Access and Activity (Asynchronous - Online Only)
Accessibilty for All: Programs of Inclusiveness in Sharjah Museums
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Manal Ataya
The best museum displays are both scholarly and popular, meeting the needs of people of all ages and experience, from amateurs to experts, and the needs of people with disabilities. Many achieve this, but they could be far more accessible. There is huge potential for museums to reach wider audiences by looking beyond their buildings physically and digitally, and experimenting with new forms of engagement. Since 2008, the Education & Interpretation Department of Shj Museums Authority was the only dedicated education department in the UAE, made up of various trained uae national specialists working to create and design unique program for schools, families, and special groups. The education department has played a pivotal role ensuring access through its services, educational programs and initiatives that create interactive engagement between the participants and the museum’s collections. Our outreach programs play a significant role in spreading awareness of the importance of museums in providing a space for learning, discovery and creativity. Since its inception and education department has reached numerous milestones, implementing one of a kind program and initiatives in the UAE and often in the MENA region as whole. This paper considers examples of successful programs including, “The Outstanding Guides in Sign Language”, “Autism Friendly Museum”, “Museums Express” - all carefully designed to cater to the needs of various segments in our society and all are the first of their kind initiatives in the Arabian Gulf.
Describing Organizational Capacity for Visitor Research and Evaluation at Two Canadian Art Museums View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Agnieszka Chalas
This paper presents the findings of qualitative case studies of two art museums that, based on previous research, were identified as operating at the most developed level of capacity for visitor research in Canada. Specifically, this research aimed to understand how such capacity manifested itself in these museums across the key dimensions comprising an empirically-validated conceptual framework for its measurement. The cross-case results provide valuable insights into what what visitor research practice and capacity looks like in the Canadian art museum sector and resulted in numerous transferable lessons learned that can be applied beyond the setting of each specific case. These lessons will are framed as considerations for other museums interested in the prospect of building their capacity around visitor research and evaluation.
It’s a Conversation, not a Presentation: How Visual Literacy Training Can Help Museum Docents Connect with Visitors View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Jacqueline Fleming
Visual literacy is a skill set that allows an individual to analyze, interpret, and respond to images and artwork. This skill set also provides an individual with the vocabulary and practice needed to talk about images and artwork within a group setting. In March of 2019 and 2020, Visual Literacy and Resource Librarian at Indiana University Bloomington, Jacqueline Fleming, gave visual literacy training sessions to museum docents at the Sidney and Lois Eskenazi Museum of Art in Bloomington, Indiana. Both hour long sessions incorporated interactive opportunities for the docents to gain visual literacy skills, learn with their peers, and develop strategies for leading museum tours that embrace the mission of the Eskenazi Museum. The main goal of these trainings was to give the docents the confidence to communicate and relate to museum visitors through the artworks they showed in their tours. This paper reviews the literature on docent training and visual literacy as well as ways others can effectively incorporate visual literacy into their docent training programs.
Discussing Difference and Discomfort: Reflections on a Cultural Competency Training Program for Museum Docents View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session David Matteson
In 2021, following a year of protests sparked by the deaths of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, the docent corps at the Orlando Museum of Art (OMA) engaged in a 7-week study group focused on the role of US museums in the fight for equity and social justice. While museum scholars like Porchia Moore have written about the need to retrain docents to address DEAI, materials specific to training these visitor-facing volunteers remain decentralized, elusive, and in need of continual updating to reflect relevant community-specific concerns. This paper reflects on the lessons learned from this study group and offer tools that may be implemented by other institutions like OMA, an art museum with a limited operating budget that serves one of the nation’s most ethnically diverse mid-size, urban communities. Recognizing the positionality of our mostly white, female, and older docents, OMA education staff envisioned this training as an opportunity to build cultural competency and foster empathy. While the pandemic stalled OMA’s robust program of onsite school learning trips, it also presented the opportunity to critically reflect on our praxis, ultimately leading to more inclusive museum education initiatives. Though solution-oriented, this paper resists positivism by foregrounding the shortcomings of this study group, pitfalls that other practitioners may heed.
Featured Global Pressure and Local Hesitation to Open Museum Door for Social Inclusion in Latvia within Sustainable Development Framework View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Elina Vikmane
Many voices have called to promote culture as the fourth pillar of sustainable development as a necessary foundation, condition, groundwork through which understandings of social, economic, and environmental sustainability may appear (Soini & Birkeland, 2014; Hawkes, 2001). Often culture is considered a part of social sustainability pillar, covering manifestations such as equity, participation, social justice etc. (Murphy, 2012; Vallace et al., 2011; Cuthill, 2010). Although the potential of museums towards sustainable development is particularly outlined in literature, there has been no equally radical shift in museum practice (Ross, 2004; Simon, 2010; Nomikou, 2015). The paper proposes a critical review of social sustainability priorities in Latvia’s museum sector by identifying the themes of sustainable development that have been communicated as strategic priorities to stakeholders by Latvia’s nine most popular museums, whose joint annual share of visits amounts to 50% of the country’s total rate (Latvian Academy of Culture, 2018). Qualitative content analysis has been chosen to seek for both direct and latent manifestations of social sustainability priorities and lack of them in museum development strategies and their collection, research, and communication policies, both considered as the most important strategic documents and necessary prerequisite to receive state recognition via state accreditation scheme.
