Innosign, an organization supporting deaf and hard of hearing youth and adults and sign language users, has launched a pilot training for ART&SIGNS in Slovakia.
The aim of this European project is to make art and culture accessible to the deaf through developing innovative educational resources for museum staff.
As one of the partner organizations and the coordinator of the ART&SIGNS project, Innosign will provide trainings to test and validate the project results including curricula, e-learning platform, and video dictionaries. The pilot project will take place from October 11 to November 30, 2023 in two Slovak cities – Košice and Veľký Šariš.
The pilot training will involve 15 museum professionals including museum employees, marketing professionals, and guides. The training will consist of a total of 50 hours of blended learning combining online and in-person meetings. Deaf trainers will be involved in delivering parts of the program.
The goal of the pilot project is to assess the effectiveness of the training materials and tools developed within the ART&SIGNS project. Feedback will be gathered from participants to identify strengths and areas needing improvement. This will enable the partnership to refine the resources before full rollout across Europe.
The training program covers basic vocabulary in Slovak Sign Language, communication strategies, and core knowledge of deaf culture. By participating in the pilot, museum staff will gain skills needed to properly welcome and communicate with deaf visitors.
In addition to the training program, the pilot project will test the effectiveness of supporting resources like e-learning platform, open education materials, and video guides developed during the project. The feedback gained during the pilot will allow Innosign and its European partners to improve the training approach before full implementation in museums internationally.
Innosign is proud to play a key role in piloting this major initiative to support inclusion and accessibility in Slovakia’s arts and culture sector.
We will keep you regularly updated on the progress of the pilot training, specifically the individual modules. Follow along for interesting news and updates about the project.
The video in SPJ (Slovak Sign Language) is a summary of the Slovak texts of this blog, or the links provided, therefore it is not subtitled.