Art, Museums and Digital Cultures — CONFERENCE

In the upcoming days, 22^nd and 23^rd April, will take place online the International Conference ‘Art, Museums and Digital Culture’. The Conference’s main aim is to provide a space for discussion to different experts, researchers and organizations about how digital technologies have contributed to the creation of new territories and so have stimulated other innovations in artistic production, curatorial practices and museum’s spaces –all this in a time of greater and deeper interest in the impact of technologies on society. This conference is coordinated by the Instituto Superior Técnico of the University of Lisbon, Instituto de História da Arte and Faculdade de Ciências Sociais e Humanas from the NOVA University of Lisbon and the Museum of Art, Architecture and Technology (maat) of Lisbon.

The tactile relief of Aurelio Suarez, Noche de frio espeso [cold thick night] (1954) used at the workshop at the Musei Capitolini in Rome, October 2019. © ARCHES / Arcangela Regis, 2019

The different sessions draw a wide perspective on digital art practices, going from strategies for digital integration in both artistic, museographic and curatorial itineraries, to collaborative policies and methodologies that bond together art, technology and society. The keynote speakers are focused on new technologies, finding proposals about Machine Learning and Systems of Knowledge related to art creation (Anna Ridler), about how the new technological dynamics have affected all different kinds of publics (Felix Stalder), and how museums can adapt themselves to the post-digital era also regarding accessibility (Ross Parry & Vince Dziekan).

The EU-funded Project “Accessible Resources for Cultural Heritage EcoSystem” (ARCHES), carried out within the framework of an H2020 research project, will present in this conference. Partnering with ArteConTacto and Museum for All, their representatives (Rotraut Krall, Moritz Neumüller and Andreas Reichinger) will elaborate on their pioneer participatory research approach to digital technologies in the museum in order to make them more accessible. Technological tools such as tactile reliefs, apps and games for smartphones, and sign-language avatars have been designed and tested by more than 200 people in three different research groups in Spain, Austria and the UK. These groups were also made up of very different people with different necessities and interests, thus representing different views and experiences and also highlighting the disabling consequences of social attitudes sometimes carried out by museums and other cultural institutions.

Multimedia Guide installed at Museo Lázaro Galdiano. © ARCHES / VRVis, 2019

Among the different strategies carried out by ARCHES during its research, this conference will focus on two examples of solutions for a better understanding of two paintings in particular: The Laughing Cavalier (Franz Hals) for the Wallace Collection in London, and The Peasant and the Nest Robber (Pieter Bruegel the Elder) for the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna. Both examples count with a 3D print of the painting stressing out different aspects of each piece and also complementing them with other resources like Easy Read texts and Soundscapes. All these strategies were though in order to better address the needs of museum visitors, also pointing out how technology can be good, useful and beneficial to everyone. The educational team of the different museums that participated with ARCHES expressed that their strategies and tools when working with disabilities and in participatory environments have deepened with this participative methodology, so it avoids solutions developed ‘for” these particular users, instead of ‘with’ them.

For more information on this project and also getting a wider perspective on digital technologies and inclusive strategies and innovations in artistic production, please contact museumdigitalcultures@gmail.com​. Registrations for the conference are open until April 16^th. You can also read more about this specific project (‘Please Touch! An inclusive art experience’) in ARCHES’ website.

Beyond disabilities: widening the inclusivity scope in Museums and cultural institutions (3/3).

The last topic to be addressed in this series of posts about inclusivity –and how museums and other cultural institutions hold a stake on it- is ageing. Ageing is one of the most transversal realities that societies have to face. The development of a welfare state in western societies implied an increase of life expectancy due to the implementation of retirement and other measurements related with health and wellbeing. The counterpart of this is that population from several countries are experiencing this phenomenon called ageing also due to extreme economic crises, putting young people on the position of not being able to settle nor have financial stability until older age. Biding these two acceptations, UNESCO defines “ageing of population” as a process in which the proportions of adults and elderly increase in a population, while the proportions of children and adolescents decrease. This process results in a rise in the median age of the population, this occurring when fertility rates decline while life expectancy remains constant or improves at the older ages.

