Sensory Objects Enterprise - Co-Development and Start Up project
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Reading
Department Name: Art
Abstract
We aim to enhance the value and benefits of the award-winning AHRC-funded 'Sensory Objects' project. This enriched the experience of people with learning disabilities within museums and heritage sites through the development of sensory interactive objects.
Resulting from the Sensory Objects project we have the opportunity to work in partnership with the inclusive employment agency Jobs Enterprise and Training JET), to co-develop employment for people with learning disabilities as part of a training and sensory dialogue service that can help museums and heritage sites to realise more accessible and meaningful experiences for their visitors with learning disabilities.
We aim to create long-term sustainable employment for people with learning disabilities in museums and heritage and to help that sector achieve wider social and cultural inclusion by incorporating the understanding and working methods developed during the Sensory Objects Project. Our inclusive teams will use creative sensory approaches and multimedia to work with museum professionals. Our experience from the Sensory Object Project was that people with learning disabilities told us they felt respected and were able to communicate their ideas and museum professionals e.g. Kate Arnold-Forster Director of the Museum of English Rural Life during the Sensory Objects Seminar MERL 25.02.15 told us they were challenged to rethink their approaches to sensory engagement because of the Sensory Objects approach.
We will create a social business Sensory Objects Enterprise (SOE) that will provide an innovative set of services that can be provided to Museums and Heritage sites. The SOE will offer alternative approaches for dialogue with museum professionals, create alternative sensory interpretation of museum collections and encouraged greater awareness of the valuable contribution people with learning disabilities bring to the museum and heritage sector.
We will establish a viable and self-sustaining business vehicle to deliver this service and refine these into three distinct product offers:
1. Provision of Interactive Workshops direct to museum staff and/or co-delivered with staff to the local learning disability community.
2. Provision of Sensory Focus Groups that work in participatory and creative ways to engage disabled people to meaningfully review collections and curatorial approaches with museum staff and contractors.
3. Provision of Sensory Dialogues services to assist communication in the design and development of interactive exhibits. This model of product strand will be rehearsed through engagement of the team in partnership with a professional museum interactive production company
These will be co-produced and trialled in three pilot implementations with representative cultural organisations, The Ragged School London, MERL and The British Museum.
These will then be disseminated as publicity at the heart of a viable commercial package that will be the core outcome of the Follow-on Funding phase. This will constitute a service offer for the museum and heritage sector that we can take to market with confidence.
Resulting from the Sensory Objects project we have the opportunity to work in partnership with the inclusive employment agency Jobs Enterprise and Training JET), to co-develop employment for people with learning disabilities as part of a training and sensory dialogue service that can help museums and heritage sites to realise more accessible and meaningful experiences for their visitors with learning disabilities.
We aim to create long-term sustainable employment for people with learning disabilities in museums and heritage and to help that sector achieve wider social and cultural inclusion by incorporating the understanding and working methods developed during the Sensory Objects Project. Our inclusive teams will use creative sensory approaches and multimedia to work with museum professionals. Our experience from the Sensory Object Project was that people with learning disabilities told us they felt respected and were able to communicate their ideas and museum professionals e.g. Kate Arnold-Forster Director of the Museum of English Rural Life during the Sensory Objects Seminar MERL 25.02.15 told us they were challenged to rethink their approaches to sensory engagement because of the Sensory Objects approach.
We will create a social business Sensory Objects Enterprise (SOE) that will provide an innovative set of services that can be provided to Museums and Heritage sites. The SOE will offer alternative approaches for dialogue with museum professionals, create alternative sensory interpretation of museum collections and encouraged greater awareness of the valuable contribution people with learning disabilities bring to the museum and heritage sector.
We will establish a viable and self-sustaining business vehicle to deliver this service and refine these into three distinct product offers:
1. Provision of Interactive Workshops direct to museum staff and/or co-delivered with staff to the local learning disability community.
2. Provision of Sensory Focus Groups that work in participatory and creative ways to engage disabled people to meaningfully review collections and curatorial approaches with museum staff and contractors.
3. Provision of Sensory Dialogues services to assist communication in the design and development of interactive exhibits. This model of product strand will be rehearsed through engagement of the team in partnership with a professional museum interactive production company
These will be co-produced and trialled in three pilot implementations with representative cultural organisations, The Ragged School London, MERL and The British Museum.
These will then be disseminated as publicity at the heart of a viable commercial package that will be the core outcome of the Follow-on Funding phase. This will constitute a service offer for the museum and heritage sector that we can take to market with confidence.
