📚 The story

Over the past sixty years, museums and heritage sites have provided audio guides as part of their visitor interpretation strategies. At some sites, they are included in the price of admission. In other venues, they are provided as an optional paid-for extra. And other sites have provided them as downloadable apps for visitors to use on their own devices. Although the technology for these guides has changed (and improved!) over the decades, many sites continue to use them in one form or another. Last week, we published a number of tenders from museums looking for companies to provide them.

⭐️ The highlights

Paris Museums, which oversees 14 museums across the capital, issued a tender for a framework agreement that covers the supply, delivery, installation, and maintenance of audiophones and accessories for all cultural sites managed by them. Proposals are due by 23 October, and the estimated contract value is €220,000.

The unique Panarama Museum in Germany, designed especially to display 14 × 123-meter monumental panorama painting by Werner Tübke in a large circular room, has also issued a bid. It seeks a multimedia guide, and the deadline is this week, on the 17th of October.

City tours are very popular forms of audio guides, and they are often produced as downloadable apps. The city of Plauen in Saxony, Germany is now seeking contractors to produce an interactive city tour app for them. The estimated value of this contract is €60,000, and the deadline is 14 October.

Some organisation need their visitors to go through their sites in small groups with a human guide, and in these cases a group guiding system is used, with or without additional prerecorded audio or multimedia content. Last week, the Luther Memorials Foundation in Saxony-Anhalt, issued a tender for a contactless group guiding system. Interested contractors need to respond by 16 October.

💡 The standouts

At the same time, we see other museums seeking to make their visitor experiences more immersive. We published a number of these tenders last week, too.

The University of Glasgow is working on a number of local innovation projects, including digital initiatives like the "Museums in the Metaverse" platform. They are now seeking proposals from contractors to provide Design and Development Work for the 3D Environment for Museums in the Metaverse. Proposals are due by 1 November.

The Museum for Archaeology and Culture in Herne, Germany, presents archaeological discoveries and cultural history from prehistoric to modern times using interactive exhibits, reconstructed sites, and artefacts. They are now seeking a company who can work with them to produce an immersive media installation using VR technology. The deadline for responses is 21 October.

The Compagnie Française des Expositions (Cofrex), is a state-owned company responsible for organising French participation in international expositions, such as the World Expo in Osaka 2025. They are now seeking Production Service of Immersive and Interactive 360° Content which will be at the heart of the visitor experience in the France Pavilion. Proposals are due by 31 October.

And finally, France's Natural History Museum in Paris is seeking a contractor to design and create a temporary immersive nighttime trail in the heart of the Jardin des Plantes. The contractor will be responsibile for the assembly of the installation, maintenance,dismantling, as well as promotion and communications. November 4 is the deadline for proposals.

🔍 The pick of the week

One of the most compelling archaeological projects we've tracked over the past four years has been the identification and archaeological recovery of a 19th century ship in Alabama. This was no ordinary ship, however. The Clotilda is the last known slave ship to enter the United States, when it illegally transported 110 people from Benin in Africa to Mobile, Alabama in 1860. Now, the Alabama Historical Commission is seeking contractors to design a memorial. The successful consultant will work with the Commission, the descendants of the Clotilda survivors, and the Africatown community nearby to facilitate the design of a memorial to be situated near the site of the Clotilda. The deadline for proposals is 12 November.