“Where’s the Museum?” Reflections on the Impact of the Pandemic on Cultural Spaces and Deaf Museum Educators

Abstract

We live in a historical context marked by social and educational changes. In this new social scenario, it is increasingly necessary to work on issues that concern the inclusion of marginalized groups. For years deaf people have organized themselves through associations and institutions with different purposes. The diversification in the way deaf groups organize themselves has gained new dimensions in recent years, and, currently, museums and other cultural spaces are places this community has claimed. The number of deaf educators in museums and visits mediated in sign language increases. With this, new strategies are designed for an effective mediation for the deaf public and, mainly, to enable the effective participation of deaf children in cultural spaces to demonstrate the importance of including artistic education in elementary and high schools for deaf children/teenagers. However, the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted these developments by closing museums and other cultural spaces during the period of social isolation. This article aims to investigate how the pandemic generated changes in the dynamics of cultural spaces, especially in the case of Brazil, and how new virtual actions mobilized deaf museum educators.