This ageing of the population, together with a greater demand of time that working life requires of young people, means that the largest segment of population interested in occupying their free time is precisely the one that comprises adults aged 65 or over. Besides concerning about what to do with this free time, an aged population also implies other challenges like an increasing pressure in medical services. The stress put over “healthy ageing” means both physical and mental wellness, and beyond sport classes and outdoors activities, activities that involve learning and communicating become more and more important.

According to Charlotte Coates in her article ‘What is Active Ageing and how can Museums help?’ museums hold a whole host of information, hence becoming an ideal destination for mental stimulation further than a simple educational day out or a visit. Museums and cultural institutions must understand that not all older adults are the same, and they might have diverse needs. In these needs is where the two previous posts of this series come along: Not only people in current societies are getting older, they are also getting more diverse ethnically, sexually and affectively.

It is important to consider that there are migrant people also getting old in the places they arrived to years ago. Most of these people did not enjoy the new existing cultural, social and political policies, suffering from segregation and exclusion within the target societies. These people also need to gather and engage with others, communicate themselves and feeling part of the society they live in- whether because they feel older or because they haven’t been considered as leisure and culture enjoyers.

On the other hand, there are also issues with older adults and LGTBQIA+ communities. Some main references of the fight for equal rights are also getting older. Some other people haven’t explored their identity or their sexuality until very late years. Having safe spaces where these people still feel like they are part of the fight and part of the change movement should be one of the tasks that museums and cultural institutions could accomplish. There are also older adults that, on the contrary, are disrespectful or uncomprehensive with the LGBTQIA+ reality, and so cultural institutions reveal themselves as the best place of communication and encounter with this ‘other’, creating links between past, present and future, creating places of knowledge, of encounter, and of dialogue, promoting respect and tolerance, thus having both an educational and a social role.

There is one little thing more to be addressed in this post about ageing, being this that most of the vast writing that has been done about active ageing and museums comes from a western perspective. This has a lot to do with the fact that the majority of aged countries are those that have carried out colonial politics, these being most of the western countries and also the big powers of the Asia-Pacific region –even though this last region has not experienced ageing as much as western countries and it is a quite recent circumstance. This is the reason why most of the examples given in this post come from a European and Northern American context. If you, dear reader of this post, have other examples, from other regions, please share them with us, via a comment to this post, or an email to info@museumforall.eu.

Generally speaking, there are four points to keep in mind when talking about good practices in museums regarding engagement, participation and inclusivity of older adults: communication, participation, health care and creativity.

Starting with communication, most of the programs curated and presented by museums in order to engage older adults come from the side of memory and heritage. Having the knowledge and involvement of people that have experienced certain historical moments or decisive political changes in any exhibition enriches the historical and social perspective of it. This has a lot to do with communication. Involving older adults as participants in curation and divulgation for certain projects and exhibitions makes them an active part of what is going on, also strengthening the links between people and museums. This happened for examples in a collaboration between the University of the Third Age or U3A (an international movement based in the United Kingdom whose aims are the education and stimulation of mainly retired members of the community) and the Horniman Museum. This natural history museum created a researching project in 2011 that enabled the development of the museum’s collection to be better understood, and has ensured the contributions of people involved, being these students of the U3A and past curators, detailing their roles, backgrounds, and professional work while at the Museum.

Not by chance, the United Kingdom has been one of the most active countries when it comes to develop policies in order to face the challenges that an ageing population implies, also highlighting new opportunities that this segment of society can bring to enrich the experience of museums and galleries. The British Museum elaborated a very detailed guide of their actions together with the Age Friendly Museums Network.

Communication comes along with participation. The ethnological museum of Rumšiškės, near Kaunas Lagoon in Lithuania, is a good example of how older adults participate in activities that involve heritage, storytelling and traditional crafts. There has been some projects and exhibitions addressing topics such as the Nazi occupation together with lighter topics linked to other landmarks in the history of the country. The open-air museum of Lithuania is one of the largest ones in Europe and it’s very indicated for older adults, not just because it offers activities outdoors related with a healthier lifestyle, but also because their life experiences become important links to the organization of exhibitions and workshops, thus illustrating how older adults give invaluable contributions to society as first-hand witnesses of significant events and as carriers of invaluable intangible heritage.

