Meet Me at the MoMA, a program developed for patrons with dementia by the Museum of Modern Art in New York, New York, has influenced museums both nationally and internationally. None have had such expansive and wide-ranging success, both in terms of geographic area and diversity of organizations, as SPARK!

SPARK! Ignites

With the mission of making Wisconsin a leader in addressing challenges posed by Alzheimer’s, the Helen Bader Foundation (now Bader Philanthropies Inc.) sent out a request for proposals to every museum in Wisconsin. Taking cues from Meet Me at the MoMA, the Foundation aimed to bring similar opportunities to their home state. 

Jessy Yates is a theater artist who was recently announced as the inaugural recipient of a scholarship from the Ruderman Family Foundation and Yale School of Drama. Here, she tells us about her artistic inspirations, current projects, and future plans.

Kallen Blair and Alie B. Gorrie have had many conversations about inclusion and representation of disability in the arts, and both share a passion for changing the way disability is currently portrayed in media. Now these actors are getting a chance to share their conversations with an audience in their new documentary series, ABLE. Here, Kallen and Alie B. talk about what to expect from ABLE, the future of the series, and how we can engage with them.

Office of VSA and Accessibility: What is ABLE, and what inspired this project?

In this article, two New Orleans area arts education leaders share their knowledge and experience building partnerships to create arts-rich schools and connect students to the local culture and arts community.

Abigail Diaz, Director of Education at the Wisconsin Maritime Museum, won a John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts LEAD Award for Emerging Leaders last year for her work on field trips at the Museum of Science and Industry, Chicago. “For me, accessibility means total physical, cognitive and social access to learning and engagement. It’s intersectional; when you make things better for accessibility, it becomes better for everybody.”

Born in Williamsburg, Virginia, Abbie Diaz spent countless field trips and birthdays in museums. “I knew that museums were for me, and I wanted everyone to love museums as much as I did,” she shares of her passion and decision to pursue a career in education. Diaz is also sister of and caregiver to a young man with disabilities and found it difficult to share her enthusiasm with him; “I always imagined that we would go to museums all over the country together, but we were constantly fighting to allow him to engage in the space physically.”

In December, a group of prominent theater artists with disabilities announced the launch of a new professional company, employing only professionals with disabilities to create fully accessible theater. National Disability Theatre (NDT) says its mission is not only to create world-class theater productions, but also to “change social policy and the nation’s narrative about what people with disabilities can do and provide a guiding model in audience accessibility for the arts and culture sector.” Here, Co-Executive Directors and founders Talleri McRae and Mickey Rowe offer insight on how NDT came to be, as well as their plans for the future.