Resources for Artists With Disabilities

Quarterly newsletter of an organization that champions the arts for children with disabilities and advocates access to the arts. Available online.

"Today, as a decade ago, Silver's book represents a landmark in the development of art therapy." How and why readers can use art procedures to assess and develop cognitive skills and emotional strengths. This third, revised edition updates research studies using the procedures.

This is an account of a search for ways to teach dance to the profoundly deaf in a variety of schools and settings. Naomi Benari describes the methods and games she devised with the children to heighten their awareness of rhythm, music and the breath inherent in every dance movement.

This clearly written, thought provoking manual includes over 50 exercises and improvisations designed to stimulate and challenge students -- disabled and non-disabled -- at all levels of dance.

Wings To Fly is a comprehensive nuts and bolts handbook which describes concrete, proven techniques and lesson plans to make drama accessible to people with disabilities of all ages. It is written for use by professionals in education, recreation, theatre, and therapy settings.

The ARTREACH in-facility program brings performing and visual artists directly to special needs groups at their facilities for individual performances and workshops. Some of these artists include singers, musicians, dancers, theater groups, storytellers, puppeteers and jugglers, among others.

ArtReach's workshop program brings performing and visual artists into facilities serving disabled and disadvantaged audiences on an on-going basis. This program has included two after-school programs with children ranging from 6-12 years in age.

BAVC offers the finest in captioning quality. We do off-line, pop-on (post-production) captioning. Our formatting and style meet the high standards of PBS National. BAVC has been captioning since 1995, and our senior captioner has served as a panelist at the 2000 Westaf conference "From Insight to Innovation: Art and Accessibility in the West." Notably, our staff is formally certified under the rigorous testing requirements laid out by the National Association for the Deaf (NAD) and the U.S. Dept. of Education, which list BAVC as a preferred captioning vendor for their Captioned Media Program.

Our catalog of adaptive items for a more independent life.

1. Online calendar of accessible events and programs, 2. Guidebooks for the design, implementation, evaluation of access programs, 3. Database of ASL interpreters, ASL consultants, and audio describers, 4. Referrals to companies that provide access-related equipment for rental or purchase, 5. Referrals to agencies that evaluate facilities for ADA compliance.

1. Coordinate programming for ASL-interpretation, audio-described, open-captioned events, 2. Conduct access awareness training for organizational staff, 3. Promote and market access programs and events, 4. Facilitate training workshops and seminars for audio describers, ASL interpreters and consultants, production/event staff, 5. Develop access plans that conform with organizational strategic plans, goals, missions, 6. Assist with grant writing and research.

The Alan Short Center, a division of Developmental Service Organization, supports adults with developmental disabilities who have requested services to live, recreate and work in their community. Their purpose is to provide opportunities for consumers to make their own choices and decisions regarding everyday life, and to provide opportunities to contribute to their community through community association, volunteer activities, the arts, and work. Some of the programs offered by the center are: creative art programs, support groups, and vocational programs.

Besides producing our own projects, Hear My Hands also assists other companies and individuals with their film and video production. Whether you are looking to add an interpreter to an already produced video or you want to produce a video in American Sign Language, we can assist you with your project. We can also help you with your search for deaf performers.

This newsletter contains updated information about current events involving the relationship between arts and health, developmnets within the HAI organization, as well as featured articles about workshops, programs available to those interested in HAI causes. The HAI newsletter is available for free online, on the HAI website.

This free online PDF text discusses various studies and findings which have supported the belief that live music has a direct impact on the wellbeing of humans. It examines amny different forms of "live" art, including film, the internet, etc. Thought geared toward the field of medicine, this text is not filled with medical jargon, and provides very interesting insight on the power of the arts to heal.

A quarterly newsletter for people with disabilities pursuing careers in the performing arts. Articles, interviews, news, resources, and opportunities. To subscribe, email a request with name, email address and snail mail address to access@kennedy-center.org. To view past newsletter issues go to http://www.quest4arts.org/company/callboard/