Planned Impact
The ultimate impact for the SOE will be continued and broader influence of the Sensory Object's methods on the Museum and Archive sector's approaches to accommodating and engaging people with learning disabilities. In the original project we aimed to leave a set of objects at each museum to improve their accessibility, but we learnt through the project that the most valuable and influential resource that we brought into this sector through our approach was the proactive interaction of people with learning disabilities with museum professionals and the public in creative and reflective co-production activity. The sensory objects we constructed served as tools for engagement. The multisensory and multimedia production processes we applied to the design, development, refinement and dissemination of Sensory Objects provided opportunities for cultural sites that were groundbreaking. The genuinely inclusive nature of the project teams, the workshop design and focus-group models that they demonstrated and the calibre of the intellectual dialogue that they afforded for Museum and Archive sites proved to be transformational. Our business aim and impact objective is to bring these innovative methods and fresh perspectives to all UK museums. We will provide opportunity for them to rethink their collections through our unique multimedia and multi-sensory approaches that can enable them to extend their audiences, visitors and makeover their interactive displays through activity driven by people with a learning disability, alongside specialist technologists and art practitioners.
Project outcomes include a sustainable business model of employment of people with LD in museums and heritage sites that has been tried and tested with prestigious representative clients with established reputation for innovation and a growing profile in the Heritage, MLA Sector. We will follow up with our clients at 6 and12 month intervals to ascertain their subsequent implementation of inclusive sensory approaches after they have used our services. This will enable us to measure and record impact on the museums culture of inclusion and maintain our customer relationship with clients. The impact for the apprentices will reflect in their subsequent progress on their route to employment. We anticipate that apprentices will move on to more traditional jobs after our apprenticeship pathways. We hope to follow their progress and see them working in the museums and heritage sector as well as media and creative industries with the sensory objects programme. Sensory Objects Enterprise will commission Mencap Liverpool's Access to Heritage, the specialist learning disability organisation will be commissioned to undertake a study on the effect on the museums with which we work and their opinions on inclusivity of museums. As part of our service we will invite Access to Heritage to carry out a pre-and-post survey for their inclusive approaches and strategies. We will trial and refine our impact evaluation strategy during our pilots.
Impacts include:
Demonstration of new pathways to employment for people with LD struggling to penetrate the labour market with pioneering models of inclusive working practice in Creative and Cultural industries.
Influence on inclusive design of public heritage and culture.
Advance state-of-the-art application of interactive and social media technologies for social inclusion, education and the widening of participation in public culture.
Develop new strategies for inclusive business and enterprise activity that can be captured and applied in other contexts, particularly in the creative industries.
Direct impacts for participating supported employees and apprentices with LD, for Museum and Heritage site visitors with disabilities and for members of the public whose awareness about disability and the potential contributions that people with disabilities can make to their communities and our society generally.
Project outcomes include a sustainable business model of employment of people with LD in museums and heritage sites that has been tried and tested with prestigious representative clients with established reputation for innovation and a growing profile in the Heritage, MLA Sector. We will follow up with our clients at 6 and12 month intervals to ascertain their subsequent implementation of inclusive sensory approaches after they have used our services. This will enable us to measure and record impact on the museums culture of inclusion and maintain our customer relationship with clients. The impact for the apprentices will reflect in their subsequent progress on their route to employment. We anticipate that apprentices will move on to more traditional jobs after our apprenticeship pathways. We hope to follow their progress and see them working in the museums and heritage sector as well as media and creative industries with the sensory objects programme. Sensory Objects Enterprise will commission Mencap Liverpool's Access to Heritage, the specialist learning disability organisation will be commissioned to undertake a study on the effect on the museums with which we work and their opinions on inclusivity of museums. As part of our service we will invite Access to Heritage to carry out a pre-and-post survey for their inclusive approaches and strategies. We will trial and refine our impact evaluation strategy during our pilots.
Impacts include:
Demonstration of new pathways to employment for people with LD struggling to penetrate the labour market with pioneering models of inclusive working practice in Creative and Cultural industries.
Influence on inclusive design of public heritage and culture.
Advance state-of-the-art application of interactive and social media technologies for social inclusion, education and the widening of participation in public culture.
Develop new strategies for inclusive business and enterprise activity that can be captured and applied in other contexts, particularly in the creative industries.
Direct impacts for participating supported employees and apprentices with LD, for Museum and Heritage site visitors with disabilities and for members of the public whose awareness about disability and the potential contributions that people with disabilities can make to their communities and our society generally.
