The Nikos Kazantzakis Museum (ΜΝΚ) pays tribute to the important intellectual, author, thinker, philosopher, politician, and traveler, Nikos Kazantzakis while aiming to preserve and disseminate his work and thought. It was founded in 1983 and it is located in Myrtia, Heraklion, Crete, the ancestral village of Kazantzakis. In addition to the conservation and exhibition of its collections, the museum focuses on creating a unique, open and accessible museum experience for all of its visitors by combing education with entertainment.
This paper pertains to MNK's plan to make its Permanent Exhibition and collections more accessible to people with disabilities, particularly those who are visually impaired. Within this context, the museum has put into place multiple interventions, which include a tactile route, copies of the author's personal belongings, an audio guide, texts in Braille alphabet, and inclusive videos.
Moreover, the museum has organized and has executed programs that raised awareness about issues related to people with disabilities, enhancing its social and educational role. To increase awareness of visual impairment among children and adults, the Educational Department of the MNK developed the educational program titled 'Reach what you cannot' utilizing a tactile route. Participants learn proper techniques to assist people with visual impairment and the way they experience visiting museums through this tactile route, creating an experiential way of discovering visual impairment.
Through the initiatives mentioned above, the MNK shows its commitment to an equal, inclusive, and accessible culture that respects the rights of people with disabilities. The MNK is committed to making museums accessible to all citizens, and it is working towards that goal constantly, as this paper will show.
Our presentation is about a multιdimensional project for the ANGELOS SIKELIANOS MUSEUM (A.S.M.) on the island of Lefkas.
This poet -penceur is of particular interest today because of his visionary concepts of Nature's protection and peace among peoples. The project "A Conversation with Angelos Sikelianos" was designed and realized in 2021 in collaboration with the non-profit organization ARTOGETHER - Art of People With and Without Disabilities (now LIMINAL), it has been aiming at all-inclusive groups of people and was placed under the auspices and funding of the Greek Ministry of Culture.
Our goal has been to enhance the promotion of the A.S.M. and to make it even more accessible despite any difficulties due to distance, personal disabilities or force majeure (i.e. covid pandemic). https://artogether.gr/draseis/synomilontas-me-ton-angelo-sikeliano/.
Art workshops for groups with and without disabilities have been organized both in Athens and Lefkas Island, as well as internet activities including a virtual visit with hot spots and a digital exploration-consolidation game https://demos.intelearn.gr/sikelianos/ .
Two educational editions have been produced: "In the Poet's House" for children's museum exploration activities and the story for young readers "A Poet's Journey", enriched with artistic illustration, big letters and an audio dramatized narration (QR code). They are both available at the museum free of charge.
To allow the project achieve our purposes furthermore, to a broader public and beyond the museum walls, more activities were designed and realized as the commercial edition of the story under the new title "Angelos Sikelianos, A Dreamer Poet" (2022), which was complemented with an audio narration (QR Code) in Greek, English and French (Elniplex Golden List -2022, Bologna Children's Book Fair, licensed by the Greek Ministry of Culture for museum bookshops). It is after this book that a short fairy tale opera was created and performed, opening at the Concert Hall, Athens.
The RPGs4Museums project proposes a novel approach by adapting the social aspects of tabletop roleplaying games (TTRPGs) for cultural heritage exploration. TTRPGs create collaborative spaces where players cultivate social skills while navigating a dynamic storyworld. This project investigates the potential of implementing a TTRPGs educational approach to enhance historical understanding, empathy, and soft skill development while connecting visitors with humanity's past and its relevance to contemporary issues. The project focuses on two key areas: understanding user needs and developing a TTRPG approach tailored for history education. Interviews with game masters (GMs) and educators explored the strengths of TTRPG mechanics suitable for museums and the learning objectives such an approach could address. Educators acknowledged limitations of traditional history instruction, like student disengagement and a rigid curriculum. They see TTRPGs' immersive and interactive nature as a potential solution by character creation and active decision-making which can increase student engagement. They can also increase the promotion of historical empathy, by inhabiting historical figures or settings, students develop a deeper connection to the past and encouraging students to make critical decisions within historical contexts. However, educators also identified challenges in implementing such an approach which include time constraints, as integrating TTRPGs within existing timetables requires careful planning, and the GM role complexity, because facilitating a successful TTRPG session requires a skilled GM. Educators also emphasized 3 main issues that need to be addressed in such an approach, which is, the subject of anachronism and potential historical inaccuracies, the use of violence and the use of fantasy elements in such games. The RPGs4Museums will propose a hybrid museum kit – a digital platform offering guidelines for story creation, chatbot tools for players, and XR tools for integrating 3D digital assets into virtual scenes. This kit facilitates the development of engaging TTRPG experiences aligned with museum exhibits. The project's findings on the potential and challenges of TTRPGs in history education contribute valuable insights for educators and museum professionals seeking innovative ways to engage visitors and promote meaningful connections with cultural heritage.
The Museo del Prado action plan recognizes all its audiences as a key factor alongside its collection. It is committed to improving their experience and establishing a horizontal relationship with them, becoming a benchmark in universal accessibility and social and cultural integration, inclusive and attractive.
The Museum also strives for the renewal of its exhibition narrative and a new presentation of its collection, in line with new research trends, and for the continuous pursuit of excellence in its restoration and conservation policy. Additionally, the Museum is established as a quality educational environment, committed to participatory, transformative, and creative teaching.
