Exploring Spasticity: learn About Advocacy Resources

ARTS SERVICE ORGANIZATIONS

The following US and International arts service organizations provide specific services such as information, funding resources, networking opportunities, or advocacy activities that are inclusive of artists or audiences with disabilities. The organizations are organized by artistic discipline: visual arts, music, performing arts, media arts/film, and multidisciplinary.

VISUAL ARTS
State Arts Agency and Regional Arts Organization 504/ADA Coordinators

LITERARY ARTS
Poets & Writers, Inc.
Writers Guild of America, West

MUSIC
The Coalition for Disabled Musicians

PERFORMING ARTS
Audio Description Associates
Association of Performing Arts Presenters
Hands On
Media Access Office
Media Access Office North
Theatre Communications Group
The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts

MEDIA ARTS
The Corporation on Disabilities and Telecommunication
The International Association of Deaf Media Professionals (IADMP)

MULTIDISCIPLINARY
Accessible Arts, Inc
Americans for the Arts
ARTability, Accessing Arizona's Arts
Arts Access, Inc.
National Assembly of State Arts Agencies
National Arts and Disability Center
New York Foundation for the Arts
Survivors Art Foundation
The Association of Science-Technology Centers Incorporated (ASTC)
The National Disability Arts Forum
The National Endowment for the Arts
VSA arts

VISUAL ARTS

State Arts Agency and Regional Arts Organization 504/ADA Coordinators

Internet: http://www.arts.endow.gov/partner/Accessibility/504.html

Overall, the mission of state arts councils and commissions is to provide statewide leadership in the arts. This link, provided by the National Endowment for the Arts lists ADA/504 Coordinators for each state's arts council or commission. Each state varies in the kinds of services they provide to facilitate access. Some offer mini-grants, others technical assistance to the arts community.

LITERARY ARTS

Poets & Writers, Inc.

72 Spring Street, Suite 301
New York, NY 10012
Phone: (212) 226-3586
Fax: (212) 226-3963
Email: ryan@pw.org
Internet: http://www.pw.org

The California Readings/Workshops Program provides direct support to writers by helping sponsoring organizations match writers' fees. P&W will match between $50 and $300 in fee money. In the past year, over 400 writers were been funded by the program.

Writers Guild of America, West

Employment Access Department
7000 W. Third Street
Los Angeles, CA 90048
Phone: (323) 782-4548
Fax: (323) 782-4807
Internet: http:/www.wga.org/manual/access.html

They work with producers, studio and network heads and writers to increase their employment and the availability of writing assignments for writers who are Black, Latino, Asian/Pacific Islander, American India, women, over 40, and the disabled.

MUSIC

The Coalition for Disabled Musicians

Linda Jaeger
President
PO Box 1002M
Bay Shore, NY 11706-0533
Phone: (631) 586-0366
Email: CDMNews@aol.com
Internet: http://www.disabled-musicians.org/

The Coalition for Disabled Musicians is a nonprofit organization of musicians with disabilities. They produce and perform music, conduct workshops, promote community awareness, develop adaptive techniques to address physical limitations, and maintain a National Referral Service connecting disabled musicians around the nation and the world.

PERFORMING ARTS

Audio Description Associates

6502 Westmoreland Avenue
Takoma Park, MD 20912
Phone: (301) 920-0218
Fax: (208) 445-0079
Email: jsnyder@audiodescribe.com
Internet: http://www.audiodescribe.com

Audio Description Associates offers a full range of Audio Description services. ADA professionals use their expertise in the arts to create access for people who are blind or have low vision-and their families (13 million Americans are legally blind). ADA helps communities and arts organizations build Audio Description programs providing access to a broad array of live arts events (theater, opera, and dance), as well as museum exhibits, meetings, tours, circuses, parades, and sports events.

Association of Performing Arts Presenters

1112 16th Street, N.W., Ste. 400
Washington, DC 20036
Phone: (202)833-2787
Email: gstamler@artspresenters.org
Internet: http://www.artspresenters.org

The Association of Performing Arts Presenters' 1400 members include performing art centers, colleges, universities, artists' managers, artists, consultants, vendors, and regional, state and local arts agencies.

Hands On

Beth Prevor
Director
20 West 20 Street, 2nd Floor
New York, NY 10011
Phone: (212) 822-8550
TDD: (212) 822-8549
Fax: (212) 822-8548
Email: info@handson.org
Internet: http://HandsOn.org/

Hands on is a New York volunteer run organization dedicated to providing greater accessibility to arts and cultural events for the deaf and hard of hearing community. Founded in 1982, its mission is to bring the performing and fine arts to deaf adults and children and cultivate them as patrons of the arts.