| Title | "London is the Place for Me" Sensory experience of the Museum of London's Oral History Archive in the Talking Point Gallery |
| Description | Display of sensory materials inspired by the Museum of London's Oral History Archive, including videos a 360 experience, an interactive screen to try on hats, smells and photographs. |
| Type Of Art | Artistic/Creative Exhibition |
| Year Produced | 2021 |
| Impact | The display London is the Place for Me was installed in Sept 2021 and was extended till Jan 30th 2022 lead to further research into using smell in the exhibition display. |
| URL | https://purplestars.org.uk/2021/02/15/museum-of-london/ |
| Title | Access All Areas MadHouse PopUp Exhibit at Shoreditch Town Hall |
| Description | An interactive and accessible exhibition exploring the institutionalisation of people with learning disabilities, part of the exhibition created for Hackney Museum 2017 accompanied Access All Areas immersive theatre piece at Shoreditch Town Hall in March 2018 |
| Type Of Art | Artistic/Creative Exhibition |
| Year Produced | 2017 |
| Impact | At the Madhouse symposium Shoreditch Town Hall on March19th 2018 there was a report on the impact of the original Hackney Museum MadHouse 2017 exhibition carried out by Dr Jan Walmsley from the Open University, with Access All Areas Residents Paul and Zara. According to the report 8104 people attended the exhibition at Hackney Museum in 2017 this figure excluded teachers and primary schools. 175 people took part in a visitor survey, 12% identified as having a disability, 35% had a learning disability, reported stated that the exhibition was effective highlighting a little known history. |
| URL | https://youtu.be/ynE6g3E34d8 |
| Title | Bubble Club and purpleSTARS UNFURL |
| Description | UNFURL is a purpleSTARS collaboration with Bubble Club to create and capture the audience engagement with an immersive environment using 360 cameras, projection, smell, sounds of nature and fantasy. |
| Type Of Art | Artistic/Creative Exhibition |
| Year Produced | 2022 |
| Impact | We were invited to develop this from an initial commission from Air Giants UNFURL at Bethnal Green Gardens as the event was cancelled due to the death of the Queen |
| URL | https://vimeo.com/manage/videos/798797038 |
| Title | MERL Sensory Interactives |
| Description | purpleSTARS working with Reading College LLD/D dept have designed three sensory interactives funded by the Earley Charity. 1) A Virtual Reality Forest in collaboration with Dutch design company SHOSHO. 2) A Virtual Reality Quad Bike shepherd experience under production by purpleSTARS. 3) Horse and Sheep sound sensors underproduction by purpleSTARS |
| Type Of Art | Artwork |
| Year Produced | 2018 |
| Impact | Idea for Virtual Four Season Forest generated collaboration with Dutch Design company SHOSHO. Virtual quad bike experience for MERL led to purpleSTARS now in developing VR for Quad Bike experience and hardware for wheelchair users. |
| URL | https://purplestars.org.uk/2017/03/01/featured-content-2/ |
| Title | TATE EXCHANGE Pop Up Sensory Museum |
| Description | Public invited to add an item to the purpleSTARS pop up sensory museum and create a sensory label all about it! purpleSTARS - The installation was based on Ilya and Emilia Kabakov work The man who never throw anything away. |
| Type Of Art | Artistic/Creative Exhibition |
| Year Produced | 2018 |
| Impact | Students from Reading College Learners with Difficulties and Disabilities Dept came to the TATE London for first ever visit. We have interest to create pop ups at Hackney Museum and St Pauls Cathedral. purpleSTARS did the first 10 talk in a paying exhibition at MERL. |
| URL | http://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-modern/tate-exchange/workshop/reading-assembly |
| Title | purpleSTARS Participatory Research Bid: Inclusive museums employing the sense of smell. University of Reading, Research England Participatory Research |
| Description | Collaborative research project between RIX Research and Media and the Museum of London (MoL) and Museum Scent Specialist Liam Findlay at Aroma Prime https://aromaprime.com/ One of the challenges we have noted from feedback from our exhibition 'London is the Place for me' at the Museum of London is that our work to include the sense of smell as a key part of a multi-sensory visitor experience, has not been as effective as we had hoped. We recognise how powerful and immersive the use of smell can be as part of experiencing history and triggering memories. The presence of smells in the installation was not as strong as we intended and so less impactful, compared to our use of objects, sounds and participatory technology. In our early purpleSTARS work in 2018, as part of the AHRC Sensory Objects project in the British Museum, we created boxes with sliding smell chambers to contain smells that were separated from the objects on display, and this seems to have been more successful. We would like to re-visit similar more focussed ways to provide smells as part of a sensory display in our proposed Participatory Research project. We wish to explore this by prototyping alternative smell experiences and trialling different practical approaches to observe and measure their affect and viability as museum display solutions. Our research will engage the curatorial team at Museum of London and Liam Finlay, Aroma Prime consultant and Museum Scent specialist, working alongside the purpleSTARS and participants with different abilities. Aroma Prime are the leading scent marketing and experience company in the UK. |
| Type Of Art | Artefact (including digital) |
| Year Produced | 2022 |
| Impact | Too early to say be we have been exploring methods of transmitting smell with the Aroma Prime company through participatory research workshops. |
| URL | https://purplestars.org.uk/2021/02/15/museum-of-london/ |