PradoEducación, as the Educational Action Department of the museum, serves as a critical space for institutional self-reflection, where the need to incorporate previously silenced or invisible voices is identified. It is the space for direct and active listening with the visitors who inhabit the museum and with the people who never visited it because they never felt invited, striving to move beyond unidirectional communication and open the institution to the coexistence of new narratives, seeking to be responsive to the needs and insights of the community.
We would like to share with the attending public some of the projects that have gradually allowed us to establish more horizontal relationships in the Museum. Through these projects, we aim to define the Museum as a space of mutual learning where voices are just as important as listening, and the understanding of art is not an elevated goal reserved for the Academy, but a pleasurable space where visitors can inhabit the museum through their own identities.
Some of these projects include:
Marcos de mira https://www.museodelprado.es/recurso/marcos-de-mira/4ac95fce-48ed-d8be-3d2d-5c51b3676a3e
Ángulos cardinales: https://www.museodelprado.es/recurso/angulos-cardinales/62c958e2-b148-4ae1-8323-aefb1c0f79a9
Itinerarios incómodos y Visitas dialogadas: https://www.museodelprado.es/recurso/visitas-dialogadas/c4461cef-0306-4d58-a370-f567175b4439
In medias res https://www.museodelprado.es/recurso/in-medias-res/3ddbb987-1977-5d80-4e90-0c385359da84
The emergence of the "Gatchina Scholarship" program is associated with the fact that university graduates who come to the museum lack practical experience and, moreover, often have no clear direction in their profession and struggle to understand what they want to do - exhibitions, preservation, research work... The situation with personnel in landscaping is even worse. Russian universities do not train specialists who can not only engage in landscaping but also analyze the historical situation, know the peculiarities of the history of garden and park management, and be able to apply this knowledge in practice.
Furthermore, we believe it is very important to develop the currently popular mentoring direction. The museum field is one where immersion in the profession requires meeting a teacher, specifically a practicing teacher who is well versed in a particular area of museum activity.
Several topics related to research and promising directions for museum development were selected for the program. The museum specialists proposed nine topics, choosing only relevant and underdeveloped ones. We understood the risks and realized that the work might not be of high quality. However, in this case, the priority was not so much the practical benefit for the museum but the students themselves understanding the importance and necessity of the work they are engaged in. I can say in advance that in most cases we achieved this effect.
One of the project's goals was to involve students in museum life.
Land art is an art form that emerged in the late 1960s. Its main idea is the harmony between humans and nature. The artist creates works of art that are inseparably linked to the natural landscape while preserving its natural beauty.
The museum's second project involved an experiment with land art in the "Zverinets" park. Under guidance, students created their first works.
The "Zverinets" park is a vast museum territory where transformations occur with love. Students also created art objects. We aimed to showcase the geometricity and simplicity of forms that may be incomprehensible but are as clean from a design perspective as nature itself.
European Cultural Routes (ECR) are connecting museums, monuments, sites and landscapes that share a common theme reflecting shared European values.
Breda University of Applied Science is researching how these routes (and so all stakeholders)can benefit from digitalisation to become more relevant and attractive for all kinds of people.
This research focusses on the Saint Martin of Tours Route. One of the findings is the possibility of location- based games to illuminate hidden, unknow (in) tangible heritage and attract a wider and younger audience.
Besides that digital tools can also be used to cater for underserved communities and audiences. Research on the island of Saint Martin has demonstrated that more inclusive innovative activities, exploring possibilities to expand the route to the Caribbean could provide educational material by collecting multi- vocal stories that challenge mainstream interpretations. These previously unknow stories about the lasting impact of past slavery on daily life today might help to improve life in the future.
They are now part of an educational program “Roots ‘en Route”.
This program creates awareness of slavery in the Caribbean. It bridges the gap between people of different backgrounds and establishes a historical connection between the island of Saint Martin and the city of Utrecht. Saint Martin is patron saint of Utrecht. The program is co- created with the local people at the island of Saint Martin, the Foresee Foundation (4CF) and the Foundation of Saint Martin Utrecht.
The collected stories are about flight and resistance, exploring the shifting and abolishing of borders within the Kingdom of The Netherlands and the discomfort of decolonization. The persons telling their stories are filmed and these films are available for all kind of educational programmes. These stories will also be told in a theatre performance to reach an audience that might not typically visit a museum or heritage site.
This paper presents one case from the ‘We Share World Heritage’ project, which employs participatory action research (PAR) to co-create the values of World Heritage Sites (WHSs) with refugees, using heritage education as a tool for integration.
New Lanark, one of Scotland's World Heritage Sites, is an influential model of an industrial community from the 19th century. Today, can it be a shared, safe place for refugee youths to learn and express their ideas freely? While New Lanark represents the physical legacy of Robert Owen’s utopian dream, can it also become a place that empowers refugees to discuss their rights and imagine their ideal society?
Applying the worldview-oriented heritage education framework, PAR principles, and photovoice and elicitation techniques, this project engages youths with diverse perspectives, bridging the past, present, and potential futures of our shared heritage. More importantly, it examines effective and ethical methods for integrating refugees.
The action at New Lanark has implications for the heritage sector and refugee rights. For the heritage sector, the project designs implements, and evaluates workshops, offering recommendations for inclusive heritage education. For refugee communities, the WHS serves as an engagement zone, enabling young refugees to explore and articulate their rights to education and culture, which is aligned with The New Scots strategy. The project addresses serious issues such as living conditions and the right to education. The opinions and experiences of refugee youths can provide valuable feedback for the rights-based New Scots strategy.
This presentation demonstrates how the New Lanark WHS can be a transformative space for refugee youths, fostering dialogue, understanding, and integration through heritage education.
