Rosemary Kennedy Initiative Internships Application Information

The Rosemary Kennedy Initiative (“RKI”) provides internship experiences at the Kennedy Center to individuals with documented disabilities. Through this 24-week experience, disabled individuals build professional skills and workplace confidence. Interns leave better prepared to engage in competitive, integrated employment. Open to candidates ages 18+ with a documented disability. The 2026 program runs January 12 through June 28, 2026.

During their six months on-site at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, RKI interns have the opportunity to dive deep into their departmental placements. In addition to this hands-on work experience at the Kennedy Center, the program provides opportunities for professional growth through a curriculum of workshops, field trips, and networking events. RKI interns build skills while exploring today's varied careers in the cultural sector.

If you missed our live session on Access Unlocked: How AI Is Empowering Independent Exploration of Museums and Public Spaces, presented by Anat Nulman, the full recording is now available. This presentation explores how cutting-edge assistive technology and Ai tools are making museums and public spaces more inclusive for people who are blind or visually impaired.

Here are the solutions featured in the presentation, each offering unique ways to enhance accessibility and independence:

 Tips for Making Human-Centered Museums

by Joel Sanders, FAIA, JSA/MIXdesign (a resource from the March 18 webinar, "Making Inclusive Museums Now")

• Overlapping Needs: Unlike most accessibility standards in the USA that tend to focus on people with physical disabilities alone, it is vital to consider the needs of a broader spectrum of the population based on the conviction that human experience is constituted by a variety of overlapping factors. For this reason, we consider the relationship between disability neurodiversity, gender.

• Beyond Code Compliance: We advocate for an alternative to the approach that is characteristic of most accessibility standards which tend to provide separate accommodations, like accessible entrances and ramps, that isolate and as a consequence stigmatize people who are different than the norm. Instead, our objective is to create spaces that allow the maximum number of people—individuals, friends, families, and caregivers—to share the public spaces that shape our daily lives while also providing options for people who have unique functional, religious, or privacy needs.

• Designing from the Margins: Human centered design promises to be a catalyst for creativity, so long as we make sure to invite the diverse users who have historically been excluded to the table and allow them to share their unique perspectives. People with different physical, sensory, and social abilities as well as people from different racial, ethnic, and religious communities who engage with the built environment using different faculties, senses, and customs  provide valuable insights that spark design innovation, lessons that will allow us to reimagine museums as immersive, multisensory environments places that welcome each one of us, no matter our identities or embodiments, to encounter works of art using multiple sense perceptions: sight, sound, and even touch.

Human-Centered Museum Resources

Click here to access the Making Inclusive Museums Now report.

Access/VSA Emerging Young Artists Tips for 2025 Applications

Artists with disabilities are invited to submit artwork that demonstrates excellence and their individual perspectives from the experience of disability. Artists must be ages 16-25 and reside in the United States. Applications for the 2025 program are now open. The 2025 theme is Catalyst. We ask artists to explore how their artistic identity interacts with their disability identity to spark something new. 

Applications for the 2025 program are due by February 28, 2025. Apply now!

Access/VSA Playwright Discovery Program

Tips for 2025 Applications

Young writers with disabilities (generally, ages 14-22) enrolled in high school or high school equivalency are invited to submit a 'ten-minute script' on any topic. Entries may be the work of an individual student or a collaboration of two students that includes at least one student with a disability. A panel of theater professionals selects division winners.

Applications for the 2025 season are due by Wednesday, January 8, 2025 at 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time. Apply now!

2025 LEAD Conference Tips for Session Proposals

About the Call for Proposals

The Kennedy Center's Office of Accessibility is seeking proposals for the 2025 LEAD® Conference that approach accessibility from a human and civil rights perspective; provide practical information addressing current trends and opportunities in this field; actively engage participants through discussion and/or hands-on activities; explore accessibility for a variety of cultural arts organizations, including performing arts centers, museums, theaters, state arts agencies, parks, zoos, and arenas; and are designed for new, mid-career, and/or seasoned professionals.

