Managing the Development of Cultural Programs for People with Mental Disabilities

A lot of cultural and artistic institutions create programs, according to special needs of their visitors. People with physical and sensory disabilities are getting more opportunities though people with mental disabilities don’t have such variety of programs, because none of the institutions can create cultural program without a specialist in this area. This paper is about cultural programs for people with mental and psychical disabilities and the main goal is to create an algorithm for special program development. Before that an analysis of this area in Saint-Petersburg is needed and interactions between stakeholders have to be identified. The mail tool of study is semi-structured interview with experts, who work with mentally disabled people and develop special cultural programs for them. They are medical workers, art-therapists and workers of non-governmental organizations. As the result of study an algorithm for cultural program development was created. The main role in it goes to the government, as it is a uniting factor. This will bring a centralized financial system, accreditation program and creation of unified register of cultural programs for psychical and mentally disabled people. This, in turn, will result in systematization of theoretical base, in amount and quality growth of special cultural programs, in increase of disabled people and their families’ awareness and in social tolerance.