This presentation draws from an autoethnographic participatory research project centered on the collaborative development of a polyvocal, exhibition-driven Learning Guide. Presenters will share reflections, experiences, and recommendations gleaned from their interdisciplinary, collaborative curriculum development project and follow-up qualitative interviews, based at a contemporary art center in the US. Working “in constellation,” the presenters – two graduate student researchers – came together with artists-in-residence, museum educators, and curators over the period of five months to co-produce a Learning Guide for a series of three exhibitions. The finished Learning Guide (https://wexarts.org/sites/default/files/2023-03/WinterSpring_2023_Learning_Guide.pdf) incorporates the central metaphor of water to provide users (predominantly academic and public audiences) with opportunities for connection, critical self-reflection, and action, weaving together questions of land sovereignty and stewardship, colonialism, queer methods of being and doing, and intersectional climate justice. More critical to this presentation, however, is the iterative process by which such a Learning Guide becomes possible. Building upon the institution’s past Learning Guide initiatives, the constellation process intentionally built bridges across departmental and university silos, made horizontal the traditional museum hierarchies that tend to prioritize curatorial authority over educator expertise, and produced a more innovative, creative, and interactive guide than is possible in more traditional working groups.
In this presentation, the graduate researchers will explore three main areas of interest to attendees: (1) the interdisciplinary Learning Guide itself, with its connecting theme of water and its attendant opportunities to grapple with pressing and difficult social, political, and environmental questions; (2) research findings regarding the “constellation” process that joined the graduate researchers, museum educators, museum curators, and artists-in-residence in a horizontal working group; and (3) the potential implications and applications for nurturing more productive and creative teams that are better prepared to support museum visitors and their diverse needs.
Museum Apiarium – a permanent exhibition set-up with three observation beehives housing live honeybees is also a space-content framework used to address the issues of sustainable development and climate change in the Technical Museum Nikola Tesla. Additionally, it serves as a platform for cooperation with scientific institutions, NGOs and individuals. This is done through educational programmes for all generations and profiles of visitors and users, and most recently by a travelling exhibition. The primary goal of this Museum set-up is in raising awareness about the significance of pollinators in general, and the reminder that activities for their protection should not be postponed. Since beginning of 2024 we are reaching out to wider community by out travelling exhibition. Getting to know the world of bees, especially close and at the same time safe contact with bees contributes to reducing the alienation of children and adults from nature. The goal is also to stimulate the desire of some visitors to practice beekeeping, so that there will be as many of these important insects as possible. Integral part of the exhibition are educational workshops aimed at different groups, perhaps the most important are the expert field education workshops for the local beekeepers who are in most cases farmers as well, and the ones who can make immediate change by accepting sustainable agriculture as the only way forward. In this way this travelling exhibition becomes a tool to address the issues of the natural environment at risk, but it also offers an expert advice on how to go forward, how to solve specific problems etc. Croatia is increasingly recognized as a world tourist destination, which implies numerous positive but also negative consequences and trends, so it is therefore an environment where it is especially important to emphasize the necessity of sustainable development and nature protection with cultural content. Another project that derived from Museum Apiarium engages those unable to physically leave their confined spaces, such as prisoners. We contribute to an important initiative, an NGO led beekeeping school within prisons, coordinated with the Ministry of Justice. Our involvement includes providing educational materials - enriching the teaching resources and, ultimately, enhancing the learning experience for the participants who are in the preparation program for resocialization.
The educational program "A Museum for Gender Equality" was developed in the framework of the European Project EdGE (Educating Young People on Gender Equality) and was implemented as a pilot project in five secondary schools of Attica. The aim was to contribute to the awareness of adolescents about gender equality and the fight against gender violence at a preventive level. The Hellenic Children's Museum designed and developed educational outreach programs as well as a digital museum kit on the topic. In particular, a group of museum educators visited the classrooms and worked with the groups of teenagers, using authentic objects from the museum's collections and works of art from the world's cultural heritage. The students then continued to work with their teachers on the theme, by means of the museum kit, and created their own projects to turn part of their classroom into a "Museum of Equality". The educational activity was completed with the second visit of the Children's Museum to the school, where the students, as artists and curators of their exhibition, guided museum educators through the museum they had created. The children's works, at the end of the school year, were exhibited in the Children's Museum of Athens, where a new exhibit was created with the works of all schools, entitled "A Museum for Gender Equality". In this way, the Children's Museum "embedded" a museum inside a museum, as a new environment was created, made by teenagers for the audience of the Children's Museum, the children and their companions.
This Children’s Museum’s project used methods of experiential learning, learning through objects and works of art, and was based on three pillars: The discovery and empowerment of each individual's self and identity, respect for diversity and promotion of inclusion, towards a more gender-sensitive group, class, society.
The project managed to help children explore and reflect on issues of identity, to understand and respect everyone’s uniqueness, to develop communication and cooperation skills, and to challenge non-inclusive behaviours by taking initiatives that promote gender equality.
The Museum of Greek Children's Art (MGCA) is a pioneering Museum, one of the very few in the world that exhibits drawings, paintings, and works by children aged 4 to 14. Founded in 1994 by its Friends Association as a charitable, non-profit organisation, it operates as a Legal Entity of Private Law with cultural objectives. The primary goal is to introduce the public to art from childhood, offering a creative outlet through an alternative educational process, ‘learning through art’. Art becomes a vehicle and tool for a brighter and more optimistic future for everyone, especially for vulnerable and socially excluded groups, to enhance participation through creative activities, promoting access to the cultural life of the community and encouraging familiarity with contemporary cultural developments.
