The goal of the Institute is to empower cultural institutions to provide accessibility for all. Here are free materials for museum professionals.

Handbook for museums and Educators
Art Beyond Sight International Conferences
Theory and Research
Laboratory for Learning
Multi-Site Museum Study

The Institute also offers these customized services and tools to museums and other institutions.

Training and Workshops
Working Groups
Tactile Diagrams and Maps
Recorded Verbal Descriptions
Multimedia Collection Highlights
Accessibility Survey and Assessment Tools
Art Beyond Sight Certificate

Services and Accessibility Tools

Trainings, workshops, and working groups are customized for each institution and museum, and conducted in person. The Institute also makes this content available as online self-study units for professionals. All online materials are accessible with the free membership.

Level I Trainings

These on-site trainings can be adapted for specialized groups including educators, curators, docents, administrators, trustees, security, visitor services, and exhibit, Web, and graphic designers.

• Disability Awareness Training
• Accessibility Tools Training
• Verbal Description Workshop

Level II Trainings

Advanced trainings are available in the following areas.

• Tactile Diagram Making & Writing of Narratives
• Art Curricula for Specialized Populations
• Best Practices Seminar on Accessible and Inclusive Museum Programs
• Universal Design and Cultural Institutions’ Best Practices
• Disability Legislation and Cultural Institutions
• Specialized Curricula Workshops
• Art and Independent Living Skills for Students with Disabilities
• Museum/School Partnership Curricula
• Using Art History Through Touch and Sound in the Gallery and Classroom
• Art Therapy for Children with Vision Loss and Other Disabilities
• Teaching American Art Through Multiple Modalities
• Art Programs for Seniors: Multi-Sensory Memoirs
• Art Programs for Veterans

Working Groups
For museum professionals who attended Level I courses, we offer on-site or teleconference working groups.
This content is also available as self-study units.

• Working Group with Museum Education Department on the ABCs of Access
• Museum Team: Working with your Team from Trustees to Security
• Advisory Group and Audience Research
• Conceptualizing a Pilot Program Using Existing Resources                                     
• Outreach and Community Partnerships
• Running a Successful Open House with Review and Evaluation
• Staff and Docent Annual Training
• Strategies to Make Your Program Last
• Employment and Internships for Students with Disabilities

Customized Resources for Educators
Institute staff can provide these specialized services to your institution.

• Create Tactile Diagrams of your collection highlights
• Create Tactile Diagrams of museum façade, maps, floor plans, grounds                
• Write and Record Verbal Descriptions, enhanced with sound and music
• Produce Multimedia Enhancement of selected works for an accessible Web site.

Accessibility Survey and Assessment Tools

• Initial Accessibility Survey for Museums
• Universal Design (UD) Audit in collaboration with a UD agency (in development)
• Museum Programmatic Access Evaluation
• Museum Web Accessibility Survey

Art Beyond Sight Certificate
This certificate recognizes the high standards of a museum’s programs for people with disabilities. To qualify, a museum must have successfully completed the Institute’s Museum Programmatic Accessibility Evaluation, showing that its programs and tours for people with vision loss and other disabilities meet the same standards and objectives as the programs for visitors without disabilities.

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