ART BEYOND SIGHT INSTITUTE
SERVICES FOR MUSEUMS
& CULTURAL INSTITUTIONS
Staff & Docent Trainings
Tactile Diagrams
Verbal Descriptions
Web Site Enhancements
- Disability Awareness Training for docents and museum staff, including educators, visitor services, security, and administrators
- Customized Trainings: Accessibility Tools, Verbal Descriptions, Tactile Diagrams for docents and educators
- General consultation on starting an accessibility program, launching a pilot, and outreach to disability community in your area
- Creating tactile diagrams for museum artworks and architectural structures
- Creating and recording verbal descriptions of paintings, sculpture, architecture, decorative arts
- Assessing accessibility of a museum’s Web site
For more information about ABS’s Services,
contact us at 212 334 8720 or email coordinator@artbeyondsight.org
For personnel that interact with the public including educators, docents, administrators, security.
ABS can customize trainings and workshops for your museum’s collection and for your education department, whether starting an accessibility program or refreshing an existing program. These trainings are available:
Disability Awareness Training.
After a general review of all disability issues, including the ADA and communication skills, the training focuses on people who are blind and visually impaired. Participants review sighted guide techniques and other accommodations. Training includes practical exercises and presentations by members of local disability groups.
Accessibility Tools Training.
Presents general accessibility tools and interpretive learning tools for people with sight loss. Topics include touch tours, touch handling sessions, verbal descriptions, tactile diagrams and art making. The training reviews best practices in using different tools, and then focuses on tools for your museum’s specific program.
Tactile Diagrams Training/Workshop.
Participants learn guidelines for creating tactile images, including the basic tactile language of lines, icons, and patterns. Participants create tactile diagrams using a tactile fuser. Participants then learn and practice verbal guidance of the hands to accompany the tactile diagrams.
Verbal Description Training/Workshop.
Participants learn the guidelines for writing verbal descriptions and tour tips. Participants listen to outstanding samples of descriptions, and then write their own descriptions.
ABS can design and produce tactile diagrams for your museum. General Accessibility tactiles can include the museum’s facade, cross sections, and floor plans of the museum. Interpretive Learning tactiles can be based on art from your museum’s collection.
ABS can write verbal descriptions of art works in your collection. If desired, ABS can also provide vocal talent and produce recordings of the verbal descriptions, which can be used on a website, audiotour, public program, and docent or educator-led tour.
Most verbal descriptions are voice only. But ABS can also enhance recordings with appropriate sound effects and music. ABS can also produce interpretive sound compositions of works of art or styles of art.
If you have a web site, ABS can produce multi-sensory highlights to enhance your online collection. ABS can work with your website designer to provide any of these highlights: printable tactile diagrams, high-resolution, high-contrast images for people with low vision, recorded verbal description, and interpretive sound compositions,
Why Use ABS for Your Museum?
Because ABS believes in empowering cultural institutions. ABS will design trainings so that your staff, volunteers, and the local disability community can continue your program independently and conduct subsequent trainings and refreshers themselves.
To assist museums in this ongoing work, ABS offers a wealth of FREE materials on its web site www.artbeyondsight.org.
- Online Handbook for Museums and Educators, complete with video and audio demonstrations and guidelines
- Agendas, check lists and trouble shooting tips for every step of creating a pilot program
- Funding strategies and tips
- Online Discussion Groups for Museums, Educators, Researchers and Advocates moderated by experts in the field
- Access to our unique multi-sensory encyclopedia, Art History Through Touch and Sound
- Lesson plans