Museum Education as a field of engagement and interaction with vulnerable and socially excluded individuals or communities is an integral part of the contemporary role of the Museum, responding to a changing social and cultural landscape. Emphasising innovative actions aided by technology and audiovisual media, and adopting a holistic approach, every contemporary Museum ought to fulfil its societal role by enhancing creative interaction and social cohesion. Expanding public dialogue with the maximum participation of children and youth in Culture and in Art contributes to the cultural activity of local communities, fostering collaborations and attracting vulnerable social groups such as individuals with disabilities, refugees, immigrants, etc, aiming for the acceptance of diversity and promotiοn of inclusion.
Through contemporary museum education, local community activities, and creative ways of connecting tradition, historical memory, and intangible cultural heritage, participants realise the need for mutual respect, cooperation, awareness, cultivation of empathy, and highlighting contemporary culture from the perspectives of children and adolescents. Considering the contemporary, multicultural reality through its actions, the MGCA, over its thirty years of operation, addresses significant issues such as children's rights, diversity, bullying, racism, environmental protection, disabilities, mental health issues, prisoners etc, and aims for equal access to culture with no exclusions.
The Museum of School Life adopts innovative steps in its communication policy THROUGH ART
Based on the principles of modern museology and museum pedagogy, but also more broadly of cultural communication, it organizes short-term visual exhibitions outside its space
Indicative examples from the two exhibition projects will be presented at the conference
The fisrst exhibition project has the title “CONDITION TWO”
The project “CONDITION TWO” documents in the community the value of inclusion by putting dieversity in dialogue via art, projecting it as a cultural pluralism. The concept of the whole project is to activate the structural component hidden at the core of a dynamic team , the dyad. So two artists ( one of them whith special needs-special abilities) have the possibility to take part in a visual exhibition on equal terms The process of preparing the exhibition and during the exhibition is also a very special challenge for interaction between the two artists and an interesting interactive practice between the two curators but also between the two organizations that support the project. All participants on equal terms
The second project “CROSS SECTOR DIALOGUE THROUGH ART”aims to highlight the necessity of cross-sector dialogue in the community via art
and specifically via contemporary art for an alternative study to the local history.The Museum aims to develop a creative dialogue between citizens of the local society with the vision of cohesion and development of the community
The art of photography interacts fruitfully with the local community in order to reveal new types of historical resources and to develop creative bridges between sectors, such as health,
tourism, entrepreneurship, education, culture incommunity that are seemingly watertight
Please visit the official web site of the Museum www.school-life
and the links https://school-life.gr/matia-poy-niothoyn-cheria-poy-miloyn/
https://school-life.gr/ermineytika-monopatia/
https://school-life.gr/proypothesi-dyo-apokodikopoiisi/
https://school-life.gr/apokodikopoiisi2syn2/
The workshop is designed to develop the creativity of participants in the field of movement, visual art and music. Inspired by Stelios Votsis' painting Atitlo (1993) which is displayed in the permanent exhibition of the Sate Gallery of Contemporary Art- Majestic (Cyprus), interactive actions were designed by analyzing and deconstructing the painting which is being approached as a multimodal text. Reading this artwork, the workshop instructors invite the participants to an aesthetic experience of viewing and creating inside the Gallery space.
The museum space needs and can encompass dynamism and movement. The museum space hides secrets and treasures that one can read through semiotic mediation, hypothetical thinking, imagination, and movement. The role of the body in the museum context needs reevaluation. The body as self needs to move and incorporate ideas and experiments so that this space and the artworks concern everyone in multiple ways. In our presentation, we aim to activate the participants' curiosity, cultivate their perception, serve as the medium for them to engage with the idea of deconstruction and creation, and finally, provide them with an aesthetic experience in motion. The workshop structure, resulted from studying of the painting, its creator, technique, and era of the artwork's creation in relation to the current context. Although the instructions can be followed as a step-by-step guideline, our suggestion is for each educator to incorporate and enrich them based on their own personality and according to the participants, as the principles are creativity and open-minded thinking.
In every activity, music plays a very specific role and never accompanies the exercise as just a pleasant idea. It involves design and composition specifically to stimulate the participants in movement and creative thinking. The workshop's design is based on the idea of deconstruction and dialogue. The idea of abstraction is used throughout the activities. There is no imitation of the painting, but we embrace hypothetical thinking: “what if it were like this...”, “what would it look like when...”, “what would happen then...”. Participants do not need to have prior experience or knowledge of movement since the workshop exclusively concerns creative movement.
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1KB9ibUehmMm94m_qWI1N5Nhf2iOpw4yg?usp=drive_link
This presentation is a brief account of the journey that the Bank of Greece Museum has taken in relation to meeting and interacting with vulnerable and socially excluded individuals and communities, from its establishment in 2010 to the present day. In particular, it concerns its evolution from a museum that has been compliant with international standards for people with sensory and mobility difficulties, from its establishment in terms of its museographic design, to a museum that nowadays experimentally adopts a broader policy of inclusion by incorporating spatial, communicative and narrative practices, in order to create museum experiences that are attractive and welcoming to groups of audiences of different nationalities, backgrounds, abilities and needs.