Media Access Office

Gloria M. Castaneda
Program Coordinator/Casting Liaison
4640 Lankershim Blvd. Ste. 305
North Hollywood, CA 91602
Phone: (818) 752-1196
TDD: (818) 753-3427
Fax: (818) 753-3426
Email: GCastane@edd.ca.gov
Internet: http://www.mediaaccessoffice.com/

The Media Access Office provides a liaison between performers with disabilities and the entertainment and media industry. The Media Access Office has over 600 actors and media professionals with disabilities on file.

Media Access Office North

Doug Gordy
363 Civic Drive
Pleasant Hill, CA 94523-1987
Phone: (925) 602-1542
Fax: (925) 689-3378
Email: dgordy@edd.ca.gov
Internet: http://www.bapd.org/gme-th-1.html

The Media Access Office actively promotes the employment and accurate portrayals of persons with disabilities in all areas of the media and entertainment industry, ensuring that the industry recognizes people with disabilities as part of cultural diversity. The MAO provides a casting liaison service representing over 600 performers with disabilities.

Theatre Communications Group

520 8th Avenue, 24th Floor
New York, NY 10018-4156
Phone:(212) 609-5900
Email: tcg@tcg.org
Internet: http://www.tcg.org/

The National Organization for the American Theatre. TCG's programs include grants and awards to theatre artists and institutions; conferences, workshops and round tables; government affairs; surveys and research; a national arts employment bulletin; and a publications program that produces a line of books and periodicals, including the monthly magazine, American Theatre.

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts

Accessibility Office
2700 F. Street, NW
Washington, D.C. 20566-0001
Phone: (202) 416-8727
TTY: (202) 416-8728
Email: access@kennedy-center.org
Internet: http://www.kennedy-center.org/accessibility

The Kennedy Center Accessibility Office supports the inclusion of people
with disabilities in all aspects of the performing and cultural arts. The staff are available to: provide technical assistance via phone or email on issues specific to making the cultural arts accessible; provide referrals to resources on a national, regional and state level; and conduct training.

MEDIA ARTS

The Corporation on Disabilities and Telecommunication

Liane Yasumoto
President
P.O. Box 1107
Berkeley, CA 94701
Phone:(510) 845-5576
Email: cdtinfo@aol.com
Internet: http://www.madknight.com/cdt

The Corporation on Disabilities and Telecommunication is a non-profit organization that works to improve the representation and participation of individuals with disabilities in all aspects of media by promoting performers, artists, and media makers with disabilities.

1610 Highland Ave.
Chicago, IL 60660
Phone: (847) 332-2464
Fax: (847) 332-2463
Email: joshuaflanders@cimi.ws
Internet: http://www.cinemaforthedeaf.org

The International Association of Deaf Media Professionals (IADMP) is an international organization that includes media professionals who are deaf and hard of hearing and involved in broadcast/cable television, motion picture film, Internet-based video, home video, and other related media technologies.

MULTIDISCIPLINARY

Accessible Arts, Inc

Martin English
Executive Director
1100 State Ave
Kansas City, KS 66102
Phone: (913) 281-1133
Fax: (913) 281-1515
Email: accarts@accessiblearts.org
Internet: http://accessiblearts.org

Accessible Arts is a non-profit organization that works with educators and other caregivers, organizations, and institutions such as museums and galleries to facilitate making all the arts accessible to and participatory for persons with disabilities--especially children. The mission of Accessible Arts, Inc. is to champion the arts for children with disabilities and advocate access to the arts.

Americans for the Arts

Lori Robishaw
Director, National Arts Information Clearinghouse
1000 Vermont Avenue NW
12th Floor
Washington, DC 20005
Phone: (202) 371-2830
Fax: (202) 371-0424
Email: lrobishaw@artsusa.org
Internet: http://www.AmericansForTheArts.org

Americans for the Arts is the nation's leading nonprofit organization for advancing the arts in America. With a 40-year record of objective arts industry research, it is dedicated to representing and serving local communities and creating opportunities for every American to participate in and appreciate all forms of the arts.

ARTability, Accessing Arizona's Arts

Laura Alvarado
Coordinator
P.O. Box 25159
Phoenix, AZ 85002
Phone: (602) 757-8118
Fax: (602) 258-9521
Email: Artabilityaz@hotmail.com
Internet: http://www.artability.org/

ArtAbility acts as a bridge between arts organizations and the disability community by acting as a resource to arts & cultural organizations; providing technical assistance to organizations on accessibility; promoting accessible events; conducting customer service training for arts groups; distributing calendars of accessible programming; and other accessibility services.

