Learning diversity on the Ethnic Minorities’ Path in ASTRA Museum
Published on 23 August 2018
Romania
Centru
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About this good practice
ASTRA Museum displays a multicultural collection that was highlighted in a new visiting circuit symbolically called The Path of Ethnic Minorities in the open air museum. In order to make it accessible to wider audiences without further assistance from the museum staff and make it available all year round, it needed a good interpretation tool that was easy to follow and free of charge. A set of ten brochures was designed, in four languages. Each one has an umbrella theme that can be followed in architecture features, objects, traditional crafts or beliefs, by hints, along the visiting circuit. The explanatory texts are rendered in friendly manner and are accompanied by small tasks such as fill-in the blank, riddles, drawing, counting, in order to make each tour a participatory experience.
Due to the new themed tours, the Path of Ethnic Minorities is constantly being experienced from different perspectives, through a cognitive and participatory journey and provides new reasons for the audiences to engage with the heritage. Its moderate length (it takes between 1:30 – 2h to complete), the accessible stories and the fun tasks make it a good and rewarding visit for a day and also a good teaser to come back, revisit and try out a new theme.
The main stakeholders of the unassisted themed tours are the ethnic groups living in Romania that have their heritage explained and highlighted in the open air museum. The main target group is the family.
Due to the new themed tours, the Path of Ethnic Minorities is constantly being experienced from different perspectives, through a cognitive and participatory journey and provides new reasons for the audiences to engage with the heritage. Its moderate length (it takes between 1:30 – 2h to complete), the accessible stories and the fun tasks make it a good and rewarding visit for a day and also a good teaser to come back, revisit and try out a new theme.
The main stakeholders of the unassisted themed tours are the ethnic groups living in Romania that have their heritage explained and highlighted in the open air museum. The main target group is the family.
Resources needed
This interpretation tool was developed within the Open Heritage project (EEA Grants 2009-2014) with a budget of 31.240 euro for the brochures and 5 internal experts involved. In order to avoid further costs with re-printing the brochures will be turned into a tour app.
Evidence of success
Since April 2017 more than 39.500 people used the brochures. It was a success for the Hungarian community especially because they were the first interpretation materials to be found in their native language. The main target group (families) found them very helpful in visiting the museum together with the children as it turned their day into a cultural engaging quest.
The experience of ASTRA museum has inspired CHRISTA partners to include actions in their action plans.
The experience of ASTRA museum has inspired CHRISTA partners to include actions in their action plans.
Potential for learning or transfer
The unassisted themed tours are a very good tool for turning a regular visit to a multicultural destination into an engaging cognitive experience. They focus on what different ethnic groups have in common, on what they share instead of presenting them apart. They provide experiences not information, in a very pleasant manner; they are very accessible, because of the friendly format and language and are considered as a bonus to the admission ticket. Each tour builds bridges of understanding, opens communication between generations. Once prepared it is easy to monitor and re-print or integrate it in a mobile application with low costs for maintenance. The variety of themes turns into real incentives for coming back to the destination and add to their interpretation role, the promotional role.
Further information
Website
Good practice owner
You can contact the good practice owner below for more detailed information.
Organisation
ASTRA Museum
Romania
Centru
Contact
Executive Director