MusLi (Museums Literacy) - Fondazione Fitzcarraldo
MusLi (Museums Literacy) - Fondazione Fitzcarraldo
MusLi (Museums Literacy) - Fondazione Fitzcarraldo
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PILOT MUSEUM ACTIVITIES<br />
FOR ELDERLY AND VISITORS<br />
WITH SPECIAL NEEDS<br />
Key points of interest<br />
<strong>MusLi</strong> - No qualifications needed: museums and new audiences<br />
communication/contact<br />
The project - connected to the Conference Adult Learning in <strong>Museums</strong> - Equal Rights to All!, held<br />
in Budapest on 30/31 October, 2008 - involved providing pilot sessions at the above-mentioned<br />
four museums for the elderly and visitors with disabilities. Originally, we offered sessions for the<br />
unemployed and mothers with babies on maternity leave, but these groups seemed to lack interest<br />
in the offered sessions. As these programmes were part of a bigger initiative organized by the<br />
Hungarian Folk High School Society, we recruited participants through the official website of the<br />
event as well as through other channels. <strong>Museums</strong> involved have also contacted their already<br />
existing networks, and we have managed to invite participants through contacts with a Home for<br />
the Elderly and a Home for People with special needs in the 3rd district of Budapest. Recruiting<br />
participants needed a lot of personal contact (even if through the phone), and it seemed followup<br />
calls had helped a lot, too.<br />
The failure for the group of the unemployed and mothers at home was due to the fact that the<br />
museum that offered the session for mothers did not want to provide a crèche at first, and by the<br />
time they changed their mind (persuaded by us) it was a bit too late to communicate changes in<br />
the programme. The lesson we learnt was that initiating a programme like this needs a lot more<br />
human resources and time as contacts have to be made and nurtured personally.<br />
kind of experience proposed<br />
The sessions we offered were originally planned to take place in 5 museums but one was left out<br />
as there was no interest for the session it offered. It offered two sessions on Renaissance catering<br />
including making carrot flowers linked to their temporary exhibition at that time. The target<br />
group of these sessions were the unemployed and mothers on maternity leave. But according to<br />
our experience, they were the hardest to reach groups.<br />
As to the unemployed group, the problem must have been in the general nature of the topic<br />
as opposed to a more practical, down-to-earth title and content to be offered. The problem for<br />
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