However, museums should not oversee health care issues related with older adults, such as isolation and dementia. An example of fighting both was given by the Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna (National Gallery of Modern Art) in Rome, Italy. In collaboration with the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) of New York (USA) –which has a wide project on fighting Alzheimer and Dementia with art- the Galleria started a project called ‘The Memory of Beauty’. This initiative worked with ifferent groups formed by up to eight patients of Alzheimer or dementia who were driven through itineraries of four art pieces of the museum by a small team of educators and medical staff. These visits are planned as a cycle of activities in different days in order to help people to establish contact with others and with their personal memories. Other initiatives of museums against isolation can be found here.

Photo provided by the Santa Cruz Museum of Art History, where a group of people of different ages and diverse mobility can be seen enjoying an art exhibition.

Finally, I want to close this post with an example of how cultural actions can also emphasize and foster creativity within older adults. A good example was given by the Beltaine Festival in collaboration with Age & Opportunity, settled in Dublin, Ireland. The Beltaine Festival is a unique event in Europe and has received support from different organizations in order to promote active citizenship among older generations of Irish population. Its aims are to raise awareness about people’s capacity to grow and be creative in older ages, to let older adults participate meaningfully in the arts both as artist, organizers, audiences and critics, and to frame a national policy that acknowledge the potential of arts to transform the lives of older adults. More information about the examples given here of good practice regarding Ageing, museums and cultural institutions can be found in this link to the Learning Museum’s Project.

Summing up, there have been several points among these three posts that address inclusivity in a wider than disabilities scope. The usage of memory and active participation, encouraging people to create and to express themselves in safe spaces created by museums, acknowledging diverse people as potential guests, creators, visitors and critics, re-reading museums’ collections from their points of view, approaching artistic objects to different audiences by guided activities in collaboration with specialists, and also making diverse people participants –directly or indirectly- of the task of collecting are some strategies that lean on an educational agenda more than on a design one.

Applying some of these points could make a huge difference when it comes to make museums and cultural institutions more accessible and inclusive spaces, and from Museum for All we encourage all kinds of museums and organizations to care a bit more about diversity and about making connections between different people, now even more that we all have been pushed through difficult isolation times and connection means a lot more to us.

Rocío Sola, for the Museum For All blog, December 2020

Results of the ARCHES Project now online

‘The visit to the museum should be a moment of learning, of discovery.’ (Eduardo, Madrid Exploration Group)

The aim of the ARCHES project was to work towards a museum for all. The consortium partners and participants wanted to challenge perceptions of inclusion and exclusion, moving beyond the notion of disability categories and working instead with people’s access preferences.

In this video, our British Sign Language avatar explains how ARCHES works. You can also see a more detailed version of this video and download the spoken text and a short description as a word document. The photographs in the video are by Sabine Gruber, one of the participants of the ARCHES research group in Vienna.

The results of our 3 year project are guidelines and publications, apps, multisensory materials, and games.

Some of the results can be consulted in the Technology section of the trilingual ARCHES webpage.

One of the highlights is Towards a participatory museum, the How-to-Guide on inclusive activities. Written by Helena Garcia Carrizosa, Jara Diaz and Felicitas Sisinni, with Rotraut Krall, Anne Fay, Suzana Skrbic and Sarah Fairbairn, edited by Moritz Neumüller. This guide was printed in 2019, in English, Spanish and German, in an edition of 600 copies, as part of the dissemination of the ARCHES Project.
ISBN English 978-3-903312-00-5, Spanish 978-3-903312-01-2, German 978-3-903312-02-9.
It is available in PDF for download. Towards a participatory museum. A How-to-Guide on inclusive activities (5MB), also available in low resolution (1MB) and as a Word document.

To request a paper copy, please write to press@arches-project.eu.

Furthermore, there are other useful documents for your own work with participatory research in museums, and a list of related academic publications.

You can also see the works of our participants, such as drawings, photos and videos, and the manifestos of the different groups.

