Ten pilot museums announced for Sensational Museum Project

Ten museums will participate in a pilot programme to test how new access tools perform in real-life museum and heritage settings.

The Sensational Museum research project is hoping to develop novel multisensory approaches to museum provision that challenge what is described as the “hierarchical split between museum provision for disabled and non-disabled people”.

The £1m project intends to rethink the role of senses in all aspects of museum work, from accession, cataloguing and collections through to curating, exhibitions and the visitor experience. The team is particularly interested in developing non-visual ways that museums might be experienced.

The project, which is funded by the Arts & Humanities Research Council, has spent the past year developing prototypes related to two strands of museum work: collections and communication.

The project has now confirmed the pilot museums that will test these prototypes over the coming months.

Organisations piloting the Strand A (Collections) prototype:

• National Paralympic Heritage Trust
• Bradford District Museums and Galleries
• BFI Archive

Organisations piloting the Strand B (Communications) prototype:

• Roman Baths and Pump Room
• Ditchling Museum of Art + Craft
• Nuneaton Museum & Art Gallery

Organisations piloting Strands A and B working together:

• Herefordshire Museum Service
• Keswick Museum
• Shakespeare Birthplace Trust
• Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Cambridge

Announcing the pilot museums, the project team said: “Over the last few months, we’ve been running two strands of workshops to develop our prototype processes and software.

“Bolstered by insights, suggestions and critical queries from our project partners and invited industry professionals, we’re reaching the last stages of prototype development. We’re nearly ready to see how our prototypes perform in real museums and heritage spaces, and discover how they can give the heritage sector the sensory tools to change museums for everyone.

“In preparation for the next stage, we are absolutely thrilled to confirm our first ten Sensational Pilot Museums.”

The museums and teams will play a key role in the next stages of the project, using the sensational prototypes to develop multisensory ways of working within their institutions.

“We’re excited to get started,” the statement continued. “We’d also like to thank all the museums who submitted an application to become a pilot museum. We were so pleased to hear about the level of interest and enthusiasm for sensory and equitable access in museums.”