Innovative higher education teaching contents for achieving sustainable ACCESSibility of CULTural heritage for ALL
ACCESSCULT AMBASSADORS NETWORK

ACCESSCULT AMBASSADORS NETWORK

AMBASSADORS NETWORK.

One billion people live with some form of disability (WHO) with about 24% of those aged 16 and over, declaring a disability within the EU. Furthermore the EU population is aging. Therefore the number of people with access needs is both significant and growing.

Ensuring equal integration into society for all, including traveling and experiencing cultural heritage, continues to be a significant challenge. Cultural heritage (including museums, galleries, monuments and other cultural heritage sites) provides opportunities for social inclusion, a sense of community, informal education and lifelong learning. As such it should be accessible to all!!

The AccessCult project seeks to improve the accessibility of cultural heritage and thus promote lifelong learning opportunities for everyone. In order to build the momentum and sustainability of this agenda the Accessible Museum Ambassadors Network was initiated.

The Accessible Museum Ambassadors Network is a community of professionals and researchers from around the world who advocate for inclusion and accessibility in museums and cultural heritage experiences, whether they be on site or online. The network was created to promote dialogue on accessible cultural heritage between diverse stakeholders. It also aims to bridge the gap and enhance understanding between cultural heritage professionals and cultural heritage visitors with disabilities.

The key role of each ambassador is to promote accessibility of cultural heritage and to provide a bridge between cultural heritage professionals and visitors with diverse needs. Additionally, Ambassadors are invited to:

– Raise accessibility issues and promote accessibility measures within their working environment and/or any cultural heritage related community.
– Regularly engage with cultural heritage professionals and encourage them to consider and enhance the (in)accessibility of their museum exhibitions and events.
– Collaborate with disabled communities (e.g. disability associations and/or individuals) to learn from them and to co-create accessible museums and heritage sights.
– Work with relevant stakeholders and decision-makers to inform regulation, financing and empowering accessibility measures (e.g. local, regional and national authorities and policy makers).
– Stay up to date with, and potentially contribute to the development and dissemination of accessibility requirements and guidelines, research and practice.

Ambassadors will have the opportunity to collaborate through activities carried out within the AccessCult project (trainings, round tables, final conference) and beyond (for example through external accessibility related events, conferences, joint academic and non academic publications, future EU projects etc.).

People with disabilities

Museum, gallery and cultural heritage workers (curators, guides)

Museum, gallery and cultural heritage managers

Researchers, professors and students of museology, heritology, history and history of arts, archeology for public, disability studies etc.

Disability, inclusion and accessibility experts, professionals and advocates (accessibility guides and assistants, disability managers, occupational therapists)

Other interested professionals or individuals

If you want to be part of this community that aims to create a bridge between cultural heritage professionals and visitors with diverse impairments, please feel free to leave us a message in contact section

NOTE: Ambassadors are ordered by countries and alphabetical order (surname)

Italy

Lithuania

Slovenia

Spain

United Kingdom

Other countries

ITALY


Curci, Chiara

High school degree in languages: English, Spanish and German.

She improved her skills during travels and exchange programs to Australia (Mount Gambier), Germany (Muenster) and Spain (Salamanca). Currently studying Education Sciences at the University of Turin and working as assistant project manager for European Erasmus+ Projects. All this experience allows her to travel a lot, discover new cultures and broaden her horizons, especially in the field of entrepreneurship. She also knows Sign Language, attends Caribbean dance lessons and takes part in model sessions at Make-up Artist Academy, which helps her have a fresh and innovative approach to things.

Email: chiaracurci.job@gmail.com

Phone number:

Gallo, Florian

Bachelor degree in Psychological sciences of personality and interpersonal relations.

