Case Studies – Supporting Learning & Community at Tate
British Sign Language Tours,
Supported by the Sir Jules Thorn Charitable Trust
As a beneficiary of a grant from the Sir Jules Thorn Charitable Trust, Tate has developed a ground-breaking resource to open up its Collection to the deaf and hard-of-hearing community. Building on the success of its award-winning multimedia guides, a new multimedia British Sign Language (BSL) tour was introduced at Tate Modern, Tate Britain and Tate Liverpool in December 2007. The guides act as a long-term resource providing targeted information about Tate's permanent Collection.
As visitors walk through the galleries with their small handheld computer (PDA) they are able to discreetly access information about 70 artworks on display. The guide offers an introductory interpretive text for each work and further contextual images, archival film footage and responses from deaf people, providing on-demand interpretation for deaf visitors in their preferred language, as an alternative to the BSL-interpreted gallery talk.
Gallery Discovery Tours at Tate Britain
Supported by the Ernest Cook Trust
One of Tate's most pressing priorities is to use our outstanding art collection to facilitate children's learning, in a way that complements the national curriculum. Gallery Discovery Tours at Tate Britain are aimed at students at Key Stages 1–5 and enable school groups to explore their own responses to art works on display and increase their understanding of British and international art. We are very grateful to the Ernest Cook Trust for their support of this important strand of our work during the academic year 2008/09 and for their grant to develop Teacher's Packs for our exhibitions on Van Dyck, Francis Bacon and the Turner Prize.
Family Activities at Tate Modern
Supported by UBS