The aim of the presentation is the sharing of experiences in terms of integrating inclusion into every possible aspect of museum operations, as well as what this entails in terms of community partnerships, seeking feedback from visitors, and continually re-evaluating and adapting exhibition and interpretive practices. To achieve this goal, reference is also made to methodologies that leverage the potential of multi-sensory perception practices, the hosting of expert interpreters (including sign language), the use of auditory descriptions and tactile replicas and models, modern technologies for the visual impaired, etc. - These methodologies have been piloted in recent years and are used on a case-by-case basis according to the needs of the visiting groups, in order to achieve not only physical but also emotional accessibility.
There are also references to relevant synergies of the Museum - such as the one with "Arogi" (the Association of People with Visual Impairments of the Cyclades Islands), with "Mikros Kosmos" (the special program of the Municipality of Athens for the cultural integration of refugees), with the Athens School of Vocational Training for the Disabled, and with the community of colleague-employees with visual disabilities of the Bank of Greece -which have taken place to support the idea of a Museum that, by adopting a vision of meaningful inclusion, not only "meets the standards", but it also invites.... and it encourages.... and it co-creates.
The presentation is accompanied by photographic material.
One of the basic missions of museums is to present cultural heritage and interpret historical events. The demands for attractive presentations are increasing proportionally with the dynamic development of new informational media, which museums strive to reflect with varying degrees of success. In the contemporary technological storm in the world of information, however, the classic, almost two hundred years old, form of presentation of historical events - the diorama - is resisting. The term diorama dates back to 1822 and was originally composed of two Greek words: dia - "through" and orama - "what is seen or view". It denotes a realistic model of an event or environment, which itself is an artifact of artistic and craftsmanship value. Dioramatic technology caused a stir and became a forerunner of film and virtual reality, the attractiveness of which can be appreciated, especially if we consider the possibilities of mediating visual media of the early 19th century. Today's viewer has incomparable experiences and is "spoiled" by the possibilities of audiovisual and presentation technologies. Nevertheless, dioramas were not condemned and continue to have their place in museum exhibits, albeit in a form far removed from the first specimens. The construction of dioramas in new exhibitions or, on the contrary, their elimination from museum operation stimulates professional discussion and has recently been the subject of visitor research. Some special dioramas have become sought-after tourist destinations, while their attractiveness partly lies in their realistic authenticity contrasting with the surrounding digital world of information. At the same time, however, with the development of new technologies, other possibilities are opening up for their use in the creation of new types of dioramas in museum exhibits. The diorama form of presentation is not only an educational tool in itself, but can also become the principle of children's creative activity during the learning process. Creating or working with a diorama can be a source of cognitive experiences that complement or enrich formal and informal education. The rich history of Christmas nativity scenes, which can also be considered dioramas, can help as a source of knowledge about the interpretive potential of this form. We tested the concrete use of the diorama form of presentation at the Puppet Museum in Pilsen in a case study, the conclusion of which will be reflected in the paper.
Tel Aviv, founded in 1909, its name reflects its layered history; "Tel," meaning hill in Hebrew, symbolizes historical settlements, while "Aviv," translating to spring, embodies renewal and vitality. In 1949, following Israel's declaration and the Palestinian Nakba, Tel Aviv merged with Jaffa, adding complexity to its identity.
The Tel Aviv-Jaffa Museum, opened on January 24, values participation and inclusivity, aiming to represent all residents' voices. Constructed over six years through diverse public discussions.
Museum’s main components:
The Collection: based on participation invites all current or former residents to share personal narratives of their experiences within the city. With around 800 stories spanning the past century, contributed by residents, the collection grows daily.
The Permanent Exhibition: displaying the city's heritage through dialectical themes, the exhibition presents diverse historical narratives of the city. It explores themes like spirit and matter, sacred and secular, local and global, highlighting interconnectedness and mirroring the city's complex character.The contemporary Art Exhibition: inviting city artists to explore its intricacies and contrasts, with a focus on complex themes. This year's theme is Labor and Leisure. Additionally, the museum, recognized as a heritage site stands out as an "odd bird". Unlike typical Israeli heritage sites with a linear narrative, it prioritizes narrative diversity. It connects intangible heritage and history, capturing the locale's rich and varied heritage. The space offers diverse educational potentials, nurturing guided group interactions and dialogues with conflicting perspectives. Visitors can navigate tensions between ideas, fostering dualistic thinking and seeing them as part of a larger whole. This educational approach sees the guide as a dialogue facilitator. Following the visit, the school adjusted history lessons to embrace diverse identities.Roadway teachers, including October 7th refugees from northern Israel visited the art exhibition. They debated a controversial work by Palestinian artist Dorar Bakri titled "Gaza Tel Aviv," which depicted Jenin workers in the city. The discussion touched on the role of art in conflict, raising challenging questions and emotions.These examples express our core values of participation, belonging, and heritage construction. We strive to develop methodologies for encouraging visitors to embrace complexities on personal and public levels
Banco de México Museum was the result of a long journey to share among the public the relevance of an institution which exists to ensure the purchasing power of the Mexican currency, promoting the proper functioning of our payment systems, as well as the sound development of the financial system. This issue is considered, by far, as complex, little-known, and abstract; so, our work bore fruit on September 2021 when, after months, the doors to our main building were finally opened to the public, as such communicating our institutional strength as a cornerstone of contemporary Mexico, highlighting the importance of an autonomous central bank with good credibility, and also why it matters to engage critically with money in our daily lives.
Since its inauguration on September 2021, the team has carried out observational and analytic work that helped identify audience groups, telling them apart through their behavior, upon which we developed our different exhibitions, collaborative activities, and Mediation resources that the public could connect with. This encouraged an approach by means of association and the weaving of multiple stories where the individual remains the main focus, leading to unique and memorable visiting experiences. Such was the case of the event we hosted for Global Money Week 2024, comprised of a wide array of activities—from a follow-your-own-adventure sheet, finance-themed games, an audio booth for children, and family educational sessions—focused on granting participants with the tools to engage actively with their financial realities; or this year’s ICOM International Museum Day celebration, centered upon promoting a holistic educational experience, where the public engaged with the Bank through exhibit approaches with on-site specialists, thematic game sessions, as well as leaving a token made by them upon our decorative wall.
All our efforts have the seed of learning, since the making of exhibition elements, promotion of technological stimuli—like the immersive experience projected across the solid metal walls of the Bank's vault—, and our engaging activities are all calls to reflect, to exchange ideas, and make informed decisions. After visiting the Museum, our guests won’t be the same; but, most importantly, that they will have identified the Central Bank as an institution intent upon engaging with the community.
Museums are institutions that enhance personal learning and can play a mediating role in integrating vulnerable groups within the socio-cultural context. The present research examines the contribution of transformative learning theory on the promotion of adult learning in museums and especially on supporting vulnerable and marginalized audience groups. Transformative learning proposed by J. Mezirow encompasses three key elements: experience, critical reflection, and communication based on rational dialogue. One of the goals of transformative learning is to empower individuals to reexamine the fundamental bases of their misconceptions through critical reflection and challenge dysfunctional beliefs, thereby facilitating change. The research data were gathered from semi-structured interviews with executives of Greek museums. The following questions are being researched: Do museum professionals know about the theory of transformative learning? How is the process of transformation achieved through educational activities in a museum? What elements contribute to transforming visitors’ perceptions? In which areas does this transformation occur? The results of this study indicate that a museum could be a place of the application of the transformative learning theory. The process for transformation can be accomplished through effective planning, communicative approaches, interaction, scientific documentation of exhibits, and appropriate educational activities. Especially for vulnerable social groups, achieving transformation and change through museum-based learning, empowers individuals and contributes to personal improvement and social well-being.
Picture One Artwork! is a signature preschool programme that showcases National Gallery Singapore’s annual partnership with local childcare centres from NTUC First Campus My First Skool. Each year, Picture One Artwork! focuses on one key artwork from the Gallery's Permanent Collection, offering students and teachers an immersive learning experience that promotes in-depth knowledge about the artwork and the artist. Besides bringing joy and inspiring curiosity in young children through creative and thoughtful ways of experiencing art, Picture One Artwork! aims to inspire teachers to take an integrated approach to teaching and learning, incorporating various subjects and skills into their lessons to encourage well-rounded learning. Taking reference from Singapore’s Ministry of Education – Nurturing Early Learners (NEL) framework, Picture One Artwork! aims to develop children’s values, social and emotional competencies and learning dispositions as well as the key knowledge, in 3 out of the 5 learning areas.
• Language and Literacy - Speak with confidence to convey meaning and to communicate with others which is required during the project making and learning journeys
• Discovery the world - stimulating and sustaining children’s sense of wonder and curiosity through observing and questioning.
• Aesthetic - Express ideas and feelings through art. Explore and creating two- and three-dimensional art using a variety of media, tools, techniques and processes.
The program then culminates in an Art Showcase at National Gallery Singapore. This exciting event provides an opportunity for students to showcase their own artistic creations, inspired by the featured artwork and a platform for preschoolers to celebrate their learning and to develop their confidence in expressing themselves creatively.
“givingBAC – Art Reaching Communities” is an initiative by the National Gallery Singapore’s Outreach team to bring art beyond the walls of the museum to the communities. Community members are engaged in a process of co-creation, with art programmes and toolkits that feature or are inspired by the Gallery’s collection of artworks and resources.
In Singapore, the National Arts Council conducts the “Population Survey of the Arts” annually and seniors participants in arts are the lowest annually [1]. Furthermore, male participation in activities conducted at Active Ageing Centres is typically low and there are more women than men at these centres, which poses challenges to boosting social connectedness [2].
In this edition of givingBAC, the Gallery collaborated with St Luke’s ElderCare. Over 8 weeks, community artist Ms Joanne Lio engaged 10 seniors (5 male and 5 female) to produce artworks responding to the theme of “Telling My Lifestory”. At the end of the workshops, the seniors reported stronger friendships with each other and greater confidence in expressing themselves as many have not participated in arts activities before. To expand programme engagement and encourage other centres to adapt the workshops, a toolkit was also developed with resource guides inputs from the public libraries.
This presentation will share how the team overcame challenges in engaging seniors (especially men) and learning points from inter-agency collaborations to gain wider audiences and ensure programme sustainability.
M+ is a museum of visual culture with an interdisciplinary collection that brings together design, architecture, moving images, and visual art. Visual culture provides a lens and an interdisciplinary approach for M+ to design young people programme and set intended learning outcomes. Multiple perspective, open-mindedness and critical reflection are encouraged in the process. Through engaging with the collection and spaces, young audience is prompted to connect what they see and experience in the museum to lived experiences and create personal meanings. This presentation uses M+ Creative Day Camp as a case study to examine how engaging with visual culture can inspire creativity, nurture personal growth and enhance wellbeing at uncertain times.