Bachelor degree in Psychological sciences of personality and interpersonal relations. Master degree in Developmental Psychology with focus on school and learning processes. Master in Learning Disorders and ADHD. Actually, he is working as a freelance psychologist and learning Tutor in Turin. Additionally, he has a five-year experience as German and English teacher in several language schools and public institutions. Currently employed as researcher and project coordinator in several European Projects.

Email: erasmus@istitutosorditorino.org

Phone number:

Mastrokoukou, Sofia. Dr.

PhD degree in Sociology. MSc in Public Policy and Social Change.

European Project manager at the Turin Institute for the Deaf. She holds a PhD degree in Sociology from the University of Milano-Bicocca (Italy). Additionally, she has a MSc in Public Policy and Social Change (Collegio Carlo Alberto), a Laurea Magistrale in International Studies from the University of Turin, a Master of Science (Master di secondo livello) in Educational and Psychological Methods from the University of L’Aquila and a BA in Linguistics (University of Ioannina). From 2016, she works in various HEIs as a Junior Researcher and Proposal Writer for EU funded projects in Italy (e.g., University of Turin, University of Florence). She has participated in many oral conferences, has published papers in international scientific journals, and has participated in the writing team for the development of the First Practical Guide for International Signs in collaboration with the Turin Institute for the Deaf. She has been selected to participate in the UN Educational Program for political scientists from around the world as regards the Sustainable Development 17 Goals, as well as in a training program on Gender Equality in the Work Environment conducted by the International Labor Organization (ILO). Her academic interests include quality management and teaching effectiveness in HEIs, creative cross-cultural communication and comparative analysis of European legislation on people with disabilities.

Email: sofia.mastrokoukou@gmail.com / www.researchgate.net/profile/Sofia-Mastrokoukou

Phone number:


LITHUANIA


Daukantienė, Danutė

Head of the Disabled People’s Center “Klaipedos Lakštutė”

Danutė since 2000 works as a director in a Disabled People’s Center and helps adults with mental and behavioral disabilities integrate into society, improve their quality of life and develop their daily life and work skills. Danutė prepares and implements programs for the development of social services in the region of West Lithuania. She organizes various socio-cultural activities and projects involving groups of people with disabilities. Danutė aims to expand public awareness and help disabled people to integrate into it. Danutė promotes the development of the community’s ecological self-awareness. She aims to strengthen tolerance and empathy, society’s indifference, develop its social awareness, and reduce discrimination. include the vulnerable groups in educational and practical activities and organizes educational activities, developing a positive attitude towards nature conservation.

Email: danute.daukantiene@klaipedoslakstute.lt

Phone number: +370 68439166

Jonikaitė, Agnė

Chief educator at the Clock Museum of the Lithuanian National Museum of Art

She is an exhibition curator working at the Clock Museum branch of the Lithuanian National Art Museum. Since 2015 Agnė creates, organizes educational activities, conducts educational classes, prepares exhibitions and projects. She is the co-author of LNDM Clock Museum Children’s Audio Guide and 2 educational apps for smartphones. She created a drive-thru exhibition where information is presented using the 4 human senses. The exhibition visited 10 establishments and over 5,000 visitors got to know the evolution of watches. Constantly participates in professional development training.

When creating educational activities, Agnė pays great attention to the skills of the 21st century, promoting creativity, critical thinking, teamwork, etc. When organizing exhibitions, it aims to present cultural values in an attractive way and reveal the stories of the exhibits. The created interactive educational programs and exhibitions encourage the cognitive process, creativity, involvement in creative activities, historically conscious, communal and active participant of society.

Email: agne.jonikaite@lndm.lt

Phone number: +370  46 410417

Liutkutė, Loreta

Head of the Adult Service and Information Department of the Imanuelis Kant Public Library of Klaipėda City Municipality

Loreta actively contributes to the creation of a modern library close to the homes of Klaipėda citizens, where all users have equal opportunities to comfortably use all kinds of universal information resources to meet the needs of cultural, recreational, self-education and lifelong learning. Loreta aims to reduce the social, cultural and informational isolation of persons with various disabilities, to initiate and support active cooperation between institutions that gather disabled persons, to enable the disabled to participate in creative activities – to create favorable conditions for artistic self-expression and creativity, to develop the artistic abilities of the disabled, to encourage learning about the history of the region, cultural heritage, to present activities and achieved results to the public.

