effect of the measures taken is not only the gallery of sculptures designed for tactile perception, equipped with signatures in Braille, which adorns the museum’s courtyard, but also the successive elimination of architectural barriers inside the building and an increasingly wide educational offer for disabled guests.
The museum is planning its next steps, not only in terms of investment,” says director Lucyna Mizera, ”We will organize a series of training courses on the problems of serving guests with disabilities in the museum, with the participation of people with disabilities. With funds from the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage, an Educational Playroom for the disabled, equipped with multimedia equipment, is to be built in the Museum building later this year. Also, the permanent exhibition will be modernized with multimedia presentation techniques and interactive exhibits that provide an educational tool in the process of learning about cultural heritage for the disabled. The “Feel the Art” project – an innovative educational tool in the process of learning about art and developing creative expression among people with disabilities, using interactive space that works on various senses, e.g.: sight, hearing, smell and touch – is also part of these intentions.
The awarded projects will be covered by a broad nationwide promotional campaign through information in the media, albums, brochures, films or the multimedia exhibition “Poland Grows Beautiful.”
It is worth noting that as a result of these activities, the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage has designated the Stalowa Wola Museum as an i