In this video, it is our participants who explain how ARCHES works. You can download the spoken text and a short description of the video as a Word document. This video is in English with BSL translation. The same video is available in Spanish and German, with respective sign languages.

If you want to get in touch with ARCHES, please write to info@arches-project.eu.

First ARCHES Workshop in Madrid, 13.6.2019, Lázaro Galdiano Museum.

The project ARCHES will organize a series of workshops with the objective to reach museum professionals in Europe and around the world. The first Workshop will take place in Spain on 13.6.2019, Lázaro Galdiano Museum, Madrid

Germany: fall of 2019, Bundeskunsthalle, Bonn

France, fall of 2019: Musée d’arts de Nantes

Italy, fall of 2019: TBC

Croatia and Slovenia, fall of 2019: TBC

These workshops will be accompanied by a 80 page handbook, published in three languages (German, English and Spanish) which will be both printed and distributed as a PDF and plain text through the ARCHES website.

First workshop: Towards a Participatory Museum: Inclusive Activities in Cultural Institutions

Workshop for Spanish and Iberoamerican museum professionals

13.6.2019, Lázaro Galdiano Museum, Madrid

Introduction

This workshop is the first in a series of events to disseminate the results of a three-year research within the framework of the ARCHES project.

The visit to the museum should be a time of learning, of discovery. 
Eduardo, ARCHES group Madrid

The workshop is based on our work with four participatory research groups in four European cities: London, Madrid, Oviedo and Vienna. Each of these participatory research groups included between fifteen and thirty-five people with a wide range of access preferences often associated with sensory and/or cognitive impairments.

Timetable

The workshop will be held on 13 June, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., at the Lázaro Galdiano Museum in Madrid.

How to participate

– The workshop is free and open to professionals working in Spanish and Ibero-American museums.

– Registration open until end of May

– Maximum 50 participants

– Registration by email, with Name, Surname, Affiliation, email, telephone

– Please indicate access needs and dietary requirements

– The workshop will be in Spanish. There will be translation in LSE, in case any participant needs it.

– Registration through email workshops@arches-project.eu

—–> Español / Spanish:

Taller ARCHES para profesionales de museos españoles e iberoamericanos

“Hacia un museo participativo: actividades inclusivas en instituciones culturales”

El taller “Hacia un museo participativo: actividades inclusivas en instituciones culturales” es el primero de una serie de eventos para difundir los resultados de una investigación de tres años en el marco del proyecto ARCHES. El objetivo del taller es compartir con los profesionales de los museos españoles e iberoamericanos lo que hemos aprendido en nuestro proyecto.

El taller se basa en el trabajo que hemos desarrollado junto a cuatro grupos de investigación participativa en cuatro ciudades europeas: Londres, Madrid, Oviedo y Viena. Cada uno de estos grupos de investigación participativa incluye entre quince y treinta y cinco personas con varias preferencias y necesidades de accesibilidad, a menudo asociadas a discapacidades sensoriales y/o cognitivas.

Los contenidos de este taller reflejan, sobre todo, las experiencias con los grupos en el Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, el Museo Lázaro Galdiano y el Museo de Bellas Artes de Asturias.

• FECHA: jueves 13 de junio de 2019
• HORA: de 9 a 17 horas
• Actividad GRATUITA
• Inscripción abierta de abril a mayo
• Inscripción en workshops@arches-project.eu
• Inscripciones con nombre, apellidos, afiliación, email y teléfono
• Por favor, indicar necesidades de acceso y requerimientos dietéticos
• Máximo 50 participantes
• Taller en español. Habrá traducción en LSE
• Para más información visite www.arches-project.eu
• LUGAR: Museo Lázaro Galdiano. Calle Serrano 122 (Madrid)

Planteamiento del taller

 

ARCHES es un proyecto europeo que busca hacer los museos más accesibles para todos a través de tecnologías y una metodología participativa. Gracias al apoyo de la Unión Europea, ARCHES ha reunido a personas con discapacidad, empresas tecnológicas, universidades y museos. Junto a los grupos participativos hemos desarrollado y probado soluciones tecnológicas durante tres años.