Loreta also prepares and implements projects, the activities of which are purposefully oriented to initiate, encourage and support cooperation between organizations bringing together disabled people, to ensure mutual communication, to encourage and strengthen the interests of disabled communities, to seek the active involvement of every member of that community in the cultural, educational and creative activities of the project. She implements projects whose activities are designed to gradually promote the socialization process of the disabled, promote creativity, involve them in specific cultural-educational activities, and reduce social and cultural exclusion.

Email: bibliogr@biblioteka.lt

Phone number: +370 62095933

Rumbutytė-Šimienė, Eglė

Chief educator at the Clock Museum of the Lithuanian National Museum of Art

Since 2015 Eglė organizes educational activities, exhibitions, prepares and implements projects. Eglė carries out extensive educational activities, involving groups of society of various ages and social status. She creates interactive educational programs that promote the cognitive process, creativity, involvement in creative activities. Eglė conducts educational classes not only in the museum, but also outside the museum, implements educational projects (created educational apps for smart devices, cartoons). With the onset of the global pandemic, educational activities have been moved to virtual space. The educational tools used in the museum spaces are also available and adapted for remote educational activities.

Email: rumbutyte.e@gmail.com

Phone number: +37063860113


SLOVENIA


Oder, Karla. Dr.

Curator, museum councellor employed at the Carinthian Regional Museum

At the Carinthian Regional Museum, she is in charge of protecting and interpreting the technical heritage. It explores the economic history and culture of work, the way of life of the industrial population. She has experience in the field of museology, research and education, and business and professional management of a public institution, as well as in the management of projects co-financed by the EU. She collaborates with ACS in the preparation of descriptors of the basic abilities for adults from vulnerable groups. She has been working as a study mentor for almost three decades. She participates in the project Digital Innovation of Cultural Heritage and its 5 * experience. She is the author and organizer of the permanent museum installation Mather factory – Ironworks Ravne and Shining steel, 400 years of steelmaking in the Mežiška Valley.

Email: karla.oder@gmail.com

Phone number: 00386 (0)40 352 787 / 00386 (0)41 264 320

Perko, Lucija

MA in Interior/Industrial Design, PhD student in Heritology

I am a designer by profession and have worked as a lecturer at the Interior Design degree course at Accademia Italiana in Bangkok, Thailand from 2008-2019. Currently I live in Slovenia and am involved with developing design strategies and products in collaboration with the Karen people (Thai Northern hill-tribe people) who work with silver by means of traditional tools and techniques. Our design studio (Stories of silver&silk) is involved in preserving and sustaining local arts and crafts and traditional knowledge and heritage.

Email: perkolucija@gmail.com

Phone number: +386 51349649

Perko, Verena

Archaeologist, museologist, Senior museum curator, university teacher, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia

Verena Perko (1952), poet and story teller, archaeologist and museologist. She improved her professional knowledge at Zagreb University, Masaryk University in Brno and with Paul Getty scholarship in USA and England. She is museum curator and university teacher and one of initiators and founders of doctoral heritage studies at the University of Ljubljana. She conducts and organizes also trainings for museum professionals. She is active member of several Slovenian and international professional and scientific associations, such as Slovenian Museum Association, ICOM, ICOMOSS. She is author of several scientific and popular publications and more than 400 articles.

Email: verena.perko@siol.net

Phone number: 00386 41 753 644

Rebernik, Nataša

PhD and Project Manager and Researcher in Disability Inclusion at INUK (Institute for Advanced Communication Management), Maribor, Slovenia

Nataša Rebernik is an accessibility and disability inclusion enthusiast with over 15 years of professional and academic experience in the field. She is especially interested in the question of how to stimulate society to become more accessible and inclusive of people with disabilities.

