Musée d’Orsay & Souffleurs d’Images

Based in Paris, SOUFFLEURS DE SENS is part of the GROUPE SOS Solidarités association, and its mission is to promote access to culture and artistic practices for people with disabilities and those working in the fields of solidarity, precariousness and exclusion. The issues of accessibility, inclusion and artistic education are at the heart of our concerns. Our actions are based on two pillars:

• An accessibility centre to support, equip and train the cultural and medico-social sector in the specific needs of audiences. Souffleurs d’images and Appel d’art are a flagship service. Souffleurs d’Images is a human and personalised mediation service. A volunteer interpreter, himself an art student or artist, describes and whispers into the ears of blind or visually- impaired spectators the elements that are invisible to them during a show or exhibition.
• An Art and Disability Unit, which aims to democratise access to culture for people with disabilities through networking, artistic practice and creation, awareness-raising and training.

A collaboration with Souffleurs de Sens / d’Images would open the doors to the museum and more generally speaking to culture to the other people that are normally not considered as usual public, for example people with visual impairment. It is not only important, but also extremely useful forcultural establishments and the participants of the initiative – the volunteers and the persons with visual impairment. Apart from the service provided at Orsay museum, other museums can also become partners of Souffleurs d’Images. The association also organises group outings to see theatre plays together, etc.

Blind people and people with visual impairment

A souffleur d’image will describe what they’re seeing to the person with the visual impairment. Both persons will benefit from this – the person with visual impairment will be able to know what the work of art looks like, and the person that describes (that is usually an art student) will get to know more about this particular work of art.

Musée d’Orsay & Souffleurs de Sens

Musée d’Orsay is financed by the French state, it is also financed by the private donations and the associations of the friends of the Musée d’Orsay.
Souffleurs de Sens is an association that is a part of Groupe SOS by local authorities, health insurance funds, private clients, the state.

Replicability potential is high, however the association itself is not replicable.

The result is positive for the Souffleurs d’Images, who are often volunteers, who are gaining knowledge about the art they are talking about, and for the people with visual impairment that are able to imagine the art that is being described to them. Finally, they can put the words to the image thy have in their heads. A visit with a Souffleur d’Image has to be reserved at least 15 days before.