| Description | purpleSTARS.org.uk enterprise has been set up in June 2017 developed from the award-winning Sensory Objects (2012 - 2015), an arts-based research project that aimed to explore the possibilities of multi-sensory access to heritage. This project - funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) - was intended to improve the accessibility of our cultural heritage for those with learning disabilities, helping them interpret British art and history by bringing its sounds, smells and textures to life. Sensory Objects was led by a team of academic researchers from the University of Reading, and project partners included Rix Research @ UEL and co-researchers from the Liverpool Mencap Access to Heritage forum (A2H), Reading College Learners with Learning Difficulties and Disabilities Department and the Tower Project London. Consisting of visits to key heritage collections and several experimental workshops, our researchers explored new possibilities for interacting with, and responding to, exhibits. This research underscored the need for accessible heritage interpretation developed with and by those with disabilities, and the benefits of their wider involvement in the sector. purpleSTARS was created to fulfil this need, and is currently following these aims: • To create sustainable employment opportunities for people with learning disabilities, in collaboration with artists and technologists. • To create sensory experiences, using research from the Sensory Objects Project. • To help museums understand the importance of a sensory perspective. • To augment museum interpretation using the experience and expertise of people with learning disabilities, promoting enjoyable, inclusive and sensory museum experiences. |
| Exploitation Route | purpleSTARS Bring together artists and technologists with and without learning difficulties/disabilities to transform museum experiences and make them really inclusive. We work collaboratively using sensory and digital media to create alternative interpretations of museum collections. The project aims to create sustainable opportunities for people with Learning Disabilities an example purpleSTARS to work with Glenside Hospital Museum Bristol in April 2018 http://historyof.place/events/oh-u-to-museum-curation-project-for-people-with-learning-disabilities/ |
| Sectors | Creative Economy,Education,Leisure Activities, including Sports, Recreation and Tourism,Culture, Heritage, Museums and Collections |
| URL | http://www.purpleSTARS.org.uk |
| Description | The purpleSTARS approach to inclusive design is transformative because it applies the self-advocacy maxim of 'Nothing About Us Without Us' by actively engaging and valuing people with ID as experts at the heart of the processes that shape our cultural institutions. The technical tools and methods we use scaffold the active engagement of a wide team of people with and without intellectual disabilities. As such this work disrupts established understanding of inclusive design as a set of adjustments, proposing in its place a model of inclusivity gained through practice, that interprets the often-cited 'public ownership' of our museums in a challenging way. We promote inclusive public culture by actively engaging disabled people as researchers, curators and creative producers, with a method that enshrines the definition of inclusive research proposed by Walmesley and Johnson: Inclusive Research is research in which people with learning disabilities are active participants, not only as subjects but also as initiators, doers, writers and disseminators of research. (Walmsley and Johnson 2003) Our model of inclusive R&D draws from both contemporary art & media practice and participatory action-research, using technologies for media authoring and the creation of interactive sensory objects to enable people with ID to fully participate. The purpleSTARS bring user-centred mixed-ability teams into public culture and heritage spaces to explore and trial installations, reflect and then produce their own objects and interactions in response, through a personal, critical and creative practice. The result is the development of innovative visitor experiences, led and co-created by people with ID to make museums and heritage sites more diverse and inclusive, as disabled people re-interpret what is on offer and affirm their shared ownership of these public amenities. The wider potential impact of a purpleSTARS intervention is upon the culture of the museum or heritage site, as the active and integrated presence of people with ID collaborating with its teams within the fabric of the museum, prompts a reinterpretation of the site's outreach strategies as well as the design and curation of its installation, asking significant questions about how the institution engages with its public and interprets the mission to widen engagement. |
| First Year Of Impact | 2018 |
| Sector | Agriculture, Food and Drink,Creative Economy,Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software),Education,Healthcare,Leisure Activities, including Sports, Recreation and Tourism,Culture, Heritage, Museums and Collections |
| Impact Types | Cultural,Societal |
| Description | Disability Cooperative Network Case Study |
| Geographic Reach | Europe |
| Policy Influence Type | Influenced training of practitioners or researchers |
| URL | http://www.musedcn.org.uk/category/casestudies/ |
| Description | Hackney Museum Advisory Group for Roots, Rhythms and Records Exhibition |
| Geographic Reach | Multiple continents/international |
| Policy Influence Type | Participation in a guidance/advisory committee |
| Description | Mayor of London's Commission for Diversity in the Public Realm |
| Geographic Reach | Local/Municipal/Regional |
| Policy Influence Type | Influenced training of practitioners or researchers |
| Impact | purpleSTARS smell research led us to explore how smell could be added to walking tours of London as part of a sensory bag. We developed this idea through a commission to create an inclusive training session event for London Unseen, part of the Mayor of London's Commission for Diversity in the Public Realm. The training held at the Museum of London was very well received and we received several reports of participants changing their walking tours to include sensory items for more inclusive engagement. |
| URL | https://rixresearchandmedia.org/london-unseen-heritage-tours-and-trails/ |
