Arts And Cultural Initiatives - Connecting to Technology
Metropolitan Museum of Art
Students at Henry Viscardi School were
able to visit the tombs in the Egyptian Exhibit at the Met without ever leaving
their classroom. After a previsit using replicas, students followed the tour guide
to see the mummies and other artifacts and ask and answer questions live. This was
a first for the museum.
Interactive Broadcast from the Lower East Side Tenement Museum (LESTM)
In an innovative attempt to increase
access to an inaccessible museum in New York,
HVS students had the opportunity to visit the Lower East Side Tenement
Museum via a live, interactive, virtual tour from the Smeal Learning Center here
at Abilities!. Using our technological expertise in collaboration with museum education
specialists, 6th, 9th and 11th graders interacted in live time with a docent in
period character and costume who played the role of Victoria Confino, an actual
documented immigrant teenager to the Lower East Side in 1916. Victoria gave the
students a tour of her tenement providing details about her family life and customs,
language, community, the cramped quarters she shared with her numerous siblings,
outhouses, public bath houses and life and work for immigrants in the early 1900's.
Students were able to verbally and visually interact and ask questions that Victoria
answered for them. And did they have questions!! Students were engaged with "Victoria"
and interacted with her as if she were truly the character she represented. Some
of us even waved goodbye as she closed the door to her tenement at the conclusion
of the broadcast.
The live broadcast was preceded by a visit to the students by museum educators and was complemented by a hands on session with museum artifacts prior to the broadcast. In addition to our participating group in Smeal Learning Center, one of our classrooms in the HVS Inclusive Technology project was able to access the broadcast from a remote classroom and ask questions as well.
Due to the historic preservation of this building, The Tenement Museum is not accessible to many individuals with mobility issues. The two way live interactivity of this program allowed us to bridge physical barriers in order to access the tour. This initial attempt to expand cultural experiences through a live, interactive, virtual visit was a success and speaks to the potential of future opportunities to connect with remote or inaccessible sites.
Questions about this program should be directed to Fran Prezant at 516-465-1601. Technical questions about broadcast capability can be directed to Peter Kurtz at 516-465-1416.
Considering Concepts of Universal Design for the Exhibition
Unlimited By Design
A Presentation by Bruce Hannah for the Museum Access Consortium
Bruce Hannah is the curator and exhibition
designer for Unlimited By Design, an exhibition about universal design
that was on display at the Cooper Hewitt in 2000. Mr. Hannah discusses his philosophy
of universal design and how this translates into exhibition design. This presentation
was recorded on January 16, 2003 at the Brooklyn Museum of Art during a general
session meeting of the Museum Access Consortium. Unlimited By Design was co-curated
with George Covington, photographer, writer, and gad-about, and co-designed with
Tanya Van Cott, architect.
Bruce Hannah graduated from Pratt Institute in 1963 with a degree in Industrial Design. His career as a designer began in 1967 when he collaborated on several award winning seating groups for Knoll. In 1976 Bruce Hannah established his own design office. In 1990 the Hannah Desk System for Knoll was named a design of the Decade by the IDSA, Industrial Design Society of America. In 1992 Bruce was named the first Designer in Residence at the Cooper Hewitt, National Design Museum, Smithsonian Institution. Bruce was awarded the Bronze Apple by the New York Chapter of IDSA for the first national design conference on Universal Design. Bruce is a tenured Professor at Pratt Institute and continues to design, most recently an exhibit at the National Design Museum titled, Unlimited by Design. In 1998 Bruce received the National Design Education Award from the IDSA. He was Guest editor/Contributor to Condé Nast Traveler Magazine, Design Catalog, March 2000. In 2000 he was awarded the Federal Design Achievement Award for the exhibition "Unlimited By Design" at National Design Museum, Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Institution. In 2003 Mr. Hannah received the Rowena Reed Kostellow Award from Pratt Institute for excellence in teaching.
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The Unlimited By Design Exhibit
This video introduces the Unlimited By Design
Exhibit which was originally exhibited at the Smithsonian
Institution/Cooper Hewitt National Design Museum in 1999. The exhibit was
later shown at the Design Exchange in Toronto,
Ontario, Canada in 2000.
The contents of this resource were developed as a product of the RERC on Universal Design a University at Buffalo's Publications Initiative.
©2002 Center for Inclusive Design and Environmental Access; Running time 19:03.
Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center
(RERC) on Universal Design
School of Architecture and Planning
University at Buffalo
Buffalo, NY 14214-3087
To successfully download the webcast, your computer must have:
ACI Video Productions
Download a PDF order form for all of ACI's video productions.
Titles: