COME-IN! Guidelines presentation on local level
COME-IN! Partners presented COME-IN! Guidelines in Steyr, Vienna, Krakow, Trieste and Pula
After several months of hard work, the COME-IN! partners have published the Guidelines for making small and medium museums accessible to all. It is in everyone's interest to make sure that the Guidelines are used also in other non partner museums and in cultural institutions. Hence, it is necessary to inform local, regional and national authorities, disability associations, tourism operators and general public about the Guidelines potential.
For this reason Guidelines have been presented on local level, for the first time in Steyr, Austria. On June 20th, the Museum of the Working World gathered about 25 stakeholders, providing main information about the guidelines and collected useful feedback for their improvement. Namely, the Guidelines will be tested in each partner museum and according to the results achieved these will be further improved.
The second presentation took place at the Kunsthistorische Museum in Vienna, on July 6th, 2017. About 38 participants attended the event and showed strong interest both for the Guidelines and the project. During the event partners provided information about the project in general, its first results and lessons learned, the COME-IN! Report on accessibility in Central Europe and related museum problems. The event included a sign language interpreter and drawings with simplified language. Following the presentation, the attendees had a special guided tour with disability simulations, where they learned about how to organise an inclusive tour.
On July 6th the Archaeological Museum in Krakow presented the COME-IN! Guidelines to Polish regional policy makers, disability associations, museums and education centers. The main theme of the meeting lead by Malopolska Institute of Culture (MIK) and Department of Culture and Heritage of the Marshal Office of the Malopolska Region (local public authorities and policy makers) was accessibility for all to all cultural institutions. Participants showed great interest, considering the Guidelines as an useful document to check the state of art and to carry out interventions at institutions, making them accessible and inclusive. They will be considered as the most important reference for drawing the regional accessibility regulations in Poland.
About 50 stakeholders attended the local presentation of the COME-IN guidelines held in Trieste on 14th July 2017. Mr. Vincenzo Zoccano, the President of the Regional Council of Associations of the People with Disabilities and their Families of the Friuli Venzia Giulia Region ONLUS, opened and closed the event with a meaningful speech about the importance of the COME-IN! project that goes beyond disabilities in order to create an inclusive society for all. Ms. Visentini from the Archeological Museum of Udine took the opportunity to illustrate the pilot actions carried out to improve the accessibility of the museum and informed the participants about the launching event foreseen for November 9th 2017. The event will consist in an accessible exhibition called ‘’ Women, mothers, goddesses: universal languages and metaphors in Prehistoric art’’ which will remain open till 11th February 2018 at the Archaeological Museum (Udine).
Last but not least, four superb musicians from Camerata Strumentale Italiana-CSI performed few musical interludes during the event delighting the public.
The COME-IN! Guidelines were presented to the local Croatian stakeholders on July 25th, 20 2017 at the Central Library of the City of Pula. Representatives of museums, disability organizations, policy makers, tourist organization, media and other gathered to learn more about the project and the Guidelines. In addition the Archaeological museum of Istria illustrated museums’ intervention plans, focusing on the current situation of the buildings. The event ended with the presentation of some best practices, showing how many museums in Croatia are making several adaptations for people with disabilities.
More recently the Municipality of Piran presented the COME-IN! Guidelines on November 29th at the Ethnographic Museum of Ljubljana. The representative of the Ministry of Culture opened the working session, followed by the COME-IN! project manager. The Municipality of Piran presented the infrastructural works aimed at adapting the city center for visitors with motor disability. To facilitate the understanding the COME-IN! guidelines have been translated in Slovene and an inclusive design was used to allow everyone to understand the contents.
Since the Archaeological Museum of Udine was the first museum to have applied the guidelines and completed their interventions, a video, showing the museum transformation was shown, with a translation in local language. The presentation was also attended by Ljubljana’s Association for disabled people, which is tasked with spreading the news to its members.
On December 12th, 2017, the Maritime Museum of Piran organized the presentation of the COME-IN! Guidelines, for greater accessibility of museums to all, including people with disabilities. Representatives of interested organizations for people with disabilities and local communities attended the presentation. The director, Mr. Franco Juri, museum councilor Ms. Snježana Karinja and Ms.Natalie Finkšt, presented the project, the guidelines and the experience of working in the museum as a person with cerebral palsy. In an interesting discussion that followed the presentations, participated representatives of the associations, experts, the Deputy Mayor of the Municipality of Izola Mr. Gregor Perič and the Director of the Center for communication, hearing and speech Portorož, Mr. Marko Strle, who is also the associate partner of the project. All speeches were translated into sign language with the help of the Association of deaf and hearing impaired of South Primorska Region.
