Dr. Peter Coppin, Associate Professor in the Faculty of Design at OCAD University, and Melissa Smith, AGO's Assistant Curator of Community Programs, discuss their Inclusive Design Multisensory Museum Course which focuses on a co-creative process of translating artworks in the AGO collection into multisensory objects. They discuss a more inclusive gallery experience and introduce a series of Multisensory Museum Moments which will feature the multisensory translations created by OCAD University students.

Dr. Peter Coppin, the Graduate Program Director for Inclusive Design from July 4, 2017 to June 30, 2020, an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Design at OCAD University in Toronto, Canada, is an inclusive designer, visual artist, and cognitive scientist. His work seeks to improve information inclusion through understanding how diverse perceptual-cultural-motor capabilities interact with interfaces and designs (such as diagrams in problem-solving and auditory alternatives to graphs and maps). In Canada, his work has been funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council; Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council; Centre for Innovation in Information Visualization and Data-Driven Design; Ontario Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities; MITACS; and NCE GRAND. His US work was funded by NASA, the National Science Foundation, Heinz Endowments, and the R.K. Mellon, Buhl and Laurel foundations. His media art-designs were exhibited internationally, including Prix Ars Electronica (Linz, Austria), SIGGRAPH Touchware (Orlando, USA), MIR: Art&Space (Bolzono, Italy), and the Adler (Chicago, USA)

Melissa Smith is the Assistant Curator of Community Programs at the Art Gallery of Ontario. Her responsibilities include inclusive public programs for adults and accessibility advocacy. Motivated by a sustained commitment to exploring the unique relationship between art and audiences, Smith was awarded the Royal Ontario Museum Visitor Engagement Award in 2014 and one of Smith’s AGO programs was awarded the 2016 People’s Choice for Quality Improvement by the City of Toronto Long Term Care Homes and Services. She holds a Master of Arts in Art History from Western University and a Masters of Museum Studies from the University of Toronto. She is also a Sessional Instructor in the Inclusive Design Graduate Program at OCADU and sits on the Board of Directors at the Miles Nadal Jewish Community Centre.

Closed captioning is available in this recording.

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