It was a pleasure to present my national ARC research at the largest museum conference in the world, ICOM in Dubai, UAE with 4500 attendees. So amazing to be amongst world leaders impacting art, cultural heritage and the museum sector. Special thanks to Amanda from the British Museum for hosting our panel.

It was also my first time, as part of the International Council of Museums-ICOM Exhibitions Committee. Over several days in Dubai with people from all over the world, we talked about the future of exhibitions, access, inclusion, technology and co-design.

It was my first ICOM conference and my first time visiting Dubai- very memorable!

I cannot wait for the next ICOM Conference in Rotterdam—the 28th ICOM (International Council of Museums) General Conference in 2028, with the theme "Building Bridges: Connecting Worlds, Cultures and Generations."

With great enthusiasm we headed down to Melbourne at the end of July for our last fieldwork visit. A project in the making for over a few years, Museums Victoria invited us to visit their three museums to undertake our access and inclusion research. Museums Victoria’s three museums - Immigration Museum, Scienceworks, and Melbourne Museum - are environmental, science and cultural history museums and Australia’s largest public museum organisation. Over a three-day period Janice Rieger, Sam Rowe and Lirui Zhang visited each museum and learnt about each site and the staff and volunteers involved. We explored, participated and audited all three museums, facilitated focus groups, and delivered non-apparent disability training. 

The Immigration Museum, located in the Old Customs House building on Flinders Street, presents Victoria’s immigration history. Different spaces share stories of different time frames and the diversity of Australia’s cultural and linguistic community. The top floor houses modern temporary exhibitions that invite immersive participation and engagement. The historical nature of the building is present in so many aspects, including the winding path through the variety of rooms, the majestic columned Long Room, and the worn stone staircase. We visited the museum quite late in the day, and it was great that there were still quite a number of visitors meandering around the spaces and taking the time to absorb the stories.

Scienceworks museum is located at an old Pumping Station in the suburb of Spotswood. It links Melbourne’s industry, heritage and applied technology together for the family and school children targeted age group. The human body, construction, tesla coils, telescopes, physics, and space are just some of the topics presented in participatory and engaging formats, aimed towards future engineers, designers, and astronauts aged from 4 to 94. It has both permanent as well as temporary exhibitions. There were a number of school groups visiting during our visit, so the galleries were filled with enthusiastic chatter and dashing to the next fun thing.

Melbourne Museum is located just outside Melbourne’s CBD. It showcases Australian and Victorian social history, natural history and the environment, science, and Aboriginal cultures. Each area is as unique as the information that is being shared with the audience. We were particularly drawn to the First Peoples exhibition space, Bunjilaka Aboriginal Cultural Centre, and the Gondwana Garden for their curatorial journey and spaces for respite and reflection.

All three museums presented diverse topics in engaging ways for all age groups. The tensions between heritage architecture, accessibility, participation, inclusive design, and the sheer volume of visitors were apparent for each museum in different ways. We have always believed that history and science museums are inherently more accessible and inclusive than art museums, which we noticed in our visits to the three Museums Victoria institutions.

We reflect on all of our fieldwork visits, which have been varied in museum type, size and location. What speaks to us the most is the absolute passion and commitment to diversity and inclusion and increasing accessibility for all people with disability. Throughout our focus groups, workshops and training sessions we have chatted to staff on a number of inclusive design and accessibility concepts and practices. Some concepts have been known about by the staff, some vague, and others completely new. In every conversation staff members have shown their openness to thinking outside the box. There are inherent tensions within disability itself - what is accessible for one disability is not necessarily accessible for another. Our aim is to educate people about the idea of trying to aim for a middle ground, as well as offering people with disability options, so that they can choose the resource, program, pathway, or experience that works best for them. We feel that we have planted seeds of hope and new ways of thinking for all our fieldwork visits, and we look forward to the next steps that each institution takes to go beyond minimum compliance.

A series on sensory sensitivity information and resources were co-designed between Sam Rowe and Danika Godfrey Potter from AT Chat.

• Sensory Sensitivity Inclusion 101 - examines the sensory system, what sensory sensitivity and sensory overload is, health conditions that experience it, and discusses self-management and workplace strategies to assist someone experiencing hypersensitivity and sensory overload.

• Sensory kits and other resources - examines resources to assist people with sensory sensitivity, such as sensory kits, visiting stories, and sensory maps.

• Sensory sensitivity AT - examines what assistive tech items a couple of people with sensory sensitivity find helpful.

• Sensory rooms and inclusive design - focuses on the two types of sensory rooms - low sensory calming spaces and mulitsensory spaces. Also discussed is the benefits of using inclusive design and co-design.

We were very excited to be invited to Sovereign Hill in Ballarat Victoria, to undertake our first case study site visit. Sovereign Hill is a large living history museum, showcasing Ballarat's gold rush era, the trades and trading involved, and life in those times. Janice, Sarah Barron, and Sam spent a couple of days visiting the living history museum - learning about the site and culture from the staff, participating in activities and mine experiences, and facilitating workshops and sensory sensitivity training. 

The museum is uniquely different from most other museums and galleries, with its own unique challenges, particularly as the site is on a hill. What resonated deeply for the research team was the overwhelming inclusive culture permeating through the whole organisation - of wanting to make the experience accessible and inclusive for everyone. They recognise the challenges of their site and desire to adhere to historical accuracy, and are eager to meld these and be accessible as well. This attitude and deep commitment to change within every level of an organisation, is the most important step to being more inclusive and accessible.

A snap shot of some other great inclusive initiatives at Sovereign Hill include social scripts on their website; an accessible children's playground; signage and verbal warnings of loud sounds (particularly with the Redcoat Soldiers musket firings) and flashing lights; a wheelchair accessible gold panning area; staff disability training (they were undertaking Deaf Awareness and Auslan training when we were there); lots of seating along the main street; allowing school group children with sensory sensitivity to go in early to feel fabrics when choosing their costumes, as well as allowing those who are trans or non-binary to choose which gendered costume to wear during their school visit; and the very kind and helpful mine tour guides who go out of their way to assist you when you identify as having specific disabilities. They hosted Auslan Day the Saturday after our visit, with many Deaf visitors and Auslan interpreters. They are currently rolling out the Hidden Disability Sunflower Scheme and sensory kits.

Very inspired by the inclusive design and multisensory experiences at the museums in Norway and Oslo. Whilst in Norway for the UD2024 conference, she undertook fieldwork at the Munch Museum and National Museum of Norway. The National Museum of Norway has one of the most extraordinary collections and diverse exhibitions in the world, merging together five national museums in 2022.

So happy to have partnered with Museum of Brisbane for 

New Light: Photography Now + Then exhibition (open until October 2025). New Light: Photography Now + Then converges past and present in a mesmerising display of photography spanning 1890 to 2024. 

Janice Rieger, Sarah Barron, and Sarah Empey co-designed 14 Audio Descriptions (AD’s) for this exhibition. These were displayed next to Braille QR code stickers (from Braille House) and tactile floor wayfinding. Check out the AD’s. Other accessible resources included downloadable exhibition labels, a sensory map, social story, and a touch trolley.