VSA arts of Pennsylvania
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2030 Sansom Street, Suite 3C |
Mimi Kenney Smith |
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Tel.: (215) 564-2431 |
Website: |
Organizational Profile:
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Full-time Staff: 2 |
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VSA arts of Pennsylvania exists to develop and support inclusive arts education; promote universal access to cultural events and organizations; produce professional, inclusive theater; and provide opportunities in the arts for people with and without disabilities.
Programming Partners and Other Funders:
Art-Reach, Inc.; Mayor’s Commission on People with Disabilities; Arts and Business Council of Greater Philadelphia; Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance; Theatre Alliance of Greater Philadelphia; Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts; Office of Creative and Performing Arts of the School District of Philadelphia; Pennsylvania Council on the Arts; Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation; Ethel Louise Armstrong Foundation; and more than 50 other arts, disability, business and funding partners
Educational Programs and Artist Residencies
Life Stories
Life Stories is an ongoing residency at Inglis House in Philadelphia, a residential facility for adults with profound physical disabilities. Award-winning teaching artists work with adult students writing, improvisation, music, and wheelchair movement to develop choral and ensemble performance pieces with multimedia elements that reflect the students’ experiences and interests and highlight themes in their writing and performances. The first performance piece developed by this group was performed at VSA arts of Pennsylvania during the fall 2007 Festival of Disability Arts and Culture.
VSA arts National Initiatives:
This year VSA arts of Pennsylvania participates in three national initiatives: Playwright Discovery, ArtLink, and Young Soloists. In the Playwright Discovery Program, VSA arts of Pennsylvania will work with award-winning Los Angeles playwright Lynn Manning, who is blind, bringing him to Philadelphia to work in the classroom. For ArtLink, VSA arts of Pennsylvania will work with St. Lucy’s School for Visual Impairments, a school with innovative art facilities, including its own printing press. For Young Soloists, VSA arts of Pennsylvania has engaged long-time music partners Dan and Dave Simpson, who both have MFAs in creative writing and music performance and are blind, to oversee auditions in Pittsburgh, Altoona, and Philadelphia, and evaluate other applications for submission in November 2008.
The Elektra Project:
VSA arts of Pennsylvania/Amaryllis Theatre will work with hip-hop dancers and actress Pamela Sabaugh, who is blind, on an original interpretation of Sophocles’ Elektra, focusing on the choral work in connection with the character of Elektra and presenting a 30- to 50-minute educational production with original music, audio description, and ASL interpretation developed along with the production. The tour, with an inclusive cast, will be accompanied by a study guide and workshops in hip-hop dance, music composition, acting, and disability awareness.
Professional Development and Technical Assistance
The Pennsylvania Arts Education Task Force:
In response to educators’ concerns about not having enough information and training to effectively include children with disabilities into their arts classrooms, VSA arts of Pennsylvania will work with the Pennsylvania Department of Education, Pennsylvania Council on the Arts’ Arts Education partners, and others to develop a statewide Arts Education Task Force to begin to offer workshops and provide additional resources that can assist arts educators.
Cultural Access and Inclusive Arts Services
Independence Starts Here—The Pennsylvania Access Project:
VSA arts of Pennsylvania and its many program partners produced a new accessibility program designed to provide a basic level of accessibility to cultural organizations, at almost no cost to them, on a permanent basis. The project includes training cultural organization members to provide audio description, open captioning for scripted events, and alternate format programs then lending them equipment. The program was inaugurated for its Disability Arts Festival, then will be evaluated and, with the support of Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, replicated in other cities in Pennsylvania.
Public Awareness and Outreach
Independence Starts Here: A Festival of Disability Arts and Culture is a festival of classic and contemporary art in Greater Philadelphia that includes the work of professional and community artists with and without disabilities, work that sheds light on the experience of disability and work that includes new or increased levels of accessibility.
From October 18 through November 20, more than 40 organizations presented or produced more than 60 events from a variety of artistic disciplines. VSA arts of Pennsylvania/Amaryllis Theatre’s artistic contributions to the festival include a major opening celebration; a three-week-long inclusive production of Brian Friel’s Molly Sweeney; two new play readings by nationally known playwrights with disabilities Paul Kahn and Lynn Manning; a night of music featuring Amaryllis actor/singers with disabilities; and a presentation of the company’s yearlong work with Inglis House residents.
(F) 202-429-0868