At the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art at the University, dozens of art exhibits are now more than a visual experience. Thanks to a year-long project – and a lot of work by a University student – visitors at the museum can experience art through their ears.
On Feb. 14, the museum began offering its visitors audio podcasts called “I-Tours” that explain background information on many of the art pieces, the architecture of the building or exhibits as a whole. Though audio tours are nothing new, the University’s museum is one of several making modern adaptations to an old practice with new technology.
“It’s really the new wave of museums,” Interim Director Robert Melnick said. “Museums have looked for years for ways to inform their visiting public about the art. The I-Tours are just a more contemporary way to do that.”
The use of more modern technology to complement an old-fashioned experience is also better suited to a place with a younger population, Melnick said.
“It’s absolutely appropriate on a university campus,” he said. “All you have to do is look around to see the number of iPods there are here.”
Newer technologies also allow the museum itself to afford the set-up of a service that could cost as much as $50,000 for a firm to do, said museum Director of Educational Outreach Lisa Abia-Smith.
“Most museums are trying to use new technologies to appeal to our diverse audience,” she said. “Podcasts are a perfect way to reach visitors in a cost-effective manner.”
University senior and art history major Jonathan Parks did much of the work to conduct and compile the interviews for the files, which include perspectives from community members, University staff and alumni, among others.
Parks said the project began in February 2006. Since then, he said, several people have come forward wanting to offer their expertise for future podcasts. The idea will only help the museum reach its audience, he said.
“It’s always going to be a work in progress, because we’re always getting new people who want to give their input on the exhibits and pieces of art,” Parks said.
So far, the I-Tours are also receiving a positive reaction from visitors wanting to use them, said Debbie Williamson-Smith, a representative with the museum.
Parks said the most important things the podcasts offer to visitors is an alternative to reading labels about artwork, and providing an interactive dynamic not offered before.
Though it just began offering the new audio service, the museum already has plans in the works to expand the features of I-Tours, Abia-Smith said. Podcasts will be updated three times per year, and offer students involved in the upcoming Master of Fine Arts exhibit to speak about their own work for the I-Tours.
“I think it’s a way of cohesively putting all of their works together,” Parks said.
Currently, the I-Tours are available for download at the museum’s Web site, where users can then put them on their own iPods to bring to the exhibits. For those who don’t own one, the museum offers two iPod nanos for checkout with the I-Tours already on them.
Fundraising efforts are also underway to raise the number of iPods available for checkout from two to eight, ideally.
“I think people sometimes think of museums as kind of an elitist, stuffy experience, and we’re really not like that here,” Williamson-Smith said. “Art is for everyone.”
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