| Description | Museum of London Engagement Charter |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Policy Influence Type | Participation in a guidance/advisory committee |
| URL | https://new-museum-community.mn.co/posts/21085943?notification_id=2314455665&origin_method=email&utm... |
| Description | Museums Association Mindsets + Missions awarded one of 15 Change Makers |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Policy Influence Type | Contribution to new or improved professional practice |
| URL | https://www.museumsassociation.org/funding/mindsets-and-missions/ |
| Description | Wolfson Advisory Panel at the British Museum |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Policy Influence Type | Participation in a guidance/advisory committee |
| URL | https://purplestars.org.uk/2017/07/01/featured-content/ |
| Description | purpleSTARS presentation for UCL Msc in Creative Health |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Policy Influence Type | Influenced training of practitioners or researchers |
| Impact | We were contacted by researchers and students to collaborate with research projects. |
| URL | https://twitter.com/achoksi1/status/1585001480498466816 |
| Description | Earley Charity Arts and Heritage |
| Amount | £10,000 (GBP) |
| Organisation | The Earley Charity |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 01/2018 |
| End | 07/2018 |
| Description | Follow-on Funding Impact & Engagement: Sensory Objects Enterprise - Co-Development and Start Up project |
| Amount | £100,764 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | AH/P007430/1 |
| Organisation | Arts & Humanities Research Council (AHRC) |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 06/2017 |
| End | 05/2018 |
| Description | JET |
| Organisation | London Borough of Tower Hamlets |
| Department | JET at the Tower |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Public |
| PI Contribution | The sensory objects enterprise purpleSTARS bring the research of the Sensory Objects project tools for engagement, multisensory and multimedia production processes we apply to the design, development, refinement and dissemination in museums. purpleSTARS bring genuinely inclusive project teams or artists, technologist, archivists with and without disabilities to engage in Sensory Expeditions, consultancy and focus group. Our business aim and impact objective is to bring these innovative methods and fresh perspectives to all UK Museums. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Out partner JET is contributing JET premises and ICT resources, staff input for coordination and support, apprentices wages and administration. We are recieveing expert advice to co-develop employment opportunities for people with learning disabilities as part of a training and consultancy service that can help Museums and Heritage Sites to realise more accessible and meaningful experiences for their visitors with learning disabilities. |
| Impact | Museum of English Rural Life (MERL) Earley Charity Consultancy Creating new interactive exhibits |
| Start Year | 2017 |
| Description | purpleSTARS Talking Point Gallery Museum of London |
| Organisation | Museum of London |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| PI Contribution | purpleSTARS have spent lockdown listening and responding to the oral history archive of the Museum of London,(MOL) volunteering as part of Listening to London. The oral history collection has some 5,000 hours of recorded interviews with a wide variety of people. Over a series of online meetings purpleSTARS have selected and listened to recordings that interest them from the archive and used the RIX Wiki to collect our responses, making connections between past and present Londoners. Developed from this research The Museum of London have invited purpleSTARS to create an exhibition for the The Talking Point Gallery at the Museum of London May-Nov 2021. This is a space to create, test and learn from content ideas which will feed into the development of the new Museum of London when it moves from the Barbican to the site at Smithfield Market in 2025. The Talking Point Gallery encourages Museum visitors to test and respond to content, and museum staff to push their boundaries in terms of the way content is displayed and interpreted. |
| Collaborator Contribution | As part of our research we have learnt about and practiced oral history interview techniques with Museum of London Curator Hannah Davies and interviewed experts from the Museum of London, Cathy Ross, ex director of MOL and digital curator Fontieni Aravani. Talking Point budget will cover: • production costs for on gallery graphics i.e. labels, introduction panels, visuals etc. • in-kind costs i.e. staff time and expertise; project administration; design (space and graphics); exhibition installation management (on site at MOL); installation and technical assistance (on site at MOL); curator • Basic AV kit |
| Impact | Forthcoming Talking Point Gallery exhibition May-November 2021 |
| Start Year | 2021 |
| Description | #purpleLightUp International Day of Persons with Disabilities British Museum 3rd Dec 2018 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | As part of the Wolfson Advisory Group purpleSTARS contributed to and facilitated a series of events for International Day of Persons with Disabilities. purpleSTARS were invited to share their Sensory Labels made in response to the Enlightenment Gallery which led to a greater awareness and discussion for purpleSTARS on social media regarding inclusive practice and engagement with other museums. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| URL | https://www.britishmuseum.org/whats_on/events_calendar/event_detail.aspx?eventId=4950&title |
