The ART&SIGNS project aims to train museum workers by providing basic language and technical skills to be able to welcome Deaf visitors in museums.
ART&SIGNS is an Erasmus+ funded project in the area of Vocational Education and Training, which started in November 2021 and will have the duration of 24 months.
WHAT
The ART&SIGNS project intends to train museum workers by providing the necessary knowledge and skills to offer a more inclusive and accessible service to Deaf visitors.
At the same time, the project involves Deaf people with artistic experience in the development and implementation of the project activities.
In this way better social inclusion of Deaf people is promoted by making cultural heritage accessible to them.
HOW?
Through the development of an educational model aimed at providing museum workers specific training to acquire basic language and technical skills in order to welcome Deaf visitors.
Video-dictionaries will include various artistic and cultural terms in six national sign languages and International Sign.
We will also produce an e-learning platform, which will contain the video-dictionaries and learning materials available free of charge to the museum workers, the Deaf community and sign language users.
WHY?
The idea was born from two challenges to make art and culture more accessible to Deaf people, which are:
1. the few numbers of museum workers who know a national sign language to such a level to be able to communicate with Deaf visitors properly, which is limiting interaction with them;
2. the lack of resources related to specific signs/terms in the field of art that can adequately convey the meaning and emotions of works of art to Deaf people, as verbal language can for hearing people.
WHO?
The ART&SIGNS activities are mainly addressed to museum workers in different roles dealing with the public, including Deaf visitors.
The Deaf community, especially artists and trainers, is involved in several project activities, such as exploration of signs related to art and culture, delivery of a training programme to museum workers and production of video-dictionaries.
The project activities are managed by eight organisations from Slovakia, Cyprus, Italy, Netherlands, Romania and Spain working in the field of education and training and are representing the Deaf community.