M+ Creative Day Camp was designed to engage tertiary students aged 18-24 in experimenting with their creative ideas alongside artist instructors and like-minded peers through a four-day camp experience. It was first launched in 2022, a challenging time for young people towards their physical, mental and social wellbeing during the COVID-19 pandemic and the social unrest in Hong Kong in 2019. We set out key programme outcomes to guide our programme planning. The programme outcomes emphasize personal discovery and co-creation with fellow participants and artist instructors. Participants are encouraged to explore with creative ideas through hands-on experimentation with various art forms and mediums. We want to foster a process of self-discovery for participants to explore their own creative instincts and push their boundaries and limitations. Group exchanges take place through playful activities, discussions and field trips that further nurture idea-sharing, relationship building, and empathy in understanding one another’s perspectives.
Since launching the creative day camp we’ve also measured our success. So far we have learned that the camp serves as an enriching first step for participants in the journeys of creative self-discovery and development of wellbeing. Many reflected that they built confidence through hands-on exploration and challenges undertaken independently and collaboratively with peers. Through open dialogue, participants broadened their perspectives—a key skill for resilience when facing unpredictable challenges. These early insights demonstrate how fostering creativity can lay the groundwork for building resilience to cope with life’s uncertainties and ultimately enhance one’s wellbeing.
In 2022, ICOM El Salvador and ICOM Belgium launched a cultural research and mediation project as part of "ICOM Solidarity". The project started from the need to bring the museum collections of El Salvadoran museums closer to communities following the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Due to the pandemic, but also to the unsettled political climate, not all museums are equally accessible to a part of the population. Therefore, the aim of the project was to find an alternative form through which different communities in El Salvador can learn about and connect with museums. Following a project call, 10 museums applied. Together, they chose to develop toolkits for local communities. Each toolkit starts from the museumcollection and the same methodology. Because of the diversity of the museums - army museum, currency museum, anthropology museum and art museum - the materials in each toolkit differ, such as replicas of artefacts, materials, objects and USB sticks with additional information.
With these toolkits, the project aims to strengthen ties between Salvadoran museums and communities and revive connections with the museums, especially in situations where the public does not have access to museums. Moreover, it aimed to encourage new readings and interpretations of the collections pieces, taking into account new audiences and communities. The ICOM El Salvador 'solidarity' project was a collaborative project between ICOM Belgium and ICOM El Salvador. Both committees submitted a project to support museum colleagues in El Salvador in the field of public education. Many museums in El Salvador do not have separate services or people available for education and lack resources. From that demand, ICOM Belgium and, in particular, ICOM CECA Belgium were involved in the project. Museums were also encouraged among themselves to cooperate and exchange experiences, which so far has not happened much in El Salvador.
Roving Art Installations is an outreach initiative designed to connect art and people, fostering deeper connections with art and their everyday lives. This initiative comes to life through collaboration among museum educators and artists, featuring larger-than-life artist-commissioned installations that travel through community spaces. By extending the reach of Southeast Asian Modern Art beyond the museum's walls, the initiative builds new audiences and encourage them to connect personal narratives with historical stories, thus bridging the past, present and future.
The roving installations journey to the north, east and central regions of Singapore, bringing the vibrant stories of Southeast Asia to life. They invite everyone to engage with art through various programmes, offering diverse entry points that relate to personal lived experiences. By engaging with art in familiar and accessible environments, audiences are more likely to form meaningful connections with the stories and themes being presented.
Through these installations, the initiative aims to make art accessible. By situation art within community spaces, opportunities are created for spontaneous and everyday interactions with art, making it an integral part of daily life. This approach not only broadens the audience base but also enriches their understanding and appreciation of diverse narratives and artistic expressions.
The presentation will delve into the insights gained from this initiative, sharing the challenges and successes encountered while bringing art to new and diverse spaces. Educational, community engagement strategies and logistical considerations that were essential to the project's implementation will be presented. Additionally, stories of how the audiences have connected with the installations will be shared, demonstrating the power of art to invite reflections and dialogues; and that in bringing art into everyday spaces, we can foster deeper connections between art and the lives of people in the community.
The purpose of the report is to reveal the features and specific aspects of the Lithuanian Sport Museum's participation in the European Night of Museums programme. Main tasks are to present the synergy of archives and active sports activities in the organization and to present the parameters for the inclusion of visitors to this educational event. During the report, there will be represented the event of the Lithuanian Sport Museum, which attracted more than 900 visitors during one late evening of 18th May, 2024. A modern look at museology will be presented. We will look at the museum as a mediator between the public and the exhibits in storage. It will be revealed what methods and principles the museum adopts in order to rejuvenate and engage the communities, forcing them to stay in the museum as long as possible, because active sports programmes allow them to experience joy and the impression of entertainment. The museum has equipped a football field of a reduced model and a basketball of relevant dimensions; professional table tennis is played. In this way, the museum moves into the area of the "Third place" theory, as it has dedicated outdoor spaces that combine formal museology with practical educational factors. During presentation, we will also look at how visitors were able to choose different themed tours in both contexts of sport’s heritage and history, choosing different hours to walk around the different exhibitions. This helped us to ensure smooth flow and offer a wide intellectual field at the same time.
Museums and science centres can be accelerators for achieving global goals and social change from a cultural action and educational perspective. Owing to the fact that Glasgow Science Centre(GSC) has a vision for leading best practices in environmental sustainability, addressing it not only in campus approach but in education and social responsibility aspect, meanwhile, it has successfully developed the capacity to respond to the delicate topic within COP26, including exhibiting the ground-breaking competition of the Reimagine Museum for Climate Action, it has ambitiously positioned itself to the forefront of designing learning opportunities for fitting in the SDGs to the locals and underserved audiences. This research aims to flag an array of actions and implementations which the GSC team has coordinated with like-minded partner institutes and experts associated with the idea of Action for Climate Empowerment(ACE) and provide the tactics that could potentially bypass the learning barriers as well as demonstrate resources that could be utilized in echoing the SDGs value of transforming museum in to space for conversations and climate action with the participation of partners and community. It will elaborate the shared agenda and insight toward the SDGs discourse in the unique case of community project GALLANT (Glasgow as a Living Lab Accelerating Novel Transformation) and the special learning project Curiosity Cube. It will also showcase the different paths of enabling the climate conversation to spark the audience at all times in an inclusive manner within the museum asset.
