VSA arts of Minnesota
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Hennepin Center for the Arts |
Craig J. Dunn |
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Tel.: (612) 332-3888 |
Website: |
Organizational Profile:
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Full-time Staff: 3 |
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VSA arts of Minnesota makes the arts available and accessible to people with all types of disabilities throughout the state.
Programming Partners and Other Funders:
Minnesota Department of Education—Special Education Section; Minnesota State Arts Board; McKnight Foundation; Jerome Foundation; Travelers Foundation; Medtronic; General Mills Foundation; United Arts; National Arts and Disability Center; National Endowment for the Arts; ArtSpace Projects; Cornerstone Copy Center; Guthrie Theater; Perpich Center for Arts Education; COMPAS; Young Audiences of Minnesota; Springboard for the Arts; Minnesota Department of Human Services; Minnesota State Academy for the Blind; Vision Loss Resources; Park State Bank
Educational Programs and Artist Residencies
School Residency Program
VSA arts of Minnesota is partnering with 16 schools throughout the state (at least one in each of our eight congressional districts) offering artists-in-residence to provide participatory arts experiences to students with disabilities. In addition, the VSA arts of Minnesota's Artist Ambassador Program will pair its education coordinator with a Minnesota artist with a disability to make classroom presentations focusing on building student awareness of the capabilities of people with disabilities in the arts. One residency highlight this year will be the return of Sidiki Condé for a two-week residency and a performance in late April and early May 2008. The residencies will occur in western metro locations and the performance will take place at the Hopkins High School Auditorium. Condé was recently selected as National Endowment for the Arts Heritage Fellow.
Art Center Classes
VSA arts of Minnesota is partnering with community art centers to provide arts classes designed to meet the particular needs of young people with disabilities. These partnerships are currently scheduled to occur with art centers in Burnsville, Fergus Falls, and Mankato, and will be expanded to include new metro and Greater Minnesota locations during the year. This year we will also partner with the Hillstrom Museum on the campus of Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter (November 2007–January 2008) to develop programming for school-aged children around a VSA arts exhibition they will be hosting, titled Destination Anywhere.
Arts Festivals
VSA arts of Minnesota and music therapy students at Augsburg College will host a festival for students with disabilities from the Minneapolis, St. Paul, and surrounding school districts in April 2008.
Professional Development
Teacher and Artist Professional Development
VSA arts of Minnesota will conduct workshops that address topics crucial to successfully using the arts with students with disabilities. The workshops will be for residency, classroom teachers, arts specialists, and others seeking to improve their skills in working with students with disabilities in and through the arts. Workshops are scheduled for January, August, and September of 2008.
Interpretation and Audio Description Professional Development
Workshops will be offered throughout the year to instruct American Sign Language interpreters and audio describers in working with performance companies and other arts settings, and to instruct arts administrators in working with interpreters, describers, and real-time captioners.
Artist Recognition Grants
For the 12th year, VSA arts of Minnesota will institute a grant program to artists with disabilities. This competitive program recognizes Minnesota artists with disabilities who have been active in their art form for a number of years. Six $1,000 grants are awarded annually.
Career Training and Information Sharing for Artists with Disabilities
This program has two distinct parts. The first component is ongoing networking and technical assistance to artists with disabilities as a continuation of the VSA arts of Minnesota Careers Forum in 2002 and our careers workshops during the summer of 2004. This is primarily accomplished via our facilitation of the Artists with Disabilities Alliance (Twin Cities) gatherings throughout the year and our work with new artist networking groups that were established during 2007 in Mankato, Duluth, Fergus Falls, Mora, St. Cloud, and Bemidji. The program also includes our Artist Pipeline, an e-mail posting service that lists current information pertinent to Minnesota artists with disabilities, including employment opportunities, calls for art, accessible performance listings, and announcements of happenings by and for artists with disabilities. Inclusion on the e-mail list is requested by the recipient.
Cultural Access and Inclusive Arts Services
Access Services and Training to State Arts Organizations
VSA arts of Minnesota serves as a resource to state arts organizations and others interested in matters concerning the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), disability awareness, and physical and programmatic access to publicly supported arts venues and services. This service is provided using on-site reference materials and by accessing other resources available through organizations and individuals throughout the community. It is anticipated that we will make at least three presentations in collaboration with the Minnesota State Arts Board on new issues regarding accessibility and the arts during the coming year. In addition, VSA arts of Minnesota staff have again been asked to make a presentation about arts accessibility to staff members of the North Dakota Arts Council in 2008. Captioning will be an increased area of interest in 2008 and will result in a convening for people interested in learning how to prepare and present captioning of scripted material for audience members who are hard of hearing for live performances.
Access to Performance
Access to Performance is a program that provides technical assistance to arts organizations and funding to assist with costs of American Sign Language interpretation and audio description for individuals who are deaf or blind who attend ASL and AD performances. Technical assistance includes marketing to communities that are deaf/hard of hearing and blind/low vision and building performance organizations capabilities to meet the needs of audience members from these communities.
Public Awareness and Outreach
Arts Access Awards
VSA arts of Minnesota will present the 11th annual Arts Access Awards in September 2008. The awards recognize individuals and organizations that have made accessibility and disability awareness a priority. The award, created each year by an artist with a disability, is named “the Jaehny” in honor of our organization’s cofounder, Jaehn Clare.
Public Events
VSA arts of Minnesota offers artwork by artists with disabilities available to organizations in the community. Exhibitions will be held at Vision Loss Resources and Park State Bank, both in Minneapolis, and at the Minnesota Department of Education in Roseville. Other locations will be determined throughout the year.
Newsletter and Web Site
Arts Access, the organization’s newsletter, is published three times a year and features accounts of programs, artist profiles, and acknowledgment of donors. It is distributed to more than 4,800 addresses and is available in electronic, large print, and Braille formats. The VSA arts of Minnesota Web site (www.vsaartsmn.org) is accessible to people with a wide range of abilities (including people who are blind or have low vision) and includes current and pertinent information about the organization and its programs.
(F) 202-429-0868