| Description | 'Pride of Place' purpleSTARS sensory response to Roots, Rhythms and Records Exhibition Hackney Museum |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | The purpleSTARS team have produced Pride of Place a multi-sensory re-interpretation of the Roots, Rhythms and Records exhibition at the Hackney Museum, working with other adults with learning disabilities and inclusive schools across Hackney and developing their own music, poetry and arts materials. At the events the team will present their project and share the intensive process of research, development and co-development that they have undertaken over recent months. Additionally, they have prepared installation and performance pieces and have even commissioned a tasting session of African and Caribbean food as part of their immersive way of re-working Museum displays and visitor experiences to make them more inclusive. The first presentation of Pride of Place is on Wednesday 13th March between 5.30 and 7.30pm The second presentation on Saturday 16th March - which is a special event for UK Disabled Access Day - between 2.00 and 4.00pm. The project team will subsequently be developing a resource package for the Hackney Museum's Educational programme, which they will deliver as an outreach workshop package led by people with learning disabilities. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| URL | https://purplestars.org.uk/2019/02/01/purplestars-at-hackney-museum |
| Description | 'purpleSTARS invited to be part of judging panel for 'Art for Research Reading' raising money of Cancer Research |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Schools |
| Results and Impact | purpleSTARS first employee Judith from the Tower Project and Kate, joined illustrator Garry Parsons and Independent curator, Art historian and Broadcaster Kathleen Soriano to judge children's artwork for a new competition which aims to raise money for Cancer Research. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| URL | https://www.artforresearchreading.com/pages/judges.html |
| Description | Are we that Map? Multi Sensory Mapping : Learning with The purpleSTARS |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Schools |
| Results and Impact | Building inclusive artist and educator teams to co-create and deliver workshops for young people of all abilities |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| URL | https://www.livingmaps.org/past-events/young-lives-mapped-and-unmapped |
| Description | Being Human Festival, Animal Magic: Silent Disco for MERL Late |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | purpleSTARS developed a playlist with links for the MERL Late Animal Magic Silent Disco. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| URL | https://beinghumanfestival.org/event/animal-magic-a-merl-late/ |
| Description | Connecting, collaborating, and caring for each other during lockdown 2020-2021 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | The purpleSTARS, are a group of people with and without learning difficulties, who aim to make museum experiences more inclusive through sensory art and digital media. The Pandemic led to purpleSTARS experimenting with connecting, collaborating, and documenting lives online. In the first lockdown we connected with a group from the Wager Center in Montréal Canada who, inspired by purpleSTARS, have formed their own group Fabulous Stars. We met each other online, creating artwork, discussing food and music as a way of sharing our experiences of life during lockdown. We captured these experiences in the form of a digital time capsule, the Lock Stars RIX Wiki an easy-to-use webpage. In the second lockdown purpleSTARS were invited to join the Listening to London project, a community-led research project making space for new interpretations of the Oral History collection at the Museum of London. The project is supported by The Esmé Fairbairn Collections Fund - delivered by the Museums Association. Meeting online we have listened and talked about the oral history recordings and are currently developing ideas for an exhibition, London is the place for me, in the Talking Point Gallery at the Museum of London. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| URL | https://sitesb.reading.ac.uk/reading-assembly-care/lockstars-2020-21/ |
| Description | Disability History Conference London Metropolitan Archive |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | purpleSTARS team led the conference delegates in creating personal and reflective material in accessible digital and multimedia formats to demonstrate the inclusive ways of working with history and culture that the purpleSTARS have been pioneering. The conference led to the discussion and development of a collaboration towards a future Heritage Lottery Fund Bid. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| URL | https://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/things-to-do/london-metropolitan-archives/news-events/Pages/disabili... |
| Description | Life During Lockdown |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Patients, carers and/or patient groups |
| Results and Impact | The purpleSTARS, responded to lockdown by collaborating with a group in Montreal, Canada, called FABULOUS STARS. FABULOUS STARS were inspired to form in response to the work of purpleSTARS and include members with and without learning difficulties from the Wagar Adult Education Center. They have recently started to work towards creating more inclusive experiences for museums in Montreal. We collaborated and documented our lives through digital media. The groups connected with each other, creating artwork, food and music as a way of sharing their experiences of life during lockdown. They have captured these experiences in the form of a time capsule, the RIX Lock Stars Wiki. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| URL | https://wiki.rixwiki.org/mys/home/lock-stars-mys |
| Description | MERL Digital Late purpleSTARS demo Virtual Reality Four Seasons Forest |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Shared the Virtual Reality work for the Museum of English Rural Life, VR Four Seasons Forest developed by purpleSTARS with Dutch design company Shosho. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| URL | https://merl.reading.ac.uk/event/digital-takeover-merl-late/ |