She graduated in 2008 in Community Engineering focusing on accessibility of public spaces. In 2013 she defended her 2nd degree Bachelor in Archaeology with accessibility of museological collections. In 2020 she obtained a joint PhD focusing on Smart inclusive city design. The research was supported by the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant. Within the last 15 years she worked as a Project Manager and Researcher in more than 30 national and international projects tackling societal challenges related to inclusion and accessibility of people with disabilities in public spaces, employment, education, tourism, culture and cultural heritage etc.

Email: natasa2.rebernik@gmail.com

Rihter, Andreja

PhD in History, Faculty of Arts at the University of Ljubljana, Slovenia

Director FSK (Forum of Slavic Countries), International foundation. The director of FSK organizes and manages the work of the International Institution in accordance with the decisions taken by the board and based on the principle of rational and efficient management of the International Institution: ensuring effective organisation and communication to facilitate liaising across Slavic cultures; especially programs and projects in the field of heritage, education, training, creating programmes that will strengthen and enhance Foundation’s existing practice, programmes and project, exploring the opportunities for increased visibility in the wider community.

Email: Andreja.rihter@guest.arnes.si

Phone number: +386 41798221

Ziherl, Ana Katarina

Museum Advisor, Technical Museum of Slovenia

Ana Katarina Ziherl is responsible for museum pedagogical programmes (guidance’s, workshops, demonstrations) in TMS for pre-school children, primary and secondary school pupils, students and adults (14 years of experience in museum education field). Before she has also worked for museums and other public institutions on international level as well. She also contributes with writing texts for exhibitions and museum catalogues, coordinates DiZiT (Days of Science and Engineering) and broadens partners’ network. She is the main editor of website of Section for education and communication of SMS (Skupnost muzejev Slovenije – Slovenian Museums Association). She participated in few EU projects promoting science and nations habits (A Taste of Europe, Cesa-Central European Science Adventure, Tessi-Teaching Sustainability across Slovenia and Italy, ICYDK In case you didn’t know – raising awarenness of importance of intelectual property, European Researcher’s Night 2018/19, 2020, 2021, 2022/23).

Email: akziherl@tms.si

Phone number: +386 41 957 146


SPAIN


Alonso Hernando, Celia

Psychologist and project coordinator in Aspanias Burgos Foundation

In my professional career, I have worked with different groups of people whose ability to enjoy culture is limited because they feel excluded from cultural contexts or because they encounter significant barriers to accessing and understanding heritage. My area of interest is cognitive accessibility, a type of accessibility that is sometimes forgotten and that is very important for people with intellectual disabilities, people with cognitive impairment, low educational levels or little knowledge of the language. It is definitely useful for the general population since it facilitates a better understanding for all people.

Email: cealonso@aspaniasburgos.com

Phone number: +34 659476329

Caro Rodríguez, Inmaculada. Dr.

PhD for the English and North American Literature Department at the Faculty of Philology at the University of Seville (Spain)

Doctor in English Philology from the Faculty of Philology of the University of Seville. She works as a literature teacher in the Department of English and American Literature. She has worked as a face-to-face and virtual English teacher in various educational centers. Apart from that, she is the author of stories, micro-stories, nano-stories, poems and aphorisms. She has been a finalist in various poetry and short story contests and won the second prize for Micro-stories of Shared Verses in Uruguay. Finally, she has developed a project whose main objective is to make materials accessible to students and teachers in optimal conditions that favor the enjoyment of study and research materials in all university contexts.

Email: icaro5@us.es / mermaid8es@yahoo.es

Phone number: +34 611467578

del Campo Solís, María Cirila

Business Manager

I am currently working as a leisure / outdoor activities instructor  where I carry out inclusive activities for groups of people with functional diversity in the federation “Oretania Ciudad Real” (Spain).