Cada grupo ARCHES realizó su propia investigación, teniendo en cuenta los intereses de los participantes y las condiciones del propio museo. La experiencia de todos ellos nos ha permitido desarrollar materiales y recursos tecnológicos que facilitan el acceso a nuestras colecciones.

En este taller vamos a compartir nuestras principales experiencias y aprendizajes: la metodología que utilizamos, cómo hemos preparado un proyecto como este y algunas actividades inclusivas que hemos hecho para explorar el museo y nuestras capacidades.

Compartiremos ejemplos de las actividades que han funcionado y las que no. Este evento se complementará con una serie de talleres en museos europeos durante el otoño e invierno y un evento final en Madrid, el 7 de noviembre del 2019 (Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza). Será en el marco de estos eventos en los que se presentarán las soluciones tecnológicas y algunos de los proyectos de los participantes de los grupos de ARCHES.

 

Horarios

 

Primera sesión, 9 – 10:30 h:

• Introducción a ARCHES
• Romper barreras del concepto de discapacidad

Pausa

Segunda sesión, 11 – 12 h:

• Cómo organizar un proyecto: compartiendo experiencias

Pausa

Tercera sesión, 12:30 – 13:30:

• Planificación y modelos de trabajo
• Actividades inclusivas

Clausura 13:30 – 14:00

• Clausura del taller

15:30 – 17 h

• Visita inclusiva al museo (opcional)

El proyecto ARCHES

 

Nuestro objetivo es crear entornos culturales más inclusivos para las personas con discapacidad sensorial y/o cognitiva mediante un proceso de investigación que conduce al desarrollo y la validación de funcionalidades, aplicaciones y experiencias innovadoras a partir de la reutilización de recursos digitales.

ARCHES se basa en tres puntos esenciales: una metodología participativa de investigación, la reutilización de los recursos digitales existentes y el desarrollo de tecnologías innovadoras.

Obviamente, ARCHES no es el primer proyecto sobre accesibilidad en museos, ni el único. Colaboramos con otros proyectos y redes internacionales, con la finalidad de crear sinergias en el campo de la inclusión y accesibilidad a la cultura.

• Contacto para los talleres de ARCHES: Moritz Neumüller, +34-605641118, press@arches-project.eu

 

Equipo

 

Helena García Carrizosa es una Investigadora del proyecto ARCHES. Helena trabaja cerca en conjunto con los diferentes museos y con los grupos participativos para probar y evaluar las diferentes tecnologías. Al ser ella misma discapacitada, tiene una experiencia personal de primera mano de los obstáculos y dificultades a los que se enfrentan las personas con deficiencias sensoriales en el día a día, especialmente en el sector de los museos. Anteriormente, Helena trabajó en diferentes museos y galerías internacionales, como el Peggy Guggenheim Collection de Venecia, la National Gallery de Londres y el Völkerkunde Museum de Hamburgo. Tiene dos maestrías, una en Historia del Arte, Cultura Renacentista y Curaduría del Warburg Institute de Londres y la otra en Educación en Museos y Galerías del UCL-Instituto de Educación.

Jara Díaz Alberola es Responsable del proyecto ARCHES en el Museo Lázaro Galdiano desde 2016. Estudió Historia del Arte en la Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (UAM) y Máster en Art Museum and Gallery Studies en la University of Leicester en Inglaterra. Especialista en educación por la Universitat de Valencia y la Universidad Complutense y en Gestión Cultural por la UOC. Tiene más de diez años de experiencia como educadora de museos y gestora cultural. Ha trabajado para diversas instituciones en España y Reino Unido como Gallery of Modern Art Glasgow y CaixaForum. Ha coordinado diversos proyectos culturales, sociales y educativos y ha impartido numerosos cursos y conferencias sobre arte, educación y accesibilidad.

Elena Aparicio Mainar ha sido coordinadora de Accesibilidad del Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, del Museo Picasso Málaga y actualmente coordina el proyecto ARCHES en el Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza. Es historiadora del arte por la Universitat Rovira i Virgili de Tarragona, museóloga y gestora cultural por la Universitat de Barcelona, especialista en educación de museos por instituciones como el MoMA de Nueva York o el Museum of Fine Arts de Boston (MFA) y en accesibilidad educativa y cultural por la UNIA y diversas entidades especializadas, como Fundación ONCE o Cooperativa Altavoz. Desde 1995 ha creado programas curatoriales, educativos y sociales donde se promueve la participación activa y la inclusión efectiva a través del arte en proyectos y entidades nacionales e internacionales.

