The great outdoors

Philadelphia’s ‘Museum Without Walls’ has completed its first month in business, and as reported in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, other towns are taking notice. Seattle, Los Angeles, and New York have launched their own self-guided, open-space audio tours, using the Philly program as a guide.

Kyrie Thompson Kellett of the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry was quoted as saying: “The excellent quality of the recordings and innovative use of multiple media in the Museum Without Walls make it a valuable model to learn from.”

The Philly program includes 51 outdoor sculptures at 35 stops along a three-mile stretch of the Ben Franklin Parkway from downtown to Fairmount Park. The tour is available in several different formats, from phoning in the number on the sculptures to scanning a special “bar code” with a smartphone.