Η ΦΩΤΟΓΡΑΦΙΑ. ΚΙΒΩΤΟΣ ΤΟΥ ΠΛΑΝΗΤΗ.
The neurodivergent community (e.g., persons with autism spectrum disorder, or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) can experience sensory overload in public spaces. To cater for these sensory needs, the National Gallery Singapore developed a sensory-friendly ‘Calm Room’. The process of development involved a long period of information gathering, with potential users recruited to provide feedback through surveys, focus group discussions, and pilot tests of the room’s materials (e.g., sensory probe kits). To ensure buy-in, the final design was implemented alongside: (i) careful training of visitor-facing staff, (ii) whole-of-organisation briefings, and (iii) engagement with community partners. One year into its operation, the Calm Room has served over 22,000 visitors and has hosted its first artist-in-residence. All seats and features of the room (e.g., lighting, audio) have been well-utilised, and feedback has been generally positive.
ABOUT THE CALM ROOM
The Calm Room is a dedicated space where visitors can rest if they are feeling over-stimulated or overwhelmed by their environment. In this soothing and sensory-friendly space, they can take the time to calm down, regulate their stress responses, and renew their focus.
The room is wheelchair-accessible and features an ambient soundscape, private seating pods, and sensory kits. To support diverse visitor needs, lighting and sound levels can be adjusted. Please approach our friendly Front-of-House staff if you need to do so.
Although this room is open to all, visitors may be asked to leave should someone urgently need to use the room in private.
Acknowledgement: Dr Dawn-Joy Leong
Website: https://www.nationalgallery.sg/calmroom
Today more than ever, ecological, political and social changes require us to rethink cooperation. Necessary cultural change therefore undoubtedly needs trusting alliances. The production of this natural knowledge requires concepts that capture the ambivalence of the intrinsic openness of the sciences and offer them a structure. There is no lack of corresponding programmatic demands (European Commission, 2016). However, it is not enough to simply focus on academic research (e.g. replicability) or scientific communication (e.g. open access). Rather, it is crucial for the transfer and exchange of this natural knowledge to experiment with new forms of collaboration in a transparent and sustainable manner.
In order to venture thinking and testing new ways of acting, the Nature Knowledge Network at the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin is therefore being set up as an agile and innovative contact zone for various partners from the Berlin/Brandenburg (Germany) region. The aim of the network is to acquire and reflect on contemporary nature knowledge as a basis for shaping the world by taking up the challenge of science and research. This succeeds when innovative and flexible social practices and patterns of interpretation bring together different bodies of knowledge in a resonance space.
The talk will take place against the background of first experience of a new way of conceptualizing and analyzing human-nature relations in this network. In this context, the digital “Atlas of Natural Knowledge” will be presented as a way to sustainably collect different sources of knowledge. The Atlas of Natural Knowledge offers a digital infrastructure for methodological and content-related reflection processes. It documents, visualizes, analyses and makes accessible a collaboratively created common digital knowledge map as an imprint of social relations, discourses and practices. The atlas is therefore not a geographical compendium, but a cultural artefact that reflects the political, social and cultural relationships between the projects and their structures.
The poster aims to create a dynamic interaction with attendees, sparked by the question:
**How is coloniality expressed in museums?**
This exercise will be based on Core Concepts previously analyzed by the Binding Relationships subgroup, which are, likewise connected to Binding
Concepts that encourage reflection.
Attendees will weave together these connections to analyze coloniality within the museum, within our work, and within the educational practices we
create in our spaces.
In this way, Joint Writing does not exist in a text, but rather in the visual diagram we have built together. It serves as an exercise in coding Core Concepts and Binding
The EMΣΤ | National Museum of Contemporary Art, Athens is sensitive to attending to the needs and interests of diverse groups. Through its programmes it aims to eliminate social exclusion, promote integration, and the creation of equal opportunities for access to art and culture for all. In line with the fulfillment of the Museum’s social and educational role and in meeting the needs of our time, from October 2023 until May 2024 it run the experiential artistic programme Colors & Minds aiming to raise awareness for young people in the psychosocial sector. The goal of the programme was to promote an understanding and acceptance of the world around us through the deployment of the visual arts, with the ultimate aim of creating a more open, amicable environment for all. It involved young people from different population groups (students from the Athens School of Fine Arts and the Art and Psychotherapy Centre), who worked together with recipients of mental health services from the Association for Regional Development and Mental Health. Inspired by Vlassis Caniaris’ work Hopscotch (1974), the participants used different artistic means (drawing, photography/video, sculpture, installation, performance and text) to experientially explore contemporary art through the various conceptual aspects of the specific work. A presentation of the artworks created by the participants was on view from May 21st until May 26th, 2024.The programme was jointly organized by the EMΣΤ | National Museum of Contemporary Art Athens, the Association of Social Responsibility for Children and Youth (SKEP), the Association for Regional Development and Mental Health (EPAPSY) and the voluntary artistic initiative Talks & Crafts.
https://www.emst.gr/learning/educational-programmes/colors-and-minds
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