Title: Promoting Access by Publishing a Cultural Access Directory

Presenters: Charles J. Washburn, Executive Director
   	cjwashburn @vsamass.org
  Daniel Schmidt
          vsawashington@qwest.net
   VSA arts of Massachusetts
   China Trade Center
   2 Boylston Street
   Boston, MA  02116

   617-350-7713 (Voice)
   617-350-6836 (TTY)
   617-482-4298 (Fax)

Level: Intermediate

Type of Session: Round Table

Session Strand: Inclusion (also appropriate for program strength)

Session Track: Affiliate and Partners Staff (Interested board members welcome)

Session Description: The presenters will describe the Cultural Access Survey process and how they use www.accessexpressed.net to support publication in print.  Participants will learn about how the print directories were funded and how they are used to promote inclusion of people with disabilities in the cultural life of their communities.

Content Description:  The presenters will provide an overview of how cultural access directories can be used to promote participation in the arts and culture by people with disabilities.  They will describe the  role a published directory can play in  the development of inclusive audiences for participating cultural organizations and their use as a tool for encouraging cultural organizations to make an ongoing commitment to providing access to their programs for people with disabilities.

Participants will receive copies of the published directories and learn about the process of conducting a cultural access survey and posting the information on the national database on the Internet.  Presenters will discuss programmatic elements including recruiting and training volunteers, selling advertising and attracting sponsors.  The session will also cover electronic and alternative formats and  the process of exporting the data for publication.


Learner Outcomes:

1) Participants will understand the role printed directories can play in encouraging participation in the arts by people with disabilities and how they can help motivate organizations to focus on accessibility.
2) Participants will know the program elements necessary to publish a cultural access directory.

Source of Information:

In 1990, VSA arts of Massachusetts realized that one significant barrier to full participation in cultural programs was the amount of uncertainty people with disabilities had about what was accessible and what was not.  Not knowing, a person not only had to learn enough about a place or a program to become interested, they also had to call ahead, find out about ramps, stairs, accessible bathrooms, assistive listening devices and such.  The people they called rarely knew the answers to their questions and the answers they did get were not always accurate, leading to an embarrassing or unpleasant situation.  Many people never bothered because their experience told them that it wouldn't work out.   To confront this problem, VSAM researched the state of access in many of the state's cultural facilities and published its first directory in 1990, and then a second edition in 1995.  In 1992, we published Access Expressed!, a newsletter and calendar of accessible cultural events.  The readership of this program has soared to nearly 10,000 with over 40 organizations actively promoting their programs to people with disabilities.

The information to be published in Access Expressed! New England is the product of years of work on the Cultural Access Initiative, promoting physical, communication and programmatic access to arts and science museums, concert halls, natural and historic sites, sports arenas, parks, movie theaters and other community cultural venues in all of the New England states. Access Expressed! New England will include information on transportation, wheelchair access, ticket acquisition, phone and TTY numbers, special seating and accommodations for persons who are blind, deaf, or hard of hearing.

VSAM published its first access directory shortly before the 1990 passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act.  It featured 100 Massachusetts venues.  The latest Massachusetts directory, Access Expressed! Massachusetts was published in 1995 with 350 entries.  In 2000, VSA arts of Massachusetts provided training and technical assistance to Artreach in Philadelphia.  Artreach published a directory in 2001 and became a VSA arts partner organization.

VSA arts of Washington sent a team to the Cultural Access Institute in 1997.  In 2001 they proposed a directory project to the National Endowment for the Arts and will publish the directory this year.