Deadline: Proposals must be submitted by December 2, 2024, at 11:59 PM Eastern. Apply now!

Access/VSA International Young Musicians

Tips for 2025 Applications

Each year outstanding young musicians with disabilities from around the world receive the Access/VSA International Young Musicians Award, $2,000, and the opportunity to perform and participate in professional development and music coaching activities provided by the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. This program is open to soloists and ensembles of any instrument or genre.

All genres of music are accepted, including but not limited to classical, jazz, hip-hop, rap, rock/alt rock, pop, indie, bluegrass, folk, country, R&B/blues, Latin, and world. All instruments, including voice, are accepted.

Tips for Writing a VSA Program Site Proposal 2024-2025

The Office of Accessibility and VSA seeks arts, education, and cultural organizations to provide accessible, arts-based education experiences to students with disabilities, pre-kindergarten through grade 12. Organizations are invited to submit proposals to implement VSA Programs. Read more about the proposal process.

Why Caption?

McKenzie Wren, MPH,  Wren Consulting

The link to the recording of the webinar "Engaging with The Tiny Survival Guide" can be found under Webinar Recordings.

"Adult providers need healing too! Healing centered engagement requires that we consider how to support adult providers in sustaining their own healing and well-being. We cannot presume that adulthood is a final, trauma-free destination. Healing is an ongoing process that we all need, not just young people who experience trauma.” - Shawn Ginwright, The Future of Healing: Shifting from Trauma-Informed Care to Healing-Centered Engagement

Dr. Julia Heath Reynolds is part of the music faculty at Belmont University.  The link to the recording of Dr. Heath Reynolds' webinar “Inclusivity with Intention" can be found under Webinar Recordings.

Rehabilitation Act - Section 504

★ Rights
• Attend 504 Plan team meeting
• Receive a copy of the 504 Plan
• If you disagree with the 504 Plan:
          - Express view at a meeting & suggest alternatives
          - Refuse to sign the plan
          - Contact your union rep if you believe the plan alters your terms and conditions of employment

The link to the recording of Joahna Tupas' webinar “Encouraging Self-Awareness and Self-Confidence in Special Education Classrooms Through the Arts” can be found under Webinar Recordings.

Big Ideas

• When we want to impart a complex subject matter to our students, it is best to relay it to them through their language, which is through play, art, song, dance, and other activities. This will engage their five senses, and therefore exercise muscle memory, which allows their unique being to process and embody the subject matter naturally and with intention.
• Harnessing self-awareness within students is essential to their growth, and thus, promotes their ability to assimilate random concepts that come through their five senses at every moment. In lieu, we have to approach students with an understanding of what they are feeling, thinking, and doing in relation to their actual environment in real time;
• By being self-aware, students will have a firmer grasp of behaving appropriately in a social setting, from the values that have been inspired within them by their educators at home and at school. In this way, they will be able to learn to self-regulate and navigate their way in the world outside of their own harmoniously;
• Supporting their unique personality comes with helping students manage their unique behaviors by giving them options, enquiring about their feelings, needs, desires, and next course of actions, and by giving them boundaries that would allow them to exercise their will and freedom to be creative and independent in their thought, words, and actions;
• Ultimately, our students should arouse the confidence they need in order to face life’s circumstances through the consistent support and education that we consciously and intentionally cultivate within them.

• Use appropriate, culturally acceptable terminology.
  • Deaf or Hard of Hearing (DHH).
  • Do not use Hearing impaired, disabled, handicapped, or disorder to describe a DHH student or deafness.
    
    
• Keep in mind that Deafness and Deaf Culture is a spectrum.
• Not all DHH students are the same.
• Each should be treated individually.

• Engage with your DHH student to find out what they prefer as far as identity markers, their sign name, attention getting strategies, and how they prefer to work with you.