Email: ciudadaccesible@hotmail.com

Phone number: +34 622521112

García Llorente, Cristina

Director-Manager of the Caja de Burgos CAB Art Center and Cultural Manager, Spain

Graduate in Business and Tourism activities. Restless, passionate and contemporary art lover.

In 2003 she joined the Caja de Burgos team and witnessed the beginning of the Caja de Burgos CAB Art Center. She begins her journey by discovering the importance of visitors and lovers of these spaces sharing their experiences with those who run them. A few years later, she is part of the external management area of the center, having more direct contact with artists, media, and cultural managers. In November 2015, she took over the management and direction of this center.

In this last period she has managed numerous individual and collective exhibitions of national and international artists. She also manages the center, its staff and the activities programme.

.

Email: cgarcia@cajadeburgos.com

Phone number: +34 620876472

Gómez Linacero, Rut

Official tour guide of the Government of Canary Islands, Tenerife, Spain

I am an official guide as well as a medium and low mountain guide, an environmental educator and also an adapted diving and yoga instructor. I have been working in the world of accessibility since 2011, and have even trained professionals in the field of accessible diving in Latin America and Spain. I am the founder of Tazirga Wellness Tours, a wellness and awareness company where accessibility, equality and sustainability are pillars that promote our unique experiences.

Email: info@tazirga.com

Phone number: +34 657197388

Iniesta Ibañez, Mirian

Agent in Sociocultural activities. Murcia City Council. Murcia. Spain.

Degree in History of Art, in Information and Documentation, and Master in Management of Historical, Artistic and Cultural Heritage from the University of Murcia. She currently works as a tourism agent for the Murcia City Council at the San Antonio El Pobre Visitor Center. She has worked as guide at the City Museum, Los Molinos Hydraulic Museum and La Luz and Monteagudo visitor centers. She is certified as an Official Guide and has participated in the creation of the Femenino Plural guided tour project.

Email: estainiesta@gmail.com

Phone number: +34 618160757

Leal Gago, Nuria

Manager of the Museum of Aromas, in Santa Cruz de la Salceda, Burgos, Spain

I am a proactive person who manages the necessary resources of the Museo de los Aromas, and the important decisions in the future of the Museum as well as its projects. I am the person in charge of managing the exhibitions, contact with artists and the development of the museum activities.

Email: nuriarioduero@gmail.com / contacto@museodelosaromas.com

Phone number: +34 620970407 / 947557440

López Guerra, Ana

President of the Professional Tourist Guides Association (APIT), Spain

I have been working as a Tour Guide for more than 20 years. I have worked with both large and small groups showing and explaining all the cultural heritage. This allows me to know what are the deficiencies that monuments have in terms of accessibility and the problems that arise on public venues for people with some type of disability.

Email: aloguerra@gmail.com

Phone number: +34 629577553

Ortega-Sánchez, Delfín. Dr.

Vice-rector for Social Responsibility, Culture and Sport at the University of Burgos (Spain)

Doctor in Didactics of Social Sciences from the Autonomous University of Barcelona, Doctor in Education from the University and Doctor in History from the University of Extremadura. University Professor in the area of Didactics of Social Sciences, Director of the Recognized Research Group DHISO, and Vice Chancellor of Social Responsibility, Culture and Sports of the University of Burgos, with competences in activities for the promotion of equality, diversity, social inclusion and non-discrimination, and attention to diversity and people with disabilities.

Email: dosanchez@ubu.es

Phone number: +34 673070278

Rodríguez Fernández, Miriam

Research fellow in the DINper Research Group of the University of Burgos (Spain)

I am a graduate in Audiovisual Communication from the University of Burgos and a student of the Master’s Degree in Digital Marketing and E-Commerce from the MCS.
I have been working for 9 years with my project “THE M3T” between Castilla y León and the Principality of Asturias, where 3D technology is key to the inclusion of visually impaired people in art.
I have been awarded for my professional career and fight for inclusion in art in the 2022 CyL Innovative Awards of the newspaper El Mundo and in the Call for Market Prototypes 2020-21 of the University of Burgos. I currently work designing educational panels in 3D giving accessibility to art for people with disabilities.

