Not too far from my new hometown near the Delaware River there is a magical place called Grounds For Sculpture! I had the chance to attend a Cultural Access meeting yesterday hosted in part by the National Endowment for the Arts, The New Jersey Theater Alliance, The New Jersey Council on the Arts and the Seward Johnson Center for the Arts. I pride myself on having a vast knowledge base on accessibility and especially on the topic of how to make the arts more accessible for persons with disabilities. But I don’t know everything and technology is changing the industry at a fast pace! What I learned yesterday is that even though you can have sign language interpreters at your event, translating for anyone who communicates with sign language, that this accommodation does not necessarily encompass all of the folks who might be hearing challenged in an audience…making captioning very important to those who do not know how to sign and to those who might be in denial that they have hearing challenges. This was an Eye and Ear Opener for me! Not only will I plan exhibits, presentations and events with a new outlook, it also made me stop and really think about true accommodations and true accessibility and in assessing your audience and creating a plan of accommodation for every challenge, whenever possible…You definitely learn something new everyday, especially when you least expect it!
-grace-anne alfiero
The site where a cultural access event took place for the state of New Jersey