Felicitas Sisinni es educadora del Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, donde coordina el grupo de investigación del proyecto ARCHES. Tras finalizar sus estudios de Periodismo e Historia del Arte en Madrid, realizó un máster en Educación en Museos en el Institute of Education (UCL) de Londres. Ha trabajado como educadora y gestora cultural en diferentes instituciones culturales de Europa y África, y continúa investigando sobre la creación de experiencias significativas para aumentar el acceso y la inclusión. Actualmente está en baja por maternidad y regresará en septiembre.

Moritz Neumüller (Linz, Austria, 1972) vive y trabaja como comisario independiente en Barcelona. Se ha licenciado en dos carreras, Historia del Arte y Economía, y tiene un doctorado interdisciplinar sobre nuevos medios de la Universidad de Viena. Ha trabajado para instituciones como el Museum of Modern Art en Nueva York, y fue ahí donde vio por primera vez una Touch Tour para visitantes invidentes. Diez años más tarde, Neumüller creó sus propios proyectos para abrir el arte a un amplio público, incluyendo las personas con deficiencias sensoriales y cognitivas. Este empeño en facilitar el acceso a la cultura y el conocimiento para todos se refleja en la iniciativa ArteConTacto, y el proyecto MUSEUM FOR ALL. Desde 2016, es director de comunicación del proyecto ARCHES.

CONFERENCE The Museum for All People: April 2-5, 2019

The Museum for All People:

Art, Accessibility and Social Inclusion

INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE, Madrid, April 2-5, 2019

The MUSACCES Consortium (UCM-UNED-AUM) cordially invites you to participate in the International Conference «The Museum for all people: art, accessibility and social inclusion», that will be held on April 2-5, 2019, in the city of Madrid.

The conference aims to provide a forum for exchange and debate among museum managers, professors, researchers, artists, students and cultural practitioners regarding improving access in art museums to all people, regardless of any specific needs they may have.

Participation in the conference will be open to contributions via a Call for papers. Moreover, the conference will have breakup sessions, specific seminars, concurrent activities and will feature internationally renowned speakers.

This International Conference seeks to become a forum for reflection on the conceptual problems in the definition of the museum for all. We are confident that the overlap between intellectual interdisciplinary borders (art history, cultural heritage, museology, art criticism, aesthetics, communication, education, tourism, technology, preservation and restoration, etc.) will allow us to propose strategies for cultural action devised to expand accessibility in the museum to all people.

Key Dates

15

February 2019

abstract submission
deadline

18

February 2019

abstracts acceptance notification

28

February 2019

early registration
deadline

2

April 2019

opening ceremony

ARCHES Project

ARCHES is a European project involving people with differences and difficulties associated with perception, memory, cognition and communication. Funded by the H2020 program, it aims to improve access to Museums and other Cultural Heritage Sites. ARCHES stands for Accessible Resources for Cultural Heritage EcoSystems. The Consoritum consists of museums, technology companies, universities and experts in making culture more accessible to everybody. Together, these partners will develop online resources, software applications and multisensory technologies.

The Open University and Bath University are leading the research for ARCHES. In the first year the participatory research groups will be exploring the museum and coming up with ideas for new technologies and activities. Each week there will be different activities within the museum. Together with the participants, the researchers will find the best ways to identify, capture and record their experiences and views. They will use cameras, sound recorders, video cameras, interviews, questionnaires, note taking, drawings, smart phones, tablets and different types of software.

In the second year the technological partners will be testing and redeveloping those technologies. In the third year, the consortium will be checking the new technologies are ready to use for other museums.

More details at the ARCHES Website, Facebook and Twitter.

ARCHES has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement Nº 693229.

