The Ringling Museum Introduces Custom Audio Tour of Cà d'Zan Mansion
Sarasota, FL—June 30, 2008 – Visitors to The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art can experience the Cà d’Zan Mansion using custom Apple iPod audio tours beginning July 1, 2008. This is the second custom audio tour to be offered at the Ringling Museum. The first audio tour of the Museum of Art’s 21-gallery permanent collection was introduced in May 2007.
“The Cà d’Zan audio tour offers an intimate opportunity for visitors to engage with the Mansion and grounds,” said Ringling Museum Executive Director Dr. John Wetenhall. “The audio tour will transport the listener back to the days when John and Mable Ringling lived on the estate. Background sounds such as birds chirping and music flowing from the Steinway piano bring the mansion and grounds to life.”
The audio tours provide the visitor with a comprehensive overview of the first-floor and gardens at the Cà d’Zan Mansion. The state-of-the-art 23-stop tour is set with period music and character voices, as well as high-resolution digital images of the Mansion. The complete audio tour lasts approximately 45 minutes. Visitors can select stops that they wish to listen to, creating their own personalized tour and spending as much time as they like in the Mansion.
The tour begins with a welcome by Wetenhall and an introduction by the former Ulla R. Searing Curator of Collections, Dr. Stephen Borys, curatorial comments from the 26-year veteran Keeper of the Cà d’Zan, Ron McCarty and Assistant Curator of European Art, Alexandra Libby are provided throughout the tour.
The narrated tour guides visitors through the Mansion starting with an overview of the Mansion’s Venetian Gothic architecture and continuing throughout the first floor of the house. Every stop provides insight into John and Mable’s life by telling the story of each room. Decorative style and significant objects in the rooms are also highlighted. The final three stops on the audio tour take place outside at the Cà d’Zan Terrace and Mable’s Secret Garden.
The Cà d’Zan and Museum of Art audio tours will be available on one ipod. The ipod featuring both tours will continue to be available for $5 and $4 for Museum Members. Visitors can rent the iPods with disposable earphones when they purchase their admissions ticket. The iPods are then returned to the Visitors Pavilion at the completion of their visit.
iPod is a brand of handheld portable media players designed and marketed by Apple. The players are designed around a click wheel, an easy-to-use mechanism that allows the user to navigate through the audio and video selections. The 30-gigabyte iPod can hold up to 40 hours of audio and video and up to 25,000 iPod-viewable photos.
Q Media Productions in Winter Garden, Florida produced the audio tour.
The purchase and production of the narrative tour are made possible through generous donations from Ringling Board member Alice Rau and an anonymous donor.