| Description | Presentation for Creative Bridges SEN Conference, Coventry Museum of Transport |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | purpleSTARS first employee Judith from the Tower Project presented purpleSTARS work including her Sensory Label for the British Museum and Virtual Reality Quad Bike Experience for the Museum of English Rural Life to the Creative Bridges SEN Conference at Coventry Transport Museum on 6th December 2019. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| URL | https://www.towerproject.org.uk/posts/23-creative-bridges-sen-conference |
| Description | Re-thinking Inclusivity Seminar |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Undergraduate students |
| Results and Impact | 12TH OCT 2018 Edinburgh Napier Seminar "Re-thinking Inclusivity in the Museum Friday 12 October 12-2pm, Dovecot Gallery discussion about public engagement, re-curation and museum communities. PurpleSTARS is a landmark research project that aims to re-think the sensory potential of museum design and curation. Through her research Dr Kate Allen (University of Reading) develops opportunities for people with learning difficulties to work as artists and technologists. Revising the traditional culture of museum curation Kate explores the potential of technology to widen access through new approaches to collections and sensory experience. Kate is joined by Sensory Objects PurpleSTARS BBO employee Judith Appiah." |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| URL | https://www.beltanenetwork.org/news-blogs-reports/beltane-news/engaging-public-seminar-series-during... |
| Description | Royal Berkshire County Show |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Visitors to this year's (2019) Berkshire Show were treated to a sensory experience on the University of Reading stand, including a ride on the purpleSTARS virtual reality quad bike. The University of Reading put on an award-winning experience based around the theme of the five senses, which showcased its breadth of subjects and research including food science, sustainable farming, psychology and botany. Attendees were able to experience a virtual reality quad-bike ride as part of its centrepiece, which scooped the University the runner up position in Best Large Trade Stand category for the Berkshire Show. The unique quad bike experience helped to show visitors about the need for accessible exhibitions in museums put on by purpleSTARS based in the School of Art and Communication Design. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| URL | https://purplestars.org.uk/2017/03/01/featured-content-2/ |
| Description | Sensory Interactives for the Museum of English Rural Life (MERL) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | purpleSTARS worked for 3 months with Reading College Learners with Learning Difficulties and/or Disabilities Dept to design new interactive sensory objects for MERL. On 08.12.18 purpleSTARS and Reading College LLD/D presented three ideas to MERL Director, Curators, funders and public engagement staff. All three ideas were accepted and purpleSTARS are building two ideas and collaborating with Dutch designers SHOSHO to create the third. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| URL | https://purplestars.org.uk/2017/03/01/featured-content-2/ |
| Description | TATE 10 min TALK |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | purpleSTARS Judith and Rufaro gave the first ever 10 Minute Talk in a paying exhibition in front of the the Kabakov exhibition at TATE MODERN 'The man who never throw anything away' telling about the connections between purpleSTARS ideas for their popup museum for Tate Exchange and the Kabakov exhibition. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2008 |
| URL | http://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-modern/tate-exchange/workshop/reading-assembly |
| Description | TATE EXCHANGE Pop Up Sensory Museum |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | As part of TATE EXCHANGE Reading Assembly, purpleSTARS invited the public to create and curate a pop up sensory museum. The work was based on an earlier pop up museum that was made as part of the Sensory Objects Research project. The purpleSTARS also invited the class from Reading College LLD/D to participate the class had never had gallery trip to London. Their teacher Jess Sanchia wrote "Thank YOU so much for inviting us. We had an amazing time - the whole day was the most rewarding I've ever had the fortune to be part of at college." We were also had interest to create a pop up museum at Hackney Museum and from St Pauls Cathedral. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| URL | http://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-modern/tate-exchange/workshop/reading-assembly |
| Description | THE MERL'S MAKING SENse Celebration Event |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | purpleSTARS, artists and technologists with and without learning difficulties/disabilities have transformed The MERL experience to make it really inclusive. Generously funded by the Earley Charity, the purpleSTARS have created fabulous new interactives and invite you to: • tighten your seat belt, become a shepherd and experience our virtual reality Quad Bike • meet our baa-ing sheep and neighing wicker horse, and • relax to the beautifully immersive English Forest through four seasons. While you are here why not also try The MERL's new 'Make Sense' trails made in partnership with students of Reading College's LLD/D department, enjoy our 'Please Touch!' Object Handling session, try out a bit of craft to take home or even just explore the museum and its garden at your leisure. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| URL | https://merl.reading.ac.uk/event/merl-making-sense/ |
| Description | Wolfson Advisory Panel British Museum |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | Sensory Objects enterprise purpleSTARS are part of the Wolfson Advisory Panel at the British Museum. The purpose of the panel is to explore different ways in which we can access the collection e.g. storytelling, music, discussion etc. Also, to consider practicalities like; how individuals learn about events that take place at Museums and Galleries; when might be the best time/day of the week for events; what challenges they might face in terms of access and how this can be addressed etc. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017,2018 |
