1st Thematic Conference held in Udine, Italy

On November 9th, 2017 took place the first thematic conference of the COME-IN! project entitled "Inclusive museums - challenges and solutions". The main idea was to present COME-IN! achievements, in particular the COME-IN! guidelines to organise museums and exhibitions in an accessible way. Additionally, several speakers presented best practices on accessible museums from all over Europe, which turned out to be rather inspiring for museums involved in the COME-IN! project. The involvement of disabled persons in the museum activities and work, organisation of exhibitions and guided tours for all, was one of the key points Ms. Bojana Rogelj Škafar, museum Councillor at the Slovene Ethnographic Museum of Ljubljana underlined. 

About 100 participants attended the conference whose contribution was important, as some questions and suggestions helped museums that are about to carry out interventions to increase their accessibility to further improve their plans. Particular interest was shown for the training for museum operators, presented by Mr.Gilberto Colinassi from ACLI, Vocational training body of Friuli Venezia Giulia and Ms. Ingrid Pammer, from the Vocational Training and Rehabilitation Centre Austria - BBRZ. Learning how to approach and work with a specific group and to organise exhibitions and guided tours is an essential part of transformation towards a fully accessible museum.

Most of the speakers highlighted that increased accessibility is not only useful and interested to disabled people, children or elderly people but to any visitor. Such a broader offer and increased number of services attract more visitors every year. New audience means more sharing, more learning, more memorisation, as Ms. Miesen from the Tactile Studio reminded. 

The next thematic conference will take place on 26th  June 2018 in Erfurt, Germany.  

All conference presentations are available here.