To Matti Hammett, Accessibility Programs Manager at the Houston Museum of Natural Science (HMNS), “accessibility means working towards opening doors for audiences that may not have been historically focused on or prioritized.” Earlier this year, HMNS achieved recognition as a Certified Autism Center by theInternational Board of Credentialing and Continuing Education Standards (IBCCES), demonstrating their commitment to creating accessible and inclusive experiences.

At Leadership Exchange in Arts and Disability (LEAD®) we are able to share resources and knowledge, develop best practices and foster collaborative relationships to create communal success for cultural organizations. Often when we return to our hometowns, it can feel like the successes of fellow organizations are in direct conflict with our own. In the case of accessibility, knowledge networks around the country are proving this wrong. 

If you were in attendance at LEAD, you might have seen the session “Partners and Rivals: Championing Access Across a Community.” At first look, the panelists didn’t come across as rivals or even colleagues, but friends. All five panelists hailed from Pittsburgh and have been working together for inclusion and accessibility in the arts community. Organizations in Pittsburgh have banded together, becoming a national model for how different kinds of organizations can foster a community-wide collaboration that effectively bridges knowledge and experience gaps around accessibility, aiming to fully connect people with disabilities to the arts community.

Christena Gunther is the founder and steering committee co-chair of the Chicago Cultural Accessibility Consortium which was honored with a Leadership Exchange in Arts and Disability Emerging Leader Award in 2015. Christena speaks nationally and internationally about cultural accessibility, and is a strong advocate for the importance of establishing a local access knowledge network in one’s own community. We sat down for a Q&A with Christena about the benefits she has seen working with the cultural community in Chicago, Illinois. 

2017-2019 CCAC Steering Committee at their first fundraiser in May 2019 at Lagunitas Brewery. Pictured from left to right: Anna Cosner, Evan Hatfield, Christena Gunther, Hillary Pearson, Alyssa Harsha, Brittany Pyle, Matt Bivins, Risa Jaz Rifkind, Rachel Arfa, Lynn Walsh, Jeanna Rathell (and baby Frankie), Kris Nesbitt. Missing from photo: Steering Committee member Mike Shaw.

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.