Disability Justice and the Arts: Listening and Learning for Reinvention
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Disability Justice and the Arts: Listening and Learning for Reinvention
July 8, 2020 @ 3:00 pm - 5:00 pm
Learn more about all of MAC’s ADA 30 celebrations here.
Presented in partnership with A.R.T./New York. As cultural organizations look toward rebuilding after the shutdown precipitated by the pandemic, it is imperative that these organizations listen to the voices of the disability community to make justice part of the design rather than an afterthought. True inclusion and access can only come if organizations engage in Disability Justice. Judy Heumann, a lifelong civil rights advocate for people with disabilities who is featured in the Netflix documentary Crip Camp, will frame the conversation. Then a panel of disabled artists and cultural workers will offer reflections and experiences for growth and change.
This event challenges the cultural community – arts organizations including theaters, museums, historic houses and concert halls and libraries – to listen and learn from the voices of disabled artists and cultural workers and engage in conversations around disability justice in order to reinvent their organizations as more just institutions.
Keynote Speaker: Judy Heumann
Moderator: Kirsten Sweeney
Panelist(s):
- Jerron Herman: Jerron Herman is an interdisciplinary artist creating through dance, text, and visual storytelling. He’s based in New York City.
- Ezra Benus: Ezra Benus is a multidisciplinary artist, educator, and curator who completed his degree in Studio Art (honors) and Jewish Studies at CUNY Hunter College in the Muse Scholars program.
- Alexandria Wailes: Alexandria Wailes is an American deaf actress, dancer, director, and educator. She utilizes the languages of English and American Sign Language and is known for her work with Deaf West Theatre.
- Regan Linton: Regan is an actor, writer, director, and theatre artist from Denver, CO. She is Artistic Director of Phamaly Theatre Company in Denver, a nonprofit theatre that re-imagines established works while exclusively casting actors with all nature of disabilities.
- Russell Hill is the Administrative Office Assistant at The Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum and Meditation Specialist at JobPath NYC. His meditation work can be seen at Ignite Conscious Gatherings.