Museum of Contemporary Art Mounts Listen for Gallery Tours

The Museum of Contemporary Art in Cleveland is a non-collecting institution, and thus is recreated three times a year. This ensures a steady stream of traffic through its 23,000 square feet of gallery space. Like most museums, MOCA conducts tours, some led by docents, others by artists. All share a common thread: unparalleled sound, thanks to equipment from Listen Technologies Corporation.

While reviewing the museum’s overall sound options, Grayson saw an unmet need for a reliable, portable system to facilitate these ‘walking talks.’ From this came a rather innovative sound solution for the tours.

Each of two Listen LR-600 Wireless FM Receiver/Speakers were mounted onto a microphone stand so they could be moved by floor managers from one area to the other as the tour moves through the galleries. With an LT-700 Portable FM Transmitter worn by the tour leader, a unique answer to portability was found.

The superior sound from the Listen speakers is made all the better by being positioned mid-room rather than in front of the group. In addition, opting for speakers rather than individual receiver packs worn by patrons has allowed folks to join in or move on from the group at their leisure.

“It’s a highly effective means through which the tour leader communicates with participants,” said MOCA’s Director of Development, John Grayson, “providing an ideal solution for intimate, one-off tours. And everyone appreciates that they don’t have to shout to be heard, which makes it easy to conduct three or four consecutive tours.

“Listen offers a variety of solutions for tour groups in this kind of atmosphere and really addresses making the visitor experience more pleasurable. In fact,” said Grayson, “the folks at Listen have solutions to problems you never knew you had.”

That’s just what we at Listen like to hear.