VSA arts of Massachusetts
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China Trade Center |
Charles J. Washburn |
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Tel.: (617)350-7713 |
Website: |
Organizational Profile:
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Full-time Staff: 4 |
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Leveraging Inclusion by People with Disabilities through the Arts
VSA arts of Massachusetts (VSAM) leads through a consortium of school systems, cultural institutions, universities, and human service agencies to creatively leverage programs, services, policy, and events in three program areas.
VSAM:
- Develops art programs in schools to integrate students with and without disabilities to promote learning across the curriculum.
- Supports cultural programs and facilities that embrace Universal Design.
Programming Partners and Other Funders:
Massachusetts Department of Education; Massachusetts Rehabilitation Commission and the Massachusetts Cultural Council; Linde Family Foundation; Boston Public and the Worcester Public Schools; Gardner, Salem, Pittsfield, and Amherst Public Schools; Partners for Youth with Disabilities; Access to Theater Program; Community Access to the Arts; Federation for Children with Special Needs; Show of Hands Theatre Company; Boston Children's Museum; Massachusetts Audubon Society; St. Francis House; Worcester State College; University of Massachusetts, Boston; Harvard Graduate School of Education; Lesley University
Educational Programs and Artist Residencies
Educational Programs
VSA arts of Massachusetts’ education programs support the use of the arts from preschool through high school to support curriculum and to encourage the inclusion of students of all abilities and learning styles. Projects are guided by the understanding that infusing arts into instruction and curriculum has a profound effect on every student’s understanding and confidence and allows active teaching and learning that engages all the senses. For some students with disabilities, arts-infused instruction is particularly beneficial, providing opportunities for academic success and inclusion with their peers that they would not otherwise have. VSA arts of Massachusetts received the Massachusetts Cultural Council’s Commonwealth Award in recognition of “model arts education programs provided throughout the state that allow children with and without disabilities to achieve their highest potential.”
Artist Residency Program
The residency program employs a culturally diverse group of approximately 30 Massachusetts artists for individually designed residencies across the state. The residencies utilize ideas from visual and performing arts disciplines to support students of many skill levels in addressing curriculum goals and building relationships with caring adults. All artist residencies foster the achievement of high standards while supporting the inclusion of students with disabilities.
Multi-Arts Resource Guide
VSA arts of Massachusetts publishes the Multi-Arts Resource Guide (MARG) and companion videos to provide teachers, paraprofessionals, and after-school care providers with a crucial tool for utilizing arts activities in teaching core curriculum. The MARG clearly presents accessible, creative arts activities in puppetry, movement, printmaking, collage, theater arts, sound, and “self concepts.” Each easy-to-use lesson plan includes comments regarding direct curriculum connections and adaptations appropriate for students with varying abilities.
Festivals
Festivals bring Massachusetts artists, students, and teachers together to experience how the arts can include people of all abilities. The participatory events demonstrate the ability of the arts to help students achieve academic and social goals while improving coordination, concentration, cooperation and confidence. Teachers have the unique opportunity to witness their students becoming fully engaged and open to new ways of learning.
Professional Development and Technical Assistance
Professional Development for Educators
VSA arts of Massachusetts enables teachers and administrators to employ the arts to more effectively engage students with different styles of learning. VSA arts of Massachusetts helps educators improve the instruction by educational professionals and paraprofessionals and learning for all students in inclusive classrooms through the arts. More than 50 Massachusetts educators participate in workshops each year. VSA arts of Massachusetts also offers training for artist educators to learn how to align their residencies with national learning standards and the Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks.
Access Art
Access Art is a career development program that supports the aspirations of emerging artists with disabilities. Each year VSA arts of Massachusetts creates a variety of performance and exhibition opportunities to showcase the work of these artists. Access Art services include portfolio and skills development, networking opportunities and support for efforts to address the artists’ collective need for affordable supplies, marketing materials, an online gallery, and studio space. VSA arts of Massachusetts offers a highly successful course for aspiring artists disabilities titled “Putting Creativity to Work.” The program is inspired by a publication of the same name produced by the VSA arts national office and the Social Security Administration. This year VSAM will sponsor a conference showcasing four model programs that include people with and without disabilities in art making enterprises. The conference, “Redefining Community through the Arts: Building Inclusive Creative Communities,” opens the newly renovated Whitin Mill , a green building restoration that aspires to be a focal point for community inclusion in Central Massachusetts.
Cultural Access and Inclusive Arts Services
Boston ARTreach Initiative
The Boston ARTreach program solicits free and low-cost tickets to Boston-area cultural events and programs and distributes them to people in group homes and other human service programs. VSA arts of Massachusetts supports the staff in its efforts to make all the arrangements necessary to transport clients to the show and provide volunteers to help with the process.
Access Expressed!
A trademark of VSA arts of Massachusetts, the title Access Expressed! signifies several aspects of the organization’s commitment to cultural access: a seasonal electronic newsletter that celebrates the accomplishments of artists with disabilities and discusses issues surrounding cultural access; a Cultural Resource Directory, featuring programs from throughout New England—Access Expressed! New England was published last year and is available in standard, large print, and electronic formats; and a cultural access Web site, www.accessexpressed.net, which was launched with the support of the U.S. Department of Commerce and features database listing accessible cultural avenues in states across the country.
ADA Cultural Access Grants
VSA arts of Massachusetts and the Massachusetts Cultural Council will join forces to offer seed grants to organizations proposing innovative ways to include artists with disabilities and to attract audiences including people with disabilities. Organizations will respond to a request for proposals that will be reviewed by a panel broadly representative of the arts and disabilities.
Universal Design in the Performing Arts
This is a five-minute video that demonstrates how the principles of Universal Design can be applied to cultural programs to make them human-centered and more accessible to people with disabilities. Narrated by John Hockenberry of NBC’s Dateline, it was produced with the support of VSA arts and the National Endowment for the Arts. VSA arts of Massachusetts also supports the use of Universal Design principles in performing arts events throughout the year.
Public Awareness and Outreach
Universal Design in the Performing Arts
AccessExpressed.net
The Web-based database at www.accessexpressed.net features access information from hundreds of facilities in 28 states and articles about cultural access. Our site, www.vsamass.org, supports arts-infused instruction and our cultural inclusion activities.
(F) 202-429-0868