 

Stats on Museum Internships by Jim Richardson

Repost from https://www.museumnext.com/2017/07/stats-on-museum-internships/

Eye Opening Stats on Museum Internships

By Jim Richardson

Internships offer a valuable way for young people interested in working in museums to learn more about the opportunities that the sector offers them. In a sought-after profession it seems almost expected that even the most junior applicant will have some experience and internships help to provide this.

We asked the MuseumNext community for their experiences of internships and found that 59% of the museum professionals questioned had done internships before starting work. These individuals felt that being interns had helped their careers, with 39% describing it as very useful.

The time spent as interns varied widely, but 25% of those who had undertaken an internships in a museum had done so for over 12 months, with just 4% spending doing so for less than a month.

A staggering 48% of these people received no pay for their work as interns, with only 8% receiving a living wage.

Having looked at their experience as interns, we now asked them about current practice in the museums they worked in.

88% of those responding to our survey said that their museum offered internships. The renumeration for these internships mirrors the experience of those currently working in museums with 53% receiving no pay for their work.

We also dug further, asking museum professionals for their views on internships.

‘They should always be paid! Unpaid internships perpetuate a lack of diversity in the field because only some folks can afford to work for free’.

‘Worth it for the experience, but tend to only be available to those with money behind them’

‘I got my job from my internship’

‘They’re unfair but necessary in the sector. They favour wealthy people whose parents can afford to help them financially’

‘No pay was an issue for me. Although individual staff made me feel welcome and valued, the lack of financial support was financially challenging. For many the lack of pay would have acted as a barrier into gaining experience into the sector.’

‘They are far from ideal, but an unfortunate reality of our current system’

‘Our current approach is to offer flexibility to allow interns to take on paid work around the internship, and to limit the length of internships to a few weeks. We also ensure there is a learning and development plan for each intern, so that the internship is tailored to their training needs,  and provide training and mentoring as required. We are seeking funding to allow us to provide a living wage in future.’

‘I completed several internships throughout my education. Every one of them useful to my career only because of the great leadership that guided and mentored me. They made my time at those institutions well worth it, fun, and educational. I can’t stress enough how important internships are to young aspiring museum professionals.’

‘Our interns receive minimum wage, which is set in the United States at $7.25/hour unless a state chooses to pay more, which mine does not. Additionally of all our interns are full-time students at the university where I work, so the liveable wage is tough to answer since the internship pay is not presumably their only means of financial support.’

‘Our industry needs to drastically change it’s reliance on unpaid labor. We need to value our interns appropriately.’

Many comments echo’d the points in our recent piece on the cost of internships to the museum sector. Internships do provide an excellent opportunity for those who can afford them, but this restricts who works in museums.

My fear is that by showing how widespread the practice of interns working for long periods without pay is, this may provide an excuse for others to do the same. But if we want museums to have a positive impact on society, we need to consider how internships can be reformed to be more inclusive and less exploitative.

I think that there is that desire, but how do move towards towards fair paid for interns when funding is limited?

– A note on our research. 420 museum professionals took part in this survey on July 10th 2017, with the majority of these being in Europe and the United States. Participants were recruited from our MuseumNext mailing list and posts on Twitter and Facebook.

About the Author

Jim Richardson is the founder of MuseumNext. He has worked with museums for over 20 years, with 16 years of that leading a creative / digital agency working in the museum space. Jim now splits his time between running MuseumNext and consulting on tech and innovation in the cultural space.

Art for the Blind access tour at Rome’s Ara Pacis Museum

Bringing art to life for blind museum visitors

One of Rome’s most prestigious public museums is offering a pioneering experience for blind visitors that perfectly demonstrates the possibilities of combining the latest technology with the greatest art.

Co-created by Antenna International and partially sighted consultants from Italian tech specialists Tooteko, the Art for the Blind access tour at Rome’s Ara Pacis Museum allows blind and partially sighted visitors to interact with the museum’s 2,000-year-old Ara Pacis Augustae and other ancient treasures in truly innovative ways.

Positioning technology allows independent exploration, while multisensory content, such as evocative audio descriptions and tactile elements, bring exhibits to life like never before.

What technology does it use?