| URL | https://purplestars.org.uk/2017/07/01/featured-content/ |
| Description | purple STARS collaborate with Bubble Club to create an inclusive club experience: The Power of Bubble for Uniqlo Tate Lates at Tate Modern Gallery 28th February 2020 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | purpleSTARS collaborated with Bubble Club who create inclusive and immersive club nights co-created by people with learning disabilities. We developed an inclusive club night experience for UniqloTate Lates part of the Tate Exchange programme. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| URL | https://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-modern/late/uniqlo-tate-lates |
| Description | purpleSTARS Developing Sensory Interactives for MERL Workshops |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Two purpleSTARS volunteer placements from Tower Project London led Sensory Expeditions for 8 students from Reading College Learners with Learning difficulties/disabilities (LLD/D) dept at the Museum of English Rural Life (MERL) October- December 2017. Led to the design of 3 sensory interactives for MERL including two using Virtual Reality, collaboration with Dutch Design Company SHOSHO and further work experience position in development for a student at Reading College LLD/D dept at MERL |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| URL | https://purplestars.org.uk/2017/03/01/featured-content-2/ |
| Description | purpleSTARS Lockdown Listening to London Museum of London Oral History Archive |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Patients, carers and/or patient groups |
| Results and Impact | purpleSTARS have spent lockdown listening and responding to the oral history archive of the Museum of London,(MOL) volunteering as part of Listening to London a community-led research project making space for new interpretations of the Oral History collection at the Museum of London. This project is supported by The Esmé Fairbairn Collections Fund - delivered by the Museums Association' The oral history collection has some 5,000 hours of recorded interviews with a wide variety of people. Over a series of online meetings purpleSTARS have selected and listened to recordings that interest them from the archive and used the RIX Wiki to collect our responses, making connections between past and present Londoners. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| URL | https://purplestars.org.uk/2021/02/15/museum-of-london/ |
| Description | purpleSTARS Smells of London Participatory Research Sessions |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Series of research meetings and participatory research workshops to explore the use of smell in museums. 12 members of purpleSTARS people with learning difficulties and disabilities, students from the Avenue Special School Reading, students from Reading School of Art and UCL MsC in Creative Health. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| URL | https://purplestars.org.uk/2022/09/13/research-project-employing-the-sense-of-smell/ |
| Description | purpleSTARS and Bubble Club inclusive training for Tate Exchange Ambassador Training 18th February 2020 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | purpleSTARS collaborated with Bubble Club to create an Inclusive Training Day for Tate Exchange ambassadors including Visitor Assistants, Security and Bar Staff at Tate Modern. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| URL | https://purplestars.org.uk/2019/12/31/558/ |
| Description | purpleSTARS present Museum of London 'New Museum Conversation' |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | purpleSTARS Judith Appiah and Michael Tapps presented purpleSTARS approach with museums as part of a series of conversations at the Museum of London designed to influence the development of a New Museum of London and its move from the Barbican to Smithfields. The talk contributed to the discussion regarding the museums conceptualisation and sensory and participatory approaches. PurpleSTARS work, presented by Michael and Judith left a very strong impression and invitation for future collaboration. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| Description | purpleSTARS present at Preparing for Adulthood Swiss Cottage School |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Erasmus 'Imagining the Future' addresses participatory barriers which young people with learning disabilities often face, when accessing supported employment and the community. purpleSTARS contributed a workshop on multimedia advocacy 2-3pm and a presentation on working with museums |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| URL | http://www.swisscottageteachingschool.org.uk/events/preparing-for-adulthood |
| Description | purpleSTARS workshop with atempo from Austria |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Patients, carers and/or patient groups |
| Results and Impact | Workshop for interns from atempo a non-profit association whose primary goal is the equality of treatment of all people in the community in Austria. atempo has 80 employees of which 25 percent are people with disabilities. In Austria atempo is one of the leading social corporations. purpleSTARS shared the VR work in MERL and the Wikis. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| URL | https://www.atempo.at/en |
| Description | purpleSTARS workshop/training Glenside Hospital Museum |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Patients, carers and/or patient groups |
| Results and Impact | On Monday 25th June the purpleSTARS, visited Glenside Hospital Museum in Bristol. The museum is working the purpleSTARS team engaging local volunteers with learning disabilities from the Bristol area. The aim is to research and interpret objects that have been collected from Stoke Park house, which used to be an institution attached to Glenside, where people who were considered to have a learning disability used to live. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| URL | https://rixresearchandmedia.org/glenside-hospital-museum |