As all of the attractions’ sector feels the fallout from Covid-19 measures – either in our jobs, organisations or the attractions sector as a whole, we at AY-PE have been proactively looking to the future.

There’s no denying it’s going to be a changed landscape – certainly for a while. Experts from across the world predict that once countries are reopened we’re likely to face for some time to come, cyclical social distance/ lock down and corresponding opening and closure of attractions, as we saw in March with Hong Kong’s museums.

The visitor profile is also likely to adjust with organisations needing to care for and understand that there has been a clear shock/ trauma to the public as a whole. The ‘shock’ around the scale of what has occurred, memories of loved ones or patients that are being lost and how life has suddenly changed for everyone are, according to The LGA’s Briefing expected to cause ongoing psychological effects amongst the public, even to a small degree, for some time to come.

That is the situation, yes, but the great thing is that it has given time for positive thoughts and action too. Right now, attractions are doing an amazing job in adapting and reaching out to the public through a variety of digital tools and platforms – just look at the diversity and success of #MuseumAtHome or the injection of warmth and humour to artefacts found in #CuratorBattle.

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This gentleman has got his #sassy poses perfected. #CURATORBATTLE #SassiestObject pic.twitter.com/SGjCtAueHK

— UlsterFolk&Transport (@FolkTransport) April 24, 2020

So we want to do our bit too – to reach out to our museum, heritage, attraction friends and share useful information from our perspective which may help the sector in its proactive thinking about the future. For us that means sharing how new, or adapted digital media experiences and practices may help museums in the future – from ultra practical ideas to show-stopping suggestions.

Over the last decade we at AY-PE have created AV software for over 100 attractions (independent to global in size) and we’ve always done this by focusing on inducing psychological inspiration and emotions in a visitor – connecting to and embedding a message within them. Consequently we’re going to focus on three key human responses, that may affect change:

1. Wanting to feel closer whilst maintaining distance

2. Awareness of hygiene and a wariness of touch

3. Greater acceptance of the positivity of digital technology

These are all areas which creative thinking, sharing and planning can help with – across all parts of the museums and attractions sector. So to play our part and to share our knowledge, over the next week surrounding #Musuemfromhome day on 30 April, we’ll be releasing another update on the above topic and sharing tips on social media of how digital media can help and respond to the others.

We would love to know your thoughts and ideas too – please follow our stream and tweet, comment or post away.

Take care and stay positive all!

Web: ay-pe.com Twitter: @aype  LinkedIn: /ay-pe

#MuseumsFromHome 30 April 2020

@BBCArts part of #CultureinQuarantine

Image: a collage of participants in #MuseumFromHome so far, created by @DanNouveau

Top of page image: @TheDDayStory