Quick Tips Tips to Enhance Accessibility in Museums and Cultural Institutions
| ABS Awareness Month 2014 |
Tags: Access, Inclusion, Museums, Schools, Art, Culture, Engagement, Outreach, Awareness
1. Adapt Existing Resources
Produce existing print materials and labels in Braille and large print format, and produce museum maps as tactile diagrams.
Make electronic or PDF versions of print materials available by request or on your website.
Add verbal description to existing recorded audio guides.
Make your website accessible.
Make sure your entrances and gallery spaces are physically accessible for people with disabilities.
2. Adapt Existing Programs
Add verbal description, ASL interpretation, or assistive listening devices to existing educator- or docent-led tours.
Add onscreen or live captioning, ASL interpretation, assistive listening devices, or audio description to performances, lectures, or film/video screenings.
Add verbal description, multi-sensory tools such as touchable objects, tactile diagrams, sound and drama, as well as art making activities to family programs, senior programs, school programs, and teacher workshops.
3. Create Additional Materials
Create a touch tour of models, props, reproductions, or actual artworks approved by curators.
Create a multi-sensory tour incorporating scent, sound, touch, movement, storytelling, and/or description.
4. Inform the Public with Outreach and Publicity Campaigns
Create and enlist an access advisory board. They are your first contacts in the community.
Write accessibility articles for your museum’s website and publications.
Ensure that access services and programs are clearly explained and easily found on your institution’s website. Don’t forget to include links to public transportation and descriptions of what to expect upon arrival, as well as contact information for those who want to find out more.
Involve communications and development departments to spread the word.
Plan an open house to display your accessible resources to the different audiences in your community.
Work with other cultural institutions to cross-advertise and promote one another’s programs.
Use social media to generate word-of-mouth publicity.
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About Art Beyond Sight:
Art Beyond Sight (ABS) is a 501 (c) 3 organization dedicated to using art and culture to promote the engagement of people with visual impairments and other disabilities in their community and the global society. The network is comprised of individuals with and without disabilities who represent various disciplines and come from different personal backgrounds; yet all share a common interest in using art and culture to contribute to an inclusive society.
About Awareness Month:
Each October, ABS partners with more than 200 organizations around the world to recognize how the arts and culture promote the engagement of people with visual impairments and other disabilities in their community and the global society. Is your favorite cultural institution an ABS Awareness Month Partner? Download our ABS Awareness Month Brochure or Poster to find out!
Monday, October 27, 2014
See the 12th Annual ABS Telephone Crash Course Scheduleat http://www.absawarenessmonth.org/crash-course-schedule/
Webinar Site: artbeyondsight.webex.com
Contact ABS at Coordinator@ArtBeyondSight.org
Website at http://www.absawarenessmonth.org
All information used permission © ART BEYOND SIGHT 2014
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MaMoMi Initiative 