Web Services powered by
Back to All News
Albuquerque Museum Foundation Brings Colorblind Glasses to Visitors for Inclusive Art Experiences
May 6, 2026
At Creative West, we believe in the transformative power of art to connect, inspire, and include. That’s why we couldn’t be more thrilled to share a story from the Albuquerque Museum Foundation, where their team has helped make art more accessible in a truly unique way.
In 2025, the museum introduced EnChroma color-correction glasses as part of its broader accessibility mission. These specialized glasses, designed to assist individuals with colorblindness, are now available for visitors to borrow during their museum experience. For David Lee, a writer who tested the glasses, this initiative offered a new way to engage with art.
David’s story is a reminder of how accessibility tools can open up new perspectives. As someone with colorblindness, he described how certain colors—like browns, greens, and reds—often blend together, making it difficult to distinguish between them. But with the EnChroma glasses, he began to notice subtle shifts: yellows became luminous, and shades he once thought identical revealed their differences.
While the glasses didn’t completely transform his vision, they enhanced his ability to appreciate the nuances of color in the museum’s collection. As David put it, “For a museum, at least, that counts as a victory.”
The Albuquerque Museum’s commitment to accessibility, supported by Creative West’s grant funding, reflects our shared belief that art should be for everyone. The Museum offers wheelchair access, bilingual captions (English/Spanish), large format print for gallery wall captions, sensory kits (including noise-canceling headphones and various fidgets, which are also available for checking out), ASL interpretation for the deaf community, gallery stools to increase seating while navigating the galleries, and innovative tools like color-correction glasses. These efforts ensure that more people can experience the joy and wonder of creativity.
“The Museum takes great pride in calibrating the operation and investing in amenities to welcome a broader range of community members to experience and enjoy their museum. This work is never done and we continually explore new opportunities to ensure the public has multiple access paths to the Museum and its programs.”
– Bibi Baloyra, Assistant Director
We’re proud to support initiatives like this, and we hope this story inspires other organizations to think creatively about accessibility. After all, when we remove barriers, we open doors to new ways of seeing and interacting with not only art, but the world around us.
CaFÉ is an online application submission system that strives to make art opportunities available to all by offering arts organizations an affordable submission platform and artists an easy way to apply.
GO Smart is an affordable grants management software that offers pre- and post-application forms, panel reviewing, and data reporting for grantmakers.
The Public Art Archive (PAA) is a free, searchable, and continually growing online database of completed public artworks throughout the U.S. and abroad, with a suite of resources and tools built for managing public art collections.
ZAPP provides art fair and festival administrators with a suite of tools to digitally collect and jury applications, manage booth payments, and communicate with applicants all in one easy-to-use digital platform. Artists can apply to hundreds of shows nationwide through a central website.