The session schedule is presented in Mountain Time (MT) and is subject to change.
Tuesday, October 8
Welcome Event
6:30 to 8:30 PM
On the evening of the arrival day, October 8th, there will be a happy hour and welcome barbecue at the Inn at 500 in the Second Floor Capital Room. Happy hour will begin at 6:30 PM and the barbecue will begin at 7:00 PM. Convening attendees are welcome to join as you arrive and settle in.
The food will be buffet-style and there will be a cash bar.
Wednesday, October 9
Breakfast
8:30 to 9:45 AM
Opening Comments
10:00 to 10:35 AM
Speakers: Sina Bahram (He/Him), Corey Timpson (He/Him)
Join Sina Bahram and Corey Timpson, Principles of Prime Access Consulting, as they dive into a dynamic dialogue highlighting the importance of accessibility and belonging in design. Their welcoming remarks will set the tone for collaboration, innovation, and connection among attendees passionate about creating spaces and experiences that embrace all individuals. Let’s come together to inspire and be challenged, forging a future where inclusivity is at the heart of design.
Inclusive Design: Creating Capacity and Community
10:45 to 11:20 AM
Speakers: Melanie Fales (She/Her)
Melanie Fales, Director of the Boise Art Museum, will present the successes and opportunities realized from over four years of inclusive design and accessibility work across the enterprise of the museum. Leveraging the resources provided by two separate IMLS grants, the Boise Art Museum has enhanced the inclusivity of a myriad aspects of exhibition and gallery design, established and engaged community groups to help inform its practices, developed ASL exhibition labels and interpretive panels, and created 3D touch objects and tactile reliefs with accompanying visual, guided tactile, and audio descriptions. Outside the walls of BAM, Melanie oversees the offering of various tactical accessibility affordances for the 250,000 attendee Art-in-the-Park event for two years and counting. Melanie will outline the various opportunities, intentions, outcomes, and impacts of the work being done across all of BAM.
From the Everyday to the Extraordinary: Imagining the Museum of the Blind People’s Movement
11:30 AM to 12:05 PM
Speakers: Mark Riccobono (He/Him), Robin Marquis (They/Them),
The National Federation of the Blind (NFB) and Prime Access Consulting (PAC) are currently building the Museum of the Blind People’s Movement. From conceptual to tactical, we’ll talk about how a museum built and led by the blind began with building trust and radically re-imagining the very essence of what a museum can be. Learn how applying an inclusive design methodology, that centers disabled experiences, from the beginning of a project can serve as a model for more inclusive museological practices.
Lunch and Break
12:05 to 2:00 PM
Lunch will be provided from 12:05 to 1:00 PM.
From 1:00 to 2:00 PM, Mentors and Emerging Professionals are invited to come together as a collective to meet, greet, and converse.
Discussion Session One
2:00 to 2:50 PM
In a round table-style discussion format, two Emerging Professionals will each facilitate a free-flowing conversation about a particular inclusive design topic and question related to their work.
Session topics:
- Moving at the Speed of Community with Raven Spiratos (She/Her)
- Cultivating a Culture of Inclusive Design with Allison Shelly (She/Her)
Base Camp Renovation
2:55 to 3:30 PM
Speaker: Dr. Colleen Prior (She/Her)
Dr. Colleen Prior, Manager of Content Research and Accessibility at National Geographic Society, will discuss the intentions, opportunities, and approaches being developed for a mixed public experience consisting of heavily themed areas, immersive media moments, and traditional museum spaces. She will also discuss the comprehensive approach to inclusive design that’s necessitated when working across many design teams, internal staff, and stakeholders within a large, publicly visible corporation.
Coffee, Tea, and Snacks
3:30 to 4:00 PM
Developing a More Sensory Friendly Museum
4:00 to 4:35 PM
Speaker: Vanessa Sanchez (She/Her), Angela Rogers (She/Her)
Vanessa Sanchez Director of Education and Yollocali Arts Reach and Angela Rogers, Education and Engagement Specialist at the National Museum of Mexican Art, will present on developing a more sensory friendly museum. Through collaborative efforts with community input, NMMA has developed and implemented a set of diverse tactics across the ecosystem including pre-visit materials, maps, quiet spaces, and kits as well as specific sensory friendly programming, Mañanas en el Museo.
Evening at the Boise Art Museum
6:00 to 9:00 PM
Join us for an evening of art, drinks, food, and good friends at the Boise Art Museum (BAM)!
Food will be buffet-style and beer and wine will be provided.
Location: 670 Julia Davis Dr, Boise, ID 83702
How to get there: attendees are welcome to walk the 0.2 miles, or PAC will help coordinate transportation between the hotel and the museum. To join the ride share, please reach out to Maria Braswell or [email protected]. We will send out an announcement ahead of the event to get a final head count.
During the event, attendees are welcome to explore the following exhibitions:
- El Sueño Americano/The American Dream: Photographs by Tom Kiefer brings to light the otherwise invisible experience that asylum seekers encounter when crossing the border between Mexico and the United Stat.
