Arts Accessibility Initiatives

This program provides leadership, technical assistance, advocacy and resources to assist local communities statewide in developing and implementing accessible arts programming, as well as furthering the field of arts for individuals with disabilities through the development of model projects, research studies, innovative materials and methodologies, and training for administrators, educators and parents. To demonstrate accessibility and showcase creative talents, Very Special Arts Festivals and special events are presented at sites throughout the state. Information is disseminated to more than fifty program coordinators through regular bulletins and to more than 5,000 individuals and agencies through the quarterly ARTS ACCESS newsletter. Following the 1999 Start with the Arts Training Institute and Statewide Conference, VSA arts of NM and the Court Youth Center (located in Las Cruces, New Mexico) will assess the feasibility of plans to develop a regional office and training center in southern New Mexico. Plans are already underway for a statewide conference in northern New Mexico in 2001. Career development opportunities for individuals with disabilities from throughout the state are made possible annually through the VSA/ITT Scholarship. Beth Rudolph and Deborah Mashibini co-coordinate Arts Accessibility Initiatives. Several national programs and local projects are utilized as models to reach new audiences including:

Playwright Discovery Program

(VSA Program Award Recipient) - The VSA Playwright Discovery Program assists emerging playwrights in realizing their dream of seeing their plays professionally produced in one of the United States’ most prestigious arts centers. Each year, individuals with disabilities are invited to submit an original script that documents the experience of living with a disability. One play in each of two age categories—18 and under and 19 and up—is selected for professional production at The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. The 1999 Award Recipient was given to a resident of New Mexico's Land of Enchantment, Danielle Mullen who received the award in Category I for playwrights age 21 and under. Read more

In response to participating in the May, 1998 VSA Massachusetts' Cultural Access Training, VSA arts of NM is working with the Governor's Commission on Concerns of the Handicapped (GCCH), the Museums of New Mexico, and local arts and disabilities agencies to present a series of statewide cultural access trainings. The trainings are hands-on opportunities to bring the arts and disabilities communities together and include community access fairs. Support for this project is currently being provided by the state arts agency, GCCH, New Mexico Arts, VSA arts, and local agencies and corporations.

VSA arts of  NM served as a pilot site for this national early childhood arts integration program and hosted a second regional training institute in September, 1999. Schools in Las Cruces and Ruidoso have institutionalized the SWA Program and offer both teacher training and programs for students and parents. Fourteen program sites are implementing SWA in the southern part of the state. VSA arts of NM's SWA Training Coordinator Irene Oliver-Lewis is a member of the national SWA Program Advisory Committee which will be revising the SWA curriculum materials in 1999-00.

VSA arts of  New Mexico has received funding from VSA arts headquarters to continue its collaboration with the VA Medical Center in Albuquerque. Plans for the upcoming year include the use of artists-in-residence to revitalize the visual arts studio program at the Medical Center. Recent staff cutbacks at the Medical Center have eliminated the art staff that formerly provided teaching support for veterans. The artist-in-residence program will feature disabled veteran artists and will include the disciplines of ceramics and painting. The culminating activity for the 2000 project will be an exhibit of work created by veterans through the studio arts program at the Albuquerque VA Medical Center.

This project began in 1996 with support from the Albuquerque Community Foundation and the New Mexico Endowment for the Humanities. Support for 1999-00 has been secured from the Witter Bynner Foundation. Project activities include creative writing workshops with poets and authors of national and regional stature, including Steve Brown, Mary McGinnis, and Norman Zollinger, weekly creative writing classes at the Enabled Arts Center, and the publication of an anthology of the writings of individuals with disabilities entitled The Enabled Writer. The publication of each issue is celebrated at a combined book signing, book reading, and art gallery opening at the Very Special Arts Gallery.