Indiana Arts Commission to Receive National Accessibility Leadership Award
The Indiana Arts Commission (IAC) recently announced it is the 2009 recipient of the National Accessibility Leadership Award 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.
“I thank the NEA and NASAA for this national recognition of our efforts to make something as rewarding and uplifting as the arts accessible and inclusive for all our citizens,” said IAC Executive Director Lewis C. Ricci. “Great things can be accomplished through the power of partnerships.”
The NEA and NASAA selected the IAC as recipient of the 2009 award for its accessibility partnership efforts dating back to the 2004 Statewide Forum on Careers in the Arts for People with Disabilities.
The statewide forum laid the foundation for ArtsWORK Indiana, a collaborative effort between the IAC, VSA arts of Indiana and the Indiana Institute on Disability and Community. ArtsWORK Indiana is a grassroots organization that facilitates access to careers in the arts for people with disabilities through awareness, education, and encouragement.
The IAC assisted ArtsWORK Indiana in development of its website, http://www.artsworkindiana.org/ which provides information, resources, employment, and internship opportunities as well as an artist directory and discussion forums.
In spring 2009, ArtsWORK Indiana hosted a series of workshops in six different regions of the state. Partnering with arts organizations, disability service providers, colleges and community centers, the workshops featured presentations on how to access and use free resources available online, and local artists from each region shared personal experiences, tips, and advice as a working artist and peer.
“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,” said NEA Chairman Rocco Landesman. “Artists of every background should have 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 the country’s real economy.”
The NEA 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 accessibility work. With the 2009 award, the IAC and ArtsWORK Indiana will expand support for artists with disabilities by offering grants for projects that will impact the artist’s career development.
