Under the auspices of the National Arts and Disability Center, twenty-six state arts agencies and VSA arts affiliates have conducted Statewide Forums in Careers in the Arts for People with Disabilities since 2002. These forums addressed challenges and opportunities for people with disabilities pursuing employment in the arts. States varied in the ways they carried out their forum with some states hosting 1-2 day state conferences or a series of regional meetings. The lead agencies worked in concert with a planning committee consisting of artists with disabilities and representatives from education, rehabilitation, social security, arts employers and others from the disability community. Each state was required to develop ‘next steps’ to continue the work of the forums.

The Statewide Forums on Careers in the Arts for People with Disabilities is a joint program of the National Arts and Disability Center at UCLA, the National Endowment for the Arts, VSA arts and the Social Security Administration.

• 2002: Maryland, Minnesota, New Mexico;
• 2003: California, Hawaii, Mississippi, Puerto Rico, Washington;
• 2004: Arkansas, Indiana, Massachusetts, Missouri, Texas;
• 2005: Arizona, Florida, Nebraska, New Hampshire, and Ohio.
• 2006: Tennessee, Maine
• 2007 -2008: Michigan, North Dakota and Colorado
• 2008-2009: Illinois, New Jersey, Connecticut

2008 Statewide Forum Conveners

The Illinois Arts Council (IAC), in partnership with the Illinois Department of Human Services/Office of Compliance Access and Workplace Safety and Access Living, will convene two forums on careers in the arts for people with disabilities. The forums, to be held in Chicago (northern) and the state capital of Springfield (central) in Spring 2009, will bring together resources, inspire new partnerships, and provide education and artistic experiences for participants with and without disabilities from throughout Illinois. Each forum will have agendas tailored to respond to local needs and resources. Both forums will include:                         

• Presentations by organizations and agencies to provide information on

available resources and services.

• Panels with experts addressing the climate of the arts and disability community.
• Professional development workshops.
• Roundtable discussions.
• Showcases of artists with disabilities.
• Keynotes providing insight in the field of arts and disabilities and future developments.

For more information contact Encarnacion Teruel at encarnacion.teruel@illinois.gov  

The New Jersey State Council on the Arts in conjunction with VSA Arts of NJ, the NJ Theatre Alliance/Cultural Access Network and the NJ Division of Disability Services among others will present a series of three regional workshops for people with disabilities who are interested in careers in the arts.  The workshops will take place April 20th in Central NJ, May 8th in North NJ, and June 8th in South New Jersey. The workshops will research the educational and vocational needs of the participants and identify barriers that prevent them from careers as artists, arts administrators or arts technicians. The collaborating organizations will present programs and services to address these issues. Available resources and links to accessibility services will be posted on the Cultural Access Network’s web-site. The year long project will include presentations by performing, visual and literary artists with disabilities. For more information contact Don Ehman at don@arts.sos.state.nj.us

Forum Dates: April 20th, 2009 (Hamiliton), May 8th, 2009 (Peapack), and June 8th, 2009 (Collingswood). Full registration available online at www.culturalaccessnetwork.org.

The Connecticut Commission on Culture & Tourism, in partnership with Young Audiences Arts for Learning Connecticut, a VSA arts affiliate, will conduct a one-day statewide forum on November 15, 2008 at the Carol Autorino Center for the Arts and Humanities at Saint Joseph College in West Hartford.  The forum will bring together artists with disabilities, service providers, arts organizations, representatives of state agencies (education, rehabilitation services, social services, etc) and others to share success stories, hear about the changing workplace and state agency support, discuss the business side of the arts, and recommend next steps.  The goals of the Forum are to (1) promote dialogue and exchange; (2) identify opportunities, barriers, challenges, and career needs of artists with disabilities; and (3) develop preliminary strategies to begin addressing these needs.   For more information on the Connecticut Statewide Forums contact An-Ming Truxes, or via email at an-ming.truxes@ct.gov

Putting Creativity to Work: A Forum on Careers in the Arts for People with Disabilities held in 2004set the direction for the growing partnership between Massachusetts Cultural Council and VSA Massachusetts.  The needs discovered during that conference persuaded Massachusetts to refocus their ADA Cultural Access Grants on employing artists with disabilities which led to the creation of the follow-up forum. The forum will be a day-long event with separate forums for each group in the morning, then coming together at lunch and the afternoon to listen to each other.  For more information about this project contact Charlie Mc Dermott at Charlie.mcdermott@state.ma.us or Bonnie S. Kaplan, Director of Cultural Access BSK@vsamass.org

The Indiana Arts Commission, VSA arts of Indiana, and the Indiana Institute on Disability and Community are partnering to increase awareness and usage of the ArtsWORK Indiana website.  Creative Connections is a series of regional presentations given by artists and arts administrators with disabilities with the purpose of educating people with disabilities, rehabilitation professionals, disability service providers and arts organizations about the viability of careers in the arts for people with disabilities.  They are planning six presentations to be given in six different locations around the state (Columbus, Indianapolis, Valparaiso, Muncie, Richmond and New Albany).  These sites were chosen to decentralize their activities and to reach out to underserved areas of the state.  They will partner with regional vocational and community rehabilitation providers, and regional arts partners in each location. For more information about this project contact Kristina Davis at kdavis-smith@iac.IN.gov  

TELECONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS

Conducting Arts Activities throughout Your State addresses issues that need to be considered when expanding an activity into a new location or to a different population. (Presentation Date: February 19th, 2009).

Evaluating your Program: Building on the Logic Model describes the different types of evaluation commonly used in program evaluation. Several data collection methods are described with a discussion of the advantages and disadvantages of each. (Presentation Date: March 19th, 2009).

Promoting Access to Arts Careers presents ways to effectively market your arts event by selecting your audience(s), determining the focus, and tailoring your marketing message. It also includes examples of ways to incorporate accessibility into the marketing and implementation of your arts event. (Presentation Date: October 16th, 2008).

Using the Logic Model to Highlight Program Outcomes defines and describes the elements of a logic model and how the logic model can be used as a beneficial tool in the planning, implementation, and evaluation of a program.(Presentation Date: December 16th, 2008).

The Statewide Forums on Careers in the Arts for People with Disabilities program had its genesis in 1998 when the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) in partnership with three federal agencies: the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, U.S. Department of Education, and the Social Security Administration convened the National Forum on Careers in the Arts for People with Disabilities at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington DC. Its purpose was to assess the state of education and career opportunities for individuals with disabilities, and to identify strategies for overcoming obstacles. Significant obstacles exist for individuals with disabilities who want to pursue careers in the arts such as:

Lack of access to appropriate training and education in the arts;

Limited exposure to information and resources pertaining to the range of career opportunities as artists, arts technicians or arts administrators;

The arts not being perceived by rehabilitation professionals as a valid career path;

Stereotyped rejection of disability content in the arts as innately sentimental or therapeutic and

Fear of loss of social security income and health benefits with movement into employment.

A key recommendation made at the National Forum was for individual states to convene Statewide Forums on Careers in the Arts for People with Disabilities.

Since the initiation of this program, participating states build their capacity to develop, implement and support effective employment strategies for artists with disabilities through:

The full participation of individuals with disabilities in the planning, development, implementation and evaluation of Forum and related activities;

Empowering artists, arts technicians and administrators with disabilities to pursue their careers in the arts;

Establishing partnerships with individuals, state and community agencies, and organizations to expand resources and enable solutions to identified problems;

Forming a network of artists with disabilities and collaborators; and

Educating policymakers.

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