Hands-on Training

We will be offering four separate hands-on training sessions after the morning plenary. Two from 11:30 – 12:45 (Breakout Round 1) and two from 13:45 – 15:00 (Breakout Round 2). As space is limited in some sessions, we will be operating on a first-come, first-served basis.

1st Breakout Round: 11.30-12.45

Hands on Training – Olfactory Storytelling Toolkit
Sofia Collette Ehrich, Alex McQueen

Participants of this session will participate in a hands-on training of the Olfactory Storytelling Toolkit: a ‘how-to’ Guide for Working with Smells in Museums and Heritage Institutions. The session will be divided into two parts, firstly an informative presentation about the toolkit, and secondly, a hands-on activity with an emphasis on identifying olfactory stories in digital and physical collections as well as developing a heritage scent with a perfumer.

After this workshop, participants will be able to:

  • Creatively engage with collection items from an olfactory perspective and learn how to interpret scents for the public
  • Apply the methodologies from the Olfactory Storytelling Toolkit to their own institution’s practices
  • Understand the challenges of olfactory storytelling and how to best address them
  • Be aware of tools available to them that can help identify olfactory narratives in GLAM collections

Hands on Training – Working with existing scents in GLAM collections 
Victoria-Anne Michel, Cecilia Bembibre

How do we detect, document and safeguard historical smells? Participants of this session will have the opportunity to be trained on revealing and communicating the value of approaching existing collections and spaces with an olfactory lens. For example, what can sniffing the books of a library tell us about the materials they are made of, the way the books have been used, and the people who kept them? How can we reinterpret an incense burner by exploring the fragrance of the incense it originally burned, and its religious or cultural meanings? How can smell open avenues for stakeholder engagement and embodied learning?

After this workshop, participants will be able to:

  • Explore heritage artefacts and develop meaningful olfactory narratives involving them
  • Explore spaces and develop meaningful olfactory narratives involving them
2nd Breakout Round: 13.45-15.00

Hands on Training – Olfactory Storytelling Toolkit
Sofia Collette Ehrich, Alex McQueen

Participants of this session will participate in a hands-on training of the Olfactory Storytelling Toolkit: a ‘how-to’ Guide for Working with Smells in Museums and Heritage Institutions. The session will be divided into two parts, firstly an informative presentation about the toolkit, and secondly, a hands-on activity with an emphasis on identifying olfactory stories in digital and physical collections as well as developing a heritage scent with a perfumer.

After this workshop, participants will be able to:

  • Creatively engage with collection items from an olfactory perspective and learn how to interpret scents for the public
  • Apply the methodologies from the Olfactory Storytelling Toolkit to their own institution’s practices
  • Understand the challenges of olfactory storytelling and how to best address them
  • Be aware of tools available to them that can help identify olfactory narratives in GLAM collections

Hands on Training – How to measure the impact of olfactory storytelling in GLAMs? 
George Alexopoulos and Cecilia Bembibre

In this hands-on session, participants will learn about the potential impact and value of Olfactory storytelling in GLAMs and techniques to incorporate these into their own practice.

After this workshop, participants will be able to:

  • Identify key aspects of olfactory engagement in heritage contexts
  • Work towards a strategy to measure impact when using smells in GLAMs

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