Arts Access Newsletter September 2004

VSA arts of Minnesota will host its first fundraising event in 14 years, Autumn’s First Cabaret & Silent Auction, on Sunday, September 26, from 2:00 to 5:00 at the Nicollet Island Pavilion, just off the Hennepin Avenue Bridge in downtown Minneapolis.

The affair is a great opportunity to support the organization’s work for artists with disabilities - and at the same time you can see and bid on original art, music and writing by Minnesota artists, as well as theatre tickets, dinners, unusual gift items and services. And while you are looking and bidding, enjoy delectable desserts, luscious libations and tantalizing treats.

This afternoon is also a chance to enjoy some of Minnesota’s best performers with disabilities including Minneapolis storyteller Kevin Kling, nationally-touring singer Stephanie Dawn, blues and boogie-woogie pianist Michael "The Hook" Deutsch, guitarist-songwriter Joseph Baird, and pianist-accordianist Alec Sweazy.

Performer/author Leslye Orr will handle emcee duties with VSA arts Executive Director Craig Dunn.

What’s to bid on? Here are just a few of the items so far: Art: by Dennis Behr, Howard Carson, Jane Gerus, Catherine Grunewald, Les Kouba, Elizabeth Manfredi, Mari Newman, Bridget Riversmith, Theresa Wanta, Ivan Whillock, Buffalo High School potters, Chinese and African art,

Tickets: to Fine Arts Series at the College of St. Benedict & St. John’s University, Rochester Civic Music (Karan Casey, Kathy Mattea), Children’s Theatre Co., Landmark Theatres, Bloomington Art Center Gallery Players, Jungle Theater, ComedySportz,

Gift Certificates: Aveda, Electric Fetus, Faribo Woolen Mill, Haskell’s, National Camera Exchange, Utrecht Art Supply, Wuollet Bakery,

Food: Applebees, Black Forest, Caribou Coffee, Chevy’s Fresh Mex, Dakota Jazz Club, The Depot Bar & Grill (Faribault), Dunn Bros., The Egg and I, Gluek’s, Green Mill, Herkimer’s, Javalife Coffee House, The Local, Loring Pasta Bar, Lyon’s Pub, Market Barbecue, Old Chicago, Panera Bread, Sidney’s, Tonic of Uptown, TGI Friday’s, Town Hall Brewery,

Books: by Carol Bly, Beth Gauper, Paul Gruchow, Bill Holm, Leslye Orr, Morgan Grayce Willow

CD's: Stephanie Dawn, Kevin Kling, Rebecca Kragnes, Tony Wentersdorf,

Other: Collector comic books, jewelry, salon haircuts and facials, History of Rock n Roll DVD, wool rug, wine, hair and dental products,

With its mission is to make the arts available and accessible to Minnesotans of all ages and abilities, VSA arts of Minnesota offers programs providing artists in the schools; art exhibits; assistance on making performances and arts programs more accessible; arts festivals for students and adults with disabilities; grants for artists; and resources including a newsletter, Artists’ Pipeline website, accessible theatre & film listings, and more.

Art used for promoting the event is from "Millennium," a major art work by Jon Leverentz of Roseville, and will be on view.

Admission is $35 ($20 low-income). Tickets can be ordered on page 7, or by contacting VSA arts of Minnesota. ASL interpreters and Audio Describers are volunteering their services. Please specify if you need other accommodations such as captioning, if you have a silent auction donation, or wish to volunteer. The event is wheelchair-accessible and fragrance-free.

Thanks to all for your support of this event and of VSA arts of Minnesota!

A big thank you to Jon Holtz and his advanced ceramics students at Buffalo High School for choosing VSA arts of Minnesota to receive the proceeds from Buffalo High School’s ceramic bowls silent auction this spring. Students (some of whom are pictured on the right) raised a grand total of $888!

We appreciate your time, effort and creativity. The proceeds will be used in art education and disability awareness projects across Minnesota.

Pauline Mitchell, Minneapolis, had a sculpture included in the Minnesota State Fair’s 93rd Annual Fine Arts Competition. Made from raku clay, "Henrietta" was treated with several layers of stains.

Pam Wynn of New Brighton, Artist Recognition grant recipient in 1996 and 2003, has published Diamonds on the Back of a Snake. The collection of poems is available through: Laurel Poetry Collective (www.laurelpoetry.com) and at local booksellers including Micawber’s, Minnesota Center for Book Arts and Paper Patisserie.

Don Taylor from Deer River, an Artist Recognition grant recipient in 2002, and his wife were the first recipients of the Honorary Lifetime Family Membership Award at the MacRostie Art Center in Grand Rapids. The award noted what the Taylors have done for the Center over the years as artists, board members and volunteers.

John Lee Clark won a $6,000 Minnesota State Arts Board artist grant to help pay for equipment and transcription services. He publishes the Tactile Mind Press (www.thetactilemind.com).

Nic Zapko performed in "The Deaf Duckling" on July 25 as part of PlayLabs at the Playwrights’ Center in Minneapolis. This bilingual play for young audiences was performed in English and American Sign Language by hearing and deaf actors. It will be staged in a full production by Mixed Blood Theatre next spring.

VSA arts will include an artwork by Mari Alice Newman of Minneapolis in its 2005 calendar. "Pinkey, Spikey, Giraffe," a 14x11" mixed media piece, stood out for its artistic strength and unique style. It will be featured next October. VSA arts calendars are distributed to the VSA arts international network, to members of Congress and to noted patrons. Copies will be available for sale to VSA arts of Minnesota donors.