- Myths, Fables, and Fortunes which features works from BAM’s permanent collection and video content in ASL developed in partnership with the local Boise Deaf community.
- RYAN! Federson: Coyote Now includes installations and public artworks that invite people to consider their relationships to the environment, technology, society, and culture through participation.
Don’t forget to check out all of the incredible access work BAM has been doing, including tactile interactive, visual descriptions provided through QR codes, and interpretive ASL videos!
Thursday, October 10
Breakfast
8:30 to 9:45 AM
Regenerative Accessibility
10:00 to 10:35 AM
Speaker: Chris Xu (They/She)
Chris Xu, a Product Manager focused on accessibility at Slack, will discuss organizational change strategies for cultivating and growing a sustainable accessibility practice within a fast-moving tech company. Despite the apparent motivations of heightened product demand, market expansion, and enhanced usability for all, achieving comprehensive inclusive access mandates substantial organizational transformation within a vast and complex enterprise. Xu will share insights into their journey of fostering relevance, traction, and effecting significant change.
The Sensational Museum
10:45 to 11:20 AM
Speaker: Dr. Sophie Vohra (She/Her)
Dr. Sophie Vohra, Research Associate on The Sensational Museum (TSM), will share the project research and processes for designing and creating equitable and accessible trans-sensory, multi-model interventions in collections management and exhibition design. TSM is a multi-institution project funded by the UK Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC). It brings together partners across the academic, museum, design, IT, and disability advocacy sectors, to challenge the systemic implicit and explicit ableist biases in British museum practice. Centrally, the project assumes that no one sense alone is necessary or sufficient for any heritage experience. Overall, it aims to provide a set of new working practices and resources to support museum professionals and the wider sector to achieve lasting systemic change.
The Hero’s Journey: A Case Study in Tactile Graphic Design
11:30 AM to 12:05 PM
Speakers: Maria Braswell (She/Her), Rob Itri-Vincent (He/Him)
Join Maria Braswell, Inclusive Design Specialist, and Rob Itri-Vincent, Director of Design, of Prime Access Consulting, for a session exploring the interpretive design process of creating meaningful tactile graphics. Participants will engage in a hands-on exploration of tactile graphics that accentuate design techniques, and the application of tactile textures, patterns, and forms, that serve to surface the intricacies and nuances of designing for touch.
Lunch and Break
12:05 to 2:00 PM
Lunch will be provided from 12:05 to 1:00 PM.
From 1:00 to 2:00 PM, Emerging Professionals are invited to gather together as a collective to meet, greet, and reflect.
Discussion Session Two
2:00 to 2:50 PM
In a round table-style discussion format, two Emerging Professionals will each facilitate a free-flowing conversation about a particular inclusive design topic and question related to their work.
Session topics:
- Touch Interaction in Museums with Gina Clepper (She/Her)
- The Language of Prototyping with Hagen Tilp (He/Him)
Breaking Ground in Mixed Reality
2:55 to 3:30 PM
Speaker: Jane Alexander (She/Her)
Jane Alexander, Chief Digital Information Officer of the Cleveland Museum of Art (CMA), will discuss utilizing the Microsoft HoloLens2 to immerse visitors in the narrative of a scholarly exhibition, Revealing Krishna. CMA’s approach aimed for visitors to seamlessly engage with the story and to forget about the technology. This project preliminarily explored how disabled visitors can participate equitably in such an innovative approach. The challenges that were addressed included displaying captions in augmented reality (AR), integration with the built environment, wayfinding, and creating inclusive media. Many open challenges remain, such as, how can blind visitors enjoy and participate in this experience, how can access technologies such as screen reading or enlargement/zoom be integrated, how could American Sign Language (ASL) be used in this approach, and what operational considerations are needed to create a more inclusive experience. A deeply exciting area of future exploration is how this unique approach can offer something to disabled audiences that isn’t possible in traditional exhibitions.
Coffee, Tea, and Snacks
3:30 to 4:00 PM
Lessons Unlearned: Progress, Resistance and Academic Failures in Museum Studies
4:00 to 4:35 PM
Speaker: Dr. Rosanna Flouty (She/Her)
Dr. Rosanna Flouty, the Director of New York University’s Museum Studies program, will share insights and opportunities in teaching and learning that identify how emergent practitioners new to the field are being equipped to decolonize, democratize, and pluralize museum practices and the diverse audiences they serve. This session will also identify their failures, and how museums are implicated in resisting change.
Closing Reception
6:00 to 9:00 PM
Join us for Mosaic’s closing reception at Water Bear, a bartender, women, and queer owned cocktail lounge featuring small bites, approachable and balanced classics, modern cocktails and a lush “mountain tropical” escape in the heart of downtown Boise. Happy hour will begin at 6:00 PM and dinner will begin being served at 7:00 PM.
All attendees will be provided two drink tickets, then the event is cash bar.
Location: 350 N 9th St STE 100, Boise, ID 83702
How to get there: attendees are welcome to walk the 0.6 miles, or PAC will help coordinate transportation between the hotel and the museum. To join the ride share, please reach out to Maria Braswell or [email protected]. We will send out an announcement ahead of the event to get a final head count.