Arts Access, Inc.

Paul Siceloff
President
PO Box 25044
Raleigh, NC 27611-5044
Phone: (919) 833-9919
Email: info@artsacceessinc.org
Internet: http://www.artsaccessinc.org

Arts Access is an organization whose fundamental goal is to encourage and enable persons with disabilities to have full access to arts programs and facilities and participate fully in the cultural and artistic life of Raleigh, North Carolina and the Triangle.

National Assembly of State Arts Agencies

1029 Vermont Ave, NW 2nd Floor
Washington, DC 20005
Phone: (202) 347-6352
Fax: (202) 737-0526
Email: nasaa@nasaa-arts.org
Internet: http://www.nasaa-arts.org/

The National Assembly of State Arts Agencies (NASAA) is the membership organization that unites, represents and serves the nation's state and jurisdictional arts agencies. NASAA's mission is to advance and promote a meaningful role for the arts in the lives of individuals, families and communities throughout the United States.

National Arts and Disability Center

Dr. Olivia Raynor
Director
300 UCLA Medical Plaza, Ste. 3310
Los Angeles, CA 90095-6967
Phone: (310) 794-1141
Fax: (310) 794-1143
Email: oraynor@mednet.ucla.edu
Internet: http://nadc.ucla.edu

The NADC is the national information dissemination, technical assistance and referral center specializing in the field of arts and disability. The NADC is dedicated to promoting the full inclusion of children and adults with disabilities into the visual-, performing-, media, and literary-arts communities.

New York Foundation for the Arts

Theodore Berger
Executive Director
155 Avenue of the American, 14th Floor
New York, NY 10013-1507
Phone: (212) 366-6900 ext: 201
Fax: (212) 366-1778
Email: nyfaweb@nyfa.org
Internet: http://www.nyfa.org/

The New York Foundation for the Arts enables contemporary artists to create and share their works and provides the broader public with opportunities to experience and understand the arts.

Survivors Art Foundation

Candyce Brokaw
Executive Director
PO Box 383
Westhampton, NY 11977
Email: safe@survivorsartfoundation.org
Internet: http://www.survivorsartfoundation.org

Survivors Art Foundation is a non-profit organization committed to empowering visual, literary and performing artists with effective expressive outlets, via a Web Gallery, National Exhibitions, Outreach Programs and Publications. Their goal is to provide entertainment, education, exposure to the arts, and public awareness, while mainstreaming trauma survivors with physical and mental disabilities into the arts.

The Association of Science-Technology Centers Incorporated (ASTC)

Sally Middlebrooks
Director of Education Projects
1025 Vermont Avenue NW, Ste. 500
Washington, DC 20005-3516
Phone: (202) 783-7200
Fax: (202) 783-7207
Email: info@astc.org
Internet: http://www.astc.org

ASTC (The Association of Science-Technology Centers Incorporated) is a membership organization of science centers and museums dedicated to furthering the public understanding of science. ASTC seeks to support museums in their ongoing efforts to successfully respond to the interests and needs of underserved groups in general, and people with disabilities in particular.

The National Disability Arts Forum

Silvie Fisch
Information and Technology Officer
Mea House
New Castle upon Tyne
NE1 8XS
United Kingdom
Phone: 0191 261 1628
Fax: 0191 222 0573
Email: ndaf@ndaf.org
Internet: http://www.ndaf.org

The National Disability Arts Forum's mission is to create equality of opportunity for disabled people in all aspects of the arts. Supports the development of disability arts agencies, both regional and throughout the U.K. The Forum is also maintaining and developing a network through which these agencies can support and assist each other's development.

The National Endowment for the Arts

Suzanne Richard
Accessibility Specialist
Office for AccessAbility
1100 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20506
Phone: (202) 682-5400
TDD: (202) 682-5496
Fax: (202) 682-5715
Email: webmgr@arts.endow.gov
Internet: http://www.arts.endow.gov/

The National Endowment for the Arts AccessAbility Office works with grantees and other Federal and state agencies to make the arts fully accessible to people with disabilities, older adults, veterans and people living in institutions. The NEA awards grants to support accessible arts projects, promote arts education, supports cultural activities that support American economy and partners with local, state, regional and federal arts organizations.

VSA arts

http://www.vsarts.org/

VSA arts is creating a society where people with disabilities can learn through, participate in, and enjoy the arts. Designated by The United States Congress as the coordinating organization for arts programming for persons with disabilities, VSA arts offers arts-based programs in creative writing, dance, drama, music and the visual arts. Nearly five million people with disabilities participate in VSA arts programs every year through a network of affiliates in 49 states and the District of Columbia and 64 countries worldwide.