ANGUSalive Annual Report 2019-2020

Promote a culture of diversity and equality

Autism Friendly Activity Hour

Museums, Galleries & Archives

Autism Friendly Activity Hour was an event run at Montrose Museum and supported by National Museums Scotland on 1 February 2020. It was aimed at children with autism to encourage them and their families to engage with our ancient Egyptian collection.

We offered a variety of different activities including storytelling, making an Egyptian headband, object handling, a sensory tent, a picture trail and a hieroglyph hunt. There were also sensory backpacks available containing items intended to make the museum visit accessible for the children.

It was a relaxed format where the children could take part in whichever activities they chose for as long as they wanted.

The event was attended by 11 people, six of whom were children with autism. This event opened up our museum to a different audience – many of the parents had been hesitant to visit our museum and others in the past. Our feedback highlighted however that many said they would come back to the museum again. Many also commented positively on the relaxed nature of the event, showing how important it is to create that environment in the museum, particularly for this audience.

Did you know?

All of the families said that the event was fun or that it helped them to spend quality time together

Caroline Taylor, Heritage Learning & Engagement Lead said: “It’s important to make sure that our museums are accessible for everyone so that all families can learn and have fun together in a relaxed and friendly environment.”

Rachel Drury, NMS Learning and Engagement Officer for the Revealing Stories national programme added: “One of the aims of the Revealing Stories national programme was to support local museums across Scotland in developing tailored resources and programmes for audiences with autism, widening access to collections and sharing knowledge and best practice throughout the sector. Having already developed a strong relationship with ANGUSalive through the NLHF funded AncientEgypt and East Asia national programme, it was fantastic to be able to support

Caroline and the ANGUSalive team further and to see the creative and innovative programming that was produced.

“Through evaluation gained from the Social Impact Toolkit (provided as part of the partnership), ANGUSalive was able to demonstrate the incredibly positive outcomes this programming achieved for the audience, something which was wonderful to see, a joy to report on and which I am sure will be carried on into the future.”

The session had a really relaxed and comfy atmosphere.

Evaluation form feedback

My son loved the experience.

Parent of participant

The whole session was really worth attending.

Evaluation form feedback