
VSA arts 2003 Annual Meeting & Leadership Institute
Presentation Proposal

Session Title & Level
99 Drums: An Inclusive Program from Conception to Evaluation
Introductory or possibly Intermediate (I don't know the skill level of the attendees)

Presenter
Martin English, Executive Director
Accessible Arts, Inc.
1100 State Avenue
Kansas City, KS 66102
(913) 281-1133
menglish@accessiblearts.org

Type of Session - Workshop Presentation

Session Strand - Program Strength

Session Track - Affiliate/Collaborator Staff

Session Description
In April, 99 Drums, a weekend of interactive music and dance workshops exploring various cultures, brought together an integrated group of children with disabilities and their non-disabled peers. Martin English will use this project as a model to demonstrate how to create a multi-disciplinary, inclusive program with multiple collaborators and artists.

Content Description
How can you take 99 children of varying abilities and help them explore the arts, history, and customs of West African, Native American, Mexican and Caribbean cultures in two and a half days?  Come find out the exciting answer to that question.  Participants will actively explore how to take a multi-disciplinary, inclusive program from conception to evaluation.  Using the 99 Drums Music & Cultural Camp as a model, participants will learn how to conceptualize a program that includes at-risk youth, children with disabilities and their non-disabled peers.  Participants will learn how to recruit appropriate collaborators and artists, where to seek funding and in-kind donations, how to create a program that appeals to children of all abilities and learning styles, and how to create an effective evaluation.  This workshop will include video clips of successful programming, program planning worksheets and examples of surveys and other evaluation tools.  

Two Learner Outcomes
1.  Participants will gain an understanding of the planning and implementation process of a multi-disciplinary, inclusive program.
2.  Participants will learn effective evaluation methods that can be presented to funders and used as a basis for future programmatic planning.

Source of Information
The source for the workshop information will come directly from the personal experience of having presented 99 Drums Music & Cultural Camp twice.  The most recent program will have occurred April 25-27, 2003.  Evaluation research will be shared with the participants.
