Accessible Tours Come to Salford Museums

Accessible Tours Bring Culture and Heritage to the Whole Community

Salford Community Leisure are proud to announce that they have recently launched British Sign language and Audio Described tours at Salford Museum & Art Gallery and Ordsall Hall.

The work has been completed as part of a project named, ‘Unlocking the Collection: Accessible Interpretation’ which was funded by Arts Council England.

SCL want to ensure their venues are as accessible as possible for everyone and this project has been a positive step in ensuring inclusivity for Blind, visually impaired and Deaf BSL museum visitors.

Focus groups played an important part in the project so that the accessible tours were suitable for the users needs. The museum team leading the project also worked closely with partners Thomas Pocklington Trust, Greater Manchester Sight Loss Council, Henshaws and Mind’s Eye Audio Description for the audio described tours and Manchester Deaf Centre’s Wellbeing Group, Deaf presenter Wayne Sharples, interpreter Mark Hetherington and film maker Georgiana Ghetiu for the BSL tours.

Deaf BSL users, visually impaired and blind visitors can access the tours using the Smartify app. The accessible tours can easily be found through QR codes on signs throughout the museums or on their websites.

There are two digital tours in BSL and two digital audio described tours for both sites which can be used as a tour while walking around the museum, but can also be experienced from the comfort of your own home.

One recent visitor said:

“The audio tour enabled me to navigate around the venue with limited support. I had an in-depth explanation of which artefacts and paintings I was looking at with a detail backstory to enhance the contact.”

Councillor Hannah Robinson-Smith, Lead Member for Culture and Connected Communities said:

“The completion of this project is the start of Salford Community Leisure and Salford Museum’s continued commitment to making improvements to ensuring collections are accessible to as many people as possible.”

Museum Accessible Tours Available

Ordsall Hall

Salford Museum & Art Gallery

Become a Salford Museums Member

Want to soak up the best of Salford’s culture and heritage?

Membership benefits include a dedicated membership card offering 10% off in cafés at both Salford Museum & Art Gallery and Ordsall Hall, as well as seasonal discounts and special offers in museum shops. Members will also receive VIP invitations to exhibition previews and access to exclusive events such as garden tours, workshops and special previews.

Members can choose from a range of annual options to suit their needs, including:

Individual membership (£35)

Joint membership (£50)

Free Volunteer membership available to all Salford Museums volunteers after six months