Email: miriamrofer@gmail.com

Linkedln: www.linkedin.com/in/miriam-rodríguez-fernández-324945225

Sanz de Acedo Caballero, Beatriz

Official tour guide in Burgos Turismo (co-founder), Burgos (Spain)

Degree in Tourism and Master’s in Heritage and Communication from the University of Burgos. I have worked in the tourism and culture sector since 2005 and in 2016 I started the company “Burgos Turismo”, which is dedicated to guided tours and cultural activities. Since then I have worked on various cultural projects to adapt guided tours for people with disabilities in the city of Burgos.

Email: bsanzdeacedo@gmail.com

Talavera Benito, Jonatan

Cultural Manager of the Museum of Aromas, in Santa Cruz de la Salceda, Burgos, Spain

I am a person with disability and I work as a museum guide, projects and communication department as well as maintenance and supplier management. I also develop activities and workshops related to smell, as well as olfactory training.

Email: talabejon@gmail.com / contacto@museodelosaromas.com

Phone number: +34 655179265 / 947557442


UNITED KINGDOM


Benjamin, Elizabeth. Dr.

Lecturer in French at Coventry University, UK

Lecturer in French at Coventry University, UK, and a researcher in modern and contemporary French and Francophone memory studies. Her particular interests are the ways in which we choose to remember people, events, and things, and how we create narratives of inclusion and exclusion around them. She is interested in cultural manifestations of memory, and particularly monuments, literature, and visual culture.

Email: ac7390@coventry.ac.uk

Garro, Olivia

Membership Recruiter & Events Stewart, The British Museum

PhD Student, Centre for Arts, Memory and Communities, Coventry University, United Kingdom. My research explores the representations and iconographies of witchcraft in the Italian Renaissance, focusing in particular on the images found in the inquisitorial manual by friar Francesco Maria Guazzo, the Compendium Maleficarum (Milan, 1608). This aligns with my broader interests in visual culture and in art as a political tool, and its instrumentalised use for prosecution, othering, and the creation of stereotypes.

Email: garroo@uni.coventry.ac.uk / oliv.garro@gmail.com

Phone number: +44 07511085716

Harrod, Kirsty

PhD candidate at Coventry University

I am a PhD candidate at Coventry University (UK) in the Centre for Arts, Memory, and Communities. I am researching narratives of rape in Greek tragedy. As a Classicist, I’m very interested in museums and other cultural institutions and passionately believe they should be accessible to all. Heritage should not be gatekept.

Email: harrodk@coventry.ac.uk

Phone number: +44 07551506891

Martin, Shaniece

PhD student at Coventry University

Shaniece Martin is a PhD student at Coventry University, U.K. studying for a PhD in Exploring Identity in Indian English Poetry. Her interest lies in understanding the identity of oneself and how this identity can be expressed and shown through poetry, both written and spoken word. Shaniece has a keen passion for inclusion to be encouraged and acknowledged particularly in artistic and research practices.

Email: marti177@coventry.ac.uk

Treloar, Marley

PhD researcher at Coventry University

Marley Treloar is a first year PhD researcher at Coventry University exploring the development of participatory community practice between digital and physical spaces within cultural organisations. She graduated from Kingston University MA Museum and Gallery Studies in 2019 and has worked across the arts and heritage sector working as a freelance curator, public programmer and education officer. Marley is the creative director of Co-Curation, artist run curatorial collective exploring participatory, community and digital collaborative artistic practice.

Email: marleykaitlyntreloar@hotmail.com

Phone number: +44 07709671513

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