The Art for the Blind tour uses the latest in smart, wearable rings, portable technology, and 3-D printing. Software is also key: iPad minis feature an app specially designed for visually impaired users.

How does it work?

At the start of the tour, blind and partially sighted people receive three items:

1. A high-tech, smart, wearable ring
2. An A4, 3D thermoform map
3. An iPad mini attached to headphones

As they explore the museum, users can touch the ring to tags on exhibits in six main areas of the museum. This wirelessly connects their iPad to sensors at the base of works, which then triggers a unique experience of the exhibit and artwork.

For instance, users have the opportunity to feel details of the famous floral frieze of the Ara Pacis. And at the busts of Augustus’s family, visitors can touch the heads and each sculpture ”speaks” to them in character.

 

 

How have we made sure it meets the needs of our audience?

The multisensory tour and audio guide descriptions were co-created with the help of two key consultants at Tooteko. Anna Spina is partially sighted and Deborah Tramentozzi is blind and an expert on issues affecting blind people. Their insights were fundamental in making the tour and the technology both user-friendly and immersive.

Fabio D’Agnano, CTO at Tooteko comments:

To us, it was important to combine touch and hearing and allow an independent and rich experience for the visually impaired. We wanted to add real innovation into museum accessibility, and the historic Museo dell’Ara Pacis was the perfect environment for it.

Paola Spataro, Head of Digital Media, Italy for Antenna International adds:

Technological advances, both big and small, are turning museum tours across the world into unforgettable experiences. The work we’ve done in Rome is a great example of what can be achieved. There are so many innovations out there which can enrich and enliven what museums are creating, and I’m excited to see where even the next twelve months will take the industry.

 

“Reimagining the Museum” Conference, BsAs, September 2-4

Reimagining the Museum: Conference of the Americas

Reimagining the Museum in Buenos Aires, Argentina on September 2-4 will focus on institutional change and leadership transformation that encourages and sustains visitor-centered museums relevant to their communities.

The conference will feature three keynote presentations by influential thought leaders who will share insights into the 21st-century museum and the influence of globalization on audience engagement. Keynotes include Marcelo Araujo, Secretary of Culture, San Pablo State (Brazil), Lonnie Bunch, Director, Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture (US) and José Nun, former Secretary of Culture (Argentina).

Visit the conference website for more program details and to register by July 31

4 Values: A European Perspective on the Essential Qualities of Museums

Europeans museums face many of the same opportunities and challenges as American museums: connecting with diverse audiences, providing access to collections and innovating museum practices will sound like familiar goals to Alliance Weekly readers. Like their American counterparts, European museums are creatively and successfully meeting these challenges. The Network of European Museum Organizations (NEMO) recently published Museums’ 4 Values – Values 4 Museums. The report explores the social, educational, economic and collection value of museums through short case studies of institutions of different sizes, disciplines and geographic location.

An excerpt by David Vuillaume, chairman of NEMO, explains the thesis:

Museums are not a luxury: they play an essential role in European life. They preserve and disseminate core values on behalf of society as a whole, using their collections as a basis to achieve reflective and social outcomes. They understand the importance of their role in the creation of knowledge and lifelong learning. Finally, they make a substantial and sometimes underrated contribution to the economic sector . . .

This publication gives you an overview of exemplary museum projects from all over Europe, many of which differ greatly in terms of geography, structure and theme. But whether in Greece or Finland, France  or Russia, in museums of art, ethnography or natural sciences, in international networks, large institutions or smaller museums, the common thread that runs through all of these projects is how museums serve their visitors, in particular, and society in general . . .

After leafing through this publication, you will certainly be in no doubt that museums can, as much as their means will allow and thanks to the confidence that people have shown in them, offer society a greater sense of understanding, support and reflection on the long-term underlying trends that typify our modern world: globalization, individualization, digitalization, demographic changes, polarization, just to name a few. Museums cannot do everything, but they are able to foster discussions, encounters and ideas. At a time when the European continent is facing significant challenges, these services, resources and rooms for reflection are more vital than ever.

To read the full, free report, including the impressive projects at museums across Europe, please click here.
Reposted via the American Alliance of Museums Newsletter