|
December 2009
Quick Facts:
Information about
the NEA AccessAbility Office and its programs and
publications are available by
clicking here.
The Arts Endowment and NASAA established the
National Accessibility Leadership Award in 2001.
Since 2002, the award has provided a $30,000 NEA
competitive grant to the selected state or regional
arts agency to advance its access work.
With their award, the IAC and AWI will expand their
support for artists with disabilities by offering
grants for projects that will impact the artist’s
career development.
Indiana Arts Commission
100 North Senate Avenue,
Room N505
Indianapolis, IN 46204
Tel: 317-232-1268
Fax: 317-232-5595
Email
Web:
www.in.gov/arts
Free telephone services for deaf and hard-of-hearing
individuals:
Place relay calls from your PC or mobile device from
anywhere to anyone:
SIPRelay
Relay Indiana:
800-743-3333 |
IAC Recipient of
2009 National Accessibility Leadership Award
Rocco Landesman, Chairman of the National Endowment
for the Arts, announced recently the
Indiana Arts Commission (IAC) is the recipient
of the 2009 National Accessibility Leadership
Award/grant for their outstanding accessibility
work. Sponsored by the
National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and the
National Assembly of State Arts Agencies (NASAA),
the award recognizes exceptional initiatives or
programs that make the arts accessible and inclusive
for older adults and individuals with disabilities.
The award is presented to the IAC in acknowledgement
of its leadership and highly effective work to make
the arts fully inclusive throughout its
organization, programming, and state. Among the
accomplishments of the Indiana Arts Commission:
As a result of discussion
round-tables and surveys from the 2004 Statewide
Forum on Careers in the Arts for People with
Disabilities, the Indiana Arts Commission, in
partnership with VSA arts of Indiana and the Indiana
Institute on Disability and Community, created
ArtsWORK Indiana
(AWI). ArtsWORK Indiana is a
grassroots organization that facilitates access to
careers in the arts for people with disabilities
through awareness, education, and encouragement.
AWI’s website
provides information, resources, employment, and
internship opportunities, as well as an artist
directory and discussion forums. AWI invites guest
speakers to monthly meetings to address topics such
as marketing, artwork sales, and funding
opportunities.
In Spring 2009, AWI took its programs
to six different areas of the state, partnering with
arts organizations, disability service providers,
colleges, and community centers to hold “Creative
Connections: Careers in the Arts for People with
Disabilities” workshops. At each workshop the AWI
chairperson gave presentations on how to access and
use the free resources available on the website, and
a local artist from each area shared personal
experiences, tips, and advice as a working artist
and peer.
Rocco Landesman said, “Since becoming Chairman of
the National Endowment for the Arts, I have been
talking about “art works,” and the Indiana Arts
Commission will help ensure even more opportunities
for American artists in the three ways that I mean
this phrase: artists of every background should have
the opportunity to create new art works; they should
participate in all the ways that art can work to
expand us as human beings and knit together our
communities; and perhaps most importantly, they
should have the chance to be working artists who are
part of this country’s real economy.” |