• Always subscribe to the cultural perspective of Deafness, not the pathological perspective. 
  • Deaf people are linguistically and culturally rich. They CAN do anything except hear.
  • They do not need to be fixed.

• Ensure all classroom content is accessible. Do not rely on the ASL interpreter to make everything accessible.
  
  
• Learn ASL!

• Remember, Deaf students need teachers, not helpers. So, teach them and hold them to the same standards as you would any hearing student, just be sure to provide accommodations.

Resources for you
ASL Connect: https://www.gallaudet.edu/asl-connect/
The ASL App: https://theaslapp.com
ASL University: https://www.lifeprint.com
Resource List: https://asl.mit.edu/online-resources-asl
VL2 Storybook: https://vl2storybookapps.com/research
ASL Nook: https://aslnook.com

Dr. Brian Cheslik is a professor at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley and it the administrator of the American Sign Language interpreting bachelor's degree. The link to the recording of Dr. Cheslik's webinar “Deaf Culture & Etiquette for Hearing Professionals in the Classroom” can be found under Webinar Recordings.

Social Security Resources

Work Incentives Planning & Assistance (WIPA): Programs to provide free benefits counseling to people who receive SSI and/or SSDI beneficiaries to help you make informed choices about work. WIPAs provide information and referral services related to work incentives. Find your local WIPA at https://choosework.ssa.gov/findhelp/

In their webinar, Andre Avila and Robin McCall of ComMotion - Community in Motion explain how to combine the power of technology, unique partnerships, and multidisciplinary arts to bring authentic voices of Latin America into your classroom through adaptive and inclusive movement programs. Students learn about the world while also exploring social and emotional learning competencies, including self-awareness, social awareness, and relationship skills.

1. The physical and emotional benefits of dance are enjoyed by neurotypical and atypical students alike. Physically, as we strengthen our bodies and voices, we become more expressive and resilient overall. Emotionally, dancing helps us relax, refresh, and feel connected to our community.

2. To help students practice spontaneity and leadership skills, invite them to add their ideas to a dance. Start with a follow-the-leader approach and then ask for volunteers to contribute new movements. For example, demonstrate three circular movements and then ask, “What other circles can we make with our body?” Their answers form the building blocks of the dance.

Trauma and its effects on learning have significant impacts on the K-12 arts classroom, and these are often be compounded for students with disabilities.  In their webinar "Addressing Student Trauma through Mindful Art Practices: Lessons from New Orleans," J. Celeste Kee and Renee Benson explore how mindful engagement in art making can allow students to release their trauma.  Below are some of the practical tips shared in the webinar.

Big Ideas

Special Education Lawyer, Lawrence Lee Wentz, Esq., provides useful tips on ways to advocate for students with disabilities in public schools.  The tips are based on his VSA Webinar, "An Overview of Special Education Rights in Public Schools" in which Wentz discussed current US federal laws that protect students' rights in the public school system, as well as how to effectively navigate legal nuances associated with those laws, and ways the legal landscape has changed as a result of COVID-19. 

• Parents can request that the school district pay for an evaluation by a qualified third-party.
• The school district must either pay for the evaluation or file for a due process hearing to prove that its evaluation was appropriate.

• IEPs (individual education programs) must also contain a statement about the student's placement and where the student will be educated, i.e., least restrictive environment.
• The legal obligation is for inclusion wherever "appropriate" (i.e., mainstreaming)
• A large body of research shows this is more effective for students with disabilities and the students without disabilities.

• Parents or school districts can request a hearing, a "due process" hearing, regarding the provision of a FAPE (free appropriate public education), a students placements, or other matters affecting the student's education.  Less formal than a judicial hearing, but not completely informal.
• Parents can hire an attorney.

• Persistence, persistence, persistence.
• Believe what you see.
• Insist on new services and/or goals and/or progress monitoring (request an IEP meeting).
• Request an independent evaluation
• Be cooperative.
• Use written communications (and save documents).
• Hire a professional advocate.
• Hire an attorney.