The Cayman Islands National Museum has launched its new, multilingual audio guides, which immerse residents and visitors in the voices, sounds and stories of Caymanian history, culture and heritage.
According to the museum, the new audio guides offer “an immersive experience of our galleries through eight narrations in Caymanian dialect, English, Spanish, French, Italian, German, Tagalog and Jamaican Patois”.
“We are thrilled to launch our new, multilingual audio guide, which has been planned for some time now and which has now finally been implemented,” Veerle Poupeye, the museum’s director, told the Cayman Compass ahead of a launch reception held at the museum on Thursday.
She said, “It is part of our efforts to be more accessible, inclusive and interactive, and to allow visitors of different backgrounds, tourists, business visitors, and, importantly, Caymanians and other residents to engage more effectively with the unique history, heritage and culture of the Cayman Islands as it is represented at the museum …
“It is a tool to enhance visitor engagement, to improve communication with our very diverse visitorship, and to add to the educational experience we offer.”
During the launch event, guests were invited to experience the audio guide firsthand as well as meet the voices behind the narrations, including Paulette McField who narrated the Caymanian audio guide and Lesley-Ann Bernard Ricketts who narrated the Jamaican Patois.
So, how do the audio guides work? Residents and visitors connect to the museum’s free WiFi using a mobile phone and scan the QR code posted at the museum. From there, they’re taken to the audio guide landing page where they can select the desired language and follow along. There are signs around the museum with numbers for each section.
“Audio guides are a common feature in many museums and allow visitors to take an independent, pre-recorded guided tour at their own pace and in the order they prefer, and in the language(s) they are comfortable using,” Poupeye said.
New technologies to the museum
The recordings are also available on the museum website, and Poupeye confirmed they are a first step towards introducing new technologies to the museum.
“We are looking at adding immersive experiences and virtual museum visits next,” she said.
Poupeye added visitors will actively use this new facility to enhance their museum experience, “and that it will attract persons who have never been to the museum or who have not visited us for some time to visit us to try out this new, fun and educational way of engaging with our exhibits.”
The audio guide is available for the museum’s permanent and temporary exhibitions, the natural history gallery, old gaol (jail), gift shop (old post office), object theatre (old cistern) and cultural history gallery.
The National Museum now offers free admission for residents on Saturdays from 10am to 5pm.
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