Top Tips and Ideas for Museums and Galleries
One of the most frequently asked questions from venues is ‘I want to get involved but I don’t know what to do. Do you have any suggestions?’ The answer is yes! So we’ve put together a list of ideas that you might want to consider for Disabled Access Day 2017 (or any other day!) – but equally if you have a brand new idea we’d love to hear about it!
The Tate Modern, The National Waterfront Museum, The Tower Bridge Exhibition and Eureka! The National Children’s Museum are just some of the amazing museums and galleries who have previously signed up to Disabled Access Day. We are hoping lots more will get involved this year!
Case Study: The Tate Modern
The Tate Modern in London was eager to get involved in Disabled Access Day from the beginning. On the day they created a quiet space for disabled visitors, with space for people to relax, eat lunch and a range of touch tour objects on display for people to explore. Guided tours were run for disabled visitors at set times and touch tours were also run throughout the day.
Not sure what you can offer? We’ve put together some top tips on how to make your museum or gallery more accessible and some ideas more specifically for Disabled Access Day 2017 below:
Audio Described Tour
Audio description is a way of making your museum more accessible to visually impaired or blind people through descriptions of your exhibitions – this may be an in person tour, or a pre-recorded tour on a hand held device or at specific listening posts within the museum. If you’re interested in holding an audio description tour, VocalEyes are a great place to start – they have worked with a number of museums, galleries and theatres to make their exhibitions and shows more accessible.
The Cutty Sark held their first ever audio description tour on Disabled Access Day and now they hold audio description tours on regular basis. Try something new – you never know, if it proves popular it might just become a regular feature!
Touch Tour
A touch tour gives people the opportunity to touch artefacts, replicas, models and or props. They give people the opportunity to further their understanding of the items on display at the museum and, or build up a picture of an object. These tours can be guided by a member of your museum staff or the items could be out on display at selected times as a self-guided touch tour. Touch tours are fantastic for visually impaired or blind visitors to your museum or gallery, but remember that they are also a great addition for any visitors!
Last year the Tate Modern ran three guided touch tours throughout the day on Disabled Access Day – will you add a touch tour to your list of events in 2017?
British Sign Language (BSL) Tour
If you already run BSL tours or even if you’ve never had one before, how about holding a tour or demonstration on Disabled Access Day? This is a great way for people who are hearing impaired or deaf to learn more about the exhibitions at your museum and they can be run alongside your daily tours.
Last year the Houses of Parliament and the Cutty Sark both held BSL tours for Disabled Access Day. It was so popular at Borough Market that a BSL interpreted demonstration is now a regular feature at the Saturday market.
Try it on session
These are a great way of getting people more engaged with your exhibition and are particularly good for engaging younger audiences! Whether you enable people to become a Knight in shining armour, a First World War Pilot or a Victorian Lady for the day… Open up your doors and the dress-up box and let people experience what it was really like to wear those items back in the day.
For Disabled Access Day this year the Royal Air Force Museum encouraged people to try on their Second World War uniforms at dedicated times during the day- an activity that proved popular with younger audiences!
Photo booth
Everyone loves a good photograph! So create your own fun filled photo booth with some props or costumes from your museum and help people remember the fab time they had at your museum on Disabled Access Day 2017!
Encourage visitors to take a selfie and share it on your museum or gallery social media pages too – this is a great way of increasing your own publicity!
Relaxed or autism friendly exhibition
Relaxed exhibitions offer a space and time for people with autism, learning disabilities and sensory or communication impairments to enjoy an exhibition. This can happen in the form of an ‘Early Bird Visit’ where the museum is open early, enabling people to explore the museum without the hustle and bustle that there is on a day to day basis. Alternatively, it could take place on a dedicated day where the museum is normally still open to the general public but with some adjustments made to exhibitions.
Museums can make small adjustments on the day to help make it a more relaxing environment; this can include adjustments to lighting and sound, providing a dedicated quiet space and creating an autism friendly trail. You might want to consider a specifically designed demonstration or workshop too.
If you want to find out more about Early Bird Visits the Science Museum is a good place to start; they run events a couple of times a year on a Saturday.
The Royal Air Force Museum is also a good place to look. In 2014 they won an Autism Access Award acknowledging the adjustments they made to make the museum more autism friendly.
Discounted Entry
If you normally charge an entrance fee to your museum or specific exhibits, how about offering a discount for Disabled Access Day 2017? This could be a percentage off your normal ticket price, a 2 for 1 deal or free entry when customers show their Disabled Access Day email at your ticket office.
You might also want to use Disabled Access Day to promote your carer policy to encourage people to return in the future.
Offer a complimentary drink
Do you have a museum café? How about offering a free drink or discount with a ticket and encourage people to spend some time in your museum café before exploring the rest of your museum!
Do you have another idea?
If you’ve got another idea then we’d love to hear from you, you can email us or phone us on 0131 510 5106.
Whatever you decide to do for Disabled Access Day 2017, just make sure that you sign up on our website!
Disabled Access Day is powered by Euan’s Guide -
Euan’s Guide is a disabled access review website and app
and is a charity registered in Scotland (SC045492).
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