FRAME Educators Conference
FRAME held a virtual FRAME Educators Conference on Tuesday, Oct. 26 at 11:00 AM – 1:00 PM EST. The conference was open to all FRAME educators and members. The two-hour conference began with an interactive presentation about the FRAMEwork: A Guide for Welcoming Museum Visitors with Autism Spectrum Disorder, a ground-breaking publication that serves as a model of best practice for engaging neurodiverse people of all ages. Included in the presentation was a live demonstration of the “sensory tote bag” that the educators created to help engage visitors with autism. A tote bag was sent to each FRAME museum after the conference. A recording of this presentation is available on the FRAME YouTube channel.
The second part of the conference included breakout sessions for informal discussions and sharing experiences about continuing efforts to engage with our communities. Using the FRAMEwork Guide as a case study, educators addressed universal inclusion and accessibility in museums through open discussions. This virtual forum offered educators the opportunity to reflect on how they can contribute to redefine the connection between museums and their publics.
The FRAME Educators Conference was originally scheduled as an in-person convening at the Wadsworth Atheneum and Museum of Art in Hartford in June 2020, but was postponed several times and finally re-shaped to a virtual event due to the COIVD-19 pandemic and the restrictions on travel.
We are most grateful to the Samuel H. Kress Foundation for their generous support that made this conference possible.
