Emily Crum used her Enrichment Fund Board grant to travel to Cleveland, Ohio to see the ArtLens Gallery at the Cleveland Museum of Art (CMA). The ArtLens Gallery is an innovative digital experience that “allows you, your family, and friends to look closer, dive deeper, and have fun discovering the museum’s collection using award-winning…technology.”

This multifaceted tool is comprised of a studio, exhibition, app, and wall that allow you the unique opportunity to create, engage, interact, and connect with the museum’s collection that is individual and catered to you. Through their smartphone app, you can save artworks you learn about, track photos you take during your experience, and map your visit using responsive wayfinding technology. While considered “play”, this technology serves a dual purpose: both whole body participation and new ways of engaging the visitor.

Emily’s current interest and research focus on new ways of interpretation in museums in the 21st century across the country, specifically in the realm of technology and accessibility. She is interested in new technologies and tools of accessibility that museums are developing as an attempt to provide greater access to all patrons, with CMA’s ArtsLens being a pinnacle example. The CMA’s ArtLens Gallery is one of the most innovative technological programs in the United States and can serve as a case study to advocate for more museum’s adapting technology into their daily practice.

For more information about ArtLens Gallery, please visit: www.clevelandart.org/artlens-gallery/about.