This Diversifying the Museum Voice case study follows the progress of the Polar Museum in pursuing its commitment to equality and access for all and exploring how it can meaningfully achieve this for and with people who are blind or partially-sighted. It provides an example of one approach to putting the Diversifying the Museum Voice Principles framework into action. The Museum is working in collaboration with a group of local people who are acting as consultants; through this the aim is to understand access barriers and develop resources, approaches and content that addresses these. Investments in the Museum’s Ernest Shackleton collection and the public interface with this have made this initiative possible.
About the Polar Museum
Part of the Scott Polar Research Institute, a centre of excellence in the study of the Arctic and Antarctic, the Museum offers visitors the chance to discover the extraordinary stories of Earth’s coldest, driest, windiest, highest and deadliest places, from heroes to modern climate science.
The Opening Up project: what’s happened so far?
- Consultation plan devised.
- Community consultation group established.
- Three, one to one, consultations have taken place.
- Plans for new resources, such as raised line drawings, are in discussion
- Evaluation plan has been devised and is in use.
The consultation group have been formed through an invitation to regular attendees of the consortium-wide dedicated programme, as such those taking part are doing so with an established interest in museums and a desire to access what’s on offer.
To ensure that consultation is authentic, care and time has been invested in creating interview questions that are both directly important to achieve immediate actions and also allow for a broader dialogue to take place, helping to identify and understand areas of reciprocity and divergence.
The Museum has invested in training from VocalEyes for all staff and have purchased a Swell Form Graphics Machine to create raised line drawings to complement their collections. Understanding the impact being made and the changes that are taking place is being achieved through an evaluation framework designed to measure: both staff and volunteer confidence and competencies in supporting blind and partially sighted visitors engage with the Museum; the relevance and quality of the adaptations made to collections and their interpretation and display; the selection of differing resources and/or events programming on offer to blind and partially sighted visitors and the experience of the members of the consultation group as co-creators with the Museum.
“Before people can, or will, begin to consider if they would like to participate in a museum’s life, be part of its activity, feel connected to its stories and objects and finally make sense of them or form connections for themselves, they must feel welcomed. This philosophy, captured in Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, speaks clearly to this important programme of activity.”
Charlotte Connelly, Curator, Polar Museum
What difference is the project making?
Trust has been established between the consultation group and the Museum, bringing with it a willingness to help the Polar Museum to become a place where blind and partially-sighted visitors feel both welcomed and valued. Staff and volunteers are onboard with the programme and are keen to be part of opening-up the collections to each and every visitor who walks through the front doors. The collaborative approach or model devised by the Museum has contributed purposefully to its embedding of consultation, collaboration and ultimately shared authorship into its work, as well as supporting the overall longevity of positive impact from the project.
Using the Diversifying the Museum Voice Principles to plan, do and review
Devised through a process of action learning with teams across the UCM, these six interconnecting principles provide a flexible framework for teams to plan, manage and review collaborative activity, providing ideas and provocations that support people in coming together to discuss, participate in dialogue and make change.
Which Principles are important to this project, how and why?
Diversify Relationships
As well as new and different connections, this programme is giving the Museum the opportunity to extend the scope of relationships it has that are characterised by reciprocity and mutuality, rather than transaction.
Pursue Authenticity & Commit to Dialogue
A priority here has been to utilise participants’ time well by investing initially in the Museum’s time and expertise in the forming of consultation questions that have clear aims and marrying with this the space for what they don’t know they need yet to emerge!
Share Authorship
The success of the raised line drawings, and similar resources, will be dependent on authorship being a shared, collaborative, activity. The team are also exploring, with their collaborators, the role played by and important of additional interpretative narrative, such as audio description or scaled models, that encourage the involvement of other senses.
Design Inclusively
Quality is implicit to the success of this programme, as such the team have been asking themselves how they can design both quality invitations to participate and quality materials that speak of the value they are placing on this audience and the experience they have with the Museum.
Measure what Matters
Ultimately the Museum is eager to know if the investments being made through this programme are those that will be relevant and attractive to blind and partially sighted visitors, increasing visitor numbers and shifting perceptions of the institution. To get there, they are aware that they need to first consult and collaborate, then upskill and then programme specific events, the evaluation of all needed to move forward with the best, quality offer they can achieve for years to come.
Top tips for peers and colleagues
- Value the time being generously given by collaborators and use it effectively; be purposeful and clear, don’t take more time than you need but ensure your collaborators opinions feel valued and listened to.
- Embed ‘space for the unknown’ to emerge in consultation.
- Measure what you can, when you can, and use it to shape your next question!
- Always seek to take actions that encourage longevity to your project or relationships with collaborators.
You can find more resources and case studies on the Diversifying the Museum Voice main page.