Virtual Internships Are Here to Stay—and That’s a Good Thing
Amid the challenges of 2020, one of the most successful learning experiences for me was pivoting to a 100 percent remote internship program at the National Gallery of Art. When I began planning to make the transition last March, I saw …
How the National Air and Space Museum Took Volunteering Virtual
A mother and her spaceship-loving children, ages five and seven, arrive at the Steven F. Udvar Hazy Center using their timed tickets. As they enter the museum, unsure where to turn first, a volunteer on a sixty-five-inch monitor behind the …
10 Best Practices of Accessible Museum Websites
This article explores ten high-impact areas you should consider to enhance your website’s accessibility and bring it into conformance with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), the set of rules and practices that aims to define …
Why I Abandoned the Traditional Museum Education Model
Personal stories are how we, at Nemours Estate, connect our visitors with the duPont family who once lived in this grand place. So I’d like to share my personal story of building a museum education program from the ground up, to illustrate …
How to Start an Accessibility Movement at Your Museum
Think back to a childhood trip to a museum, aquarium, or historic home. Chances are the first thing you heard was a directive: “Hands in pockets and do not touch anything.” Today, we still see similar interactions in museums …
The Keys to Sustainable Online Programming? Partnerships and Professional Development
Recently, I’ve been analyzing the efficacy of museum-developed digital programs over their thirty-year history, and I’ve noticed a common theme: Every study extols the benefits of such programs, including increased outreach and engagement …
The UniDescription Project Breaks Down Common Barriers to Media Accessibility
National Park Service sites are generally grand and iconic American places for us to gather, commune with nature, tell important stories about our country’s past, and celebrate our togetherness. They are intended to be widely open to the …
Mind the Accessibility Gap
When we talk about equity, diversity, and inclusion in museums, we have a usual list of groups we mention: Black and Indigenous people, other people of color, LGBTQIA+ people, unhoused people, socioeconomically disadvantaged people, and …
Leveraging Smartphone Technology to Protect Museum Visitors
Everyone is eager for a return to normal, which includes access to museums and other cultural venues. While countless people likely have been inspired and sustained by virtual museum tours these past few months, there is something very …
Staying in Touch: Addressing Concerns to Allow Tactile Exploration at Museums
The COVID-19 pandemic is creating new norms that discourage touching all manner of objects to curtail the spread of the virus. However, when public spaces reopen, understandable concern about disease transmission may lead museums to …