VSA arts of Minnesota will award six $1,000 grants to Minnesota artists with disabilities through its Artist Recognition Grant Program, funded by the Jerome Foundation. The program aims to recognize excellence in arts pro-duced by persons with disabilities who are dedicated to making arts production and/or presentation a central part of their lives.

The program is open to individuals in all art disciplines: visual, performing, written, media, etc. Ineligible are people who have won two grants, were grant recipients in 2002-03, or prepared artwork for educational credit. Applications are due (postmark) by Nov. 8, 2004.

For an application, call 612-332-3888 or (in Greater Minnesota) 1-800-801-3883, voice/TTY, or email jon@vsaartsmn.org. Say if you need print, large print, e-mail, PC diskette, audiotape or Braille.

Photographs by blind student artists are on display at Vision Loss Resources, 1936 Lyndale Ave. S. (at Franklin), Minneapolis.

The new exhibit features results of a photography residency by Barry Kleider, a roster artist with Young Audiences, at the Minnesota State Academy for the Blind. Student photos printed in both traditional and tactile forms (solar plates exposed directly to light) are displayed next to written statements by the students in both print and Braille.

The exhibit, which also features art by Jane Gerus of Saint Paul, is open in the lobby gallery during business hours through December.

The VSA arts Young Soloists Award annually recognizes outstanding musicians with disabilities age 25 or under who have exhibited exceptional talents as vocalists or instrumentalists. Four musicians will receive scholarship funds and perform at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. (Stephanie Dawn, who will sing at Autumn’s First Cabaret on Sept. 26, won a Young Soloists Award in 1995.) To apply for the 2005 Young Soloists Award, apply by November 1, 2004. For more information, go to VSA arts Young Soloists Awards (http://www.vsarts.org/x22.xml).

This summer nearly 100 people attended 11 Career Development workshops held around Minnesota for artists with disabilities. The workshops were developed by Denise Martineau from over 30 interviews with artists with disabilities and people that work with or support them. The 95 people who attended represented a broad range of artists and disabilities.

Centered on creating choices and empowering ourselves, the workshops discussed career options in the arts and assisted individuals in identifying their obstacles to success in the arts and actions which they could take to further their success in reaching individual goals. Each workshop presented information on work incentives (with Medical Assistance for Employed People with Disabilities generating the most interest) and introduced a 10-minute record-keeping system that empowered many of the individual artists. To add to the fun, Martineau held a mock talk show, featured visiting artists, served refreshments and distributed give-away items.

Martineau said each workshop seemed to develop its own "personality" and focus as participants experienced a sense of community with other attendees.

The series was funded by VSA arts and the Jay and Rose Phillips Family Foundation.

The deadlines for applying for Bush Foundation Artist Fellowships in 2005 are:
Literature: 10/22/04
Script & Film/Video: 10/29/04
Music Composition: 11/5/04
For more information: Bush Foundation, News (www.bushfoundation.org/news)

Eight Minnesota artists with disabilities participated in the fourth International VSA arts Festival, June 9-12 in Washington, D.C. More than a thousand people from about 35 countries attended Odyssey - Dare to Imagine, celebrating the abilities and accomplishments of artists of all ages, disabilities and artforms. Thanks to all attendees and donors!

VSA arts of Minnesota is a collaborator on the 12th annual Artists in Education Statewide Conference on Thursday, September 17 from 9:30 to 5:00 at the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum in Chaska. This is a great opportunity for teaching artists to spend a productive day connecting with peers and Minnesota arts education organizations. It is the first of four workshops for education professionals that VSA arts of Minnesota will host during the 2004-05 school year.

In partnership with Independent School District 196 (Rosemount, Apple Valley, Eagan), VSA arts of Minnesota is offering classes to students with disabilities. For more information about District 196’s SEEK Program (Special Education Enrichment for Kids) or to register for classes, call 651-423-7920, e-mail ce.registrar@distirct196.org, or visit Independent School District 196: Community Education (www.district196.org/ce).

Make ‘em Laugh (age 8-11)
Taught by Stages Theatre Co.
Tuesdays: 10/12-11/16 (skipping 11/2)
Experience spontaneous comedy, learn how to create a character, and make up lines to scenarios.

Clay Creations (for ages 7-11)
Co-sponsored and taught by Northern Clay Center
Wednesdays: 10/20-11/10
Oh! There is nothing like the feeling of cold, wet clay in your hands, ready for shaping by your vivid imagination.

Loom Weaving Freestyle (for ages 9-12)
Led by Dan & Chiaki O’Brien
Saturdays: 10/16, 10/30, 11/13
This is your chance to experiment with this Japanese style of Saori freestyle weaving and create your own unique project.

Create your Face of the Future

VSA arts of Minnesota is calling all visual artists with disabilities, ages 6-13, to participate in FACES of the FUTURE, a program that celebrates the essence of what makes each person one of a kind. Artwork must be original, either representational or abstract, that represents your self-image. Eligible media are paintings (oil, acrylic, watercolor), drawings (charcoal, pencil, pastel), photography, and two-dimensional mixed media. All submissions should be 8 1/2 x 11" and are due April 1, 2005. Student artwork will move around the state as part of a traveling exhibit.

Reflections seeks student writers

With the goal of exploring, sharing, and recording disability history and culture, VSA arts of Minnesota invites young writers, ages 14-22, to participate in REFLECTIONS III, an annual publication featuring poems and essays written by students with disabilities. Deadline is April 1, 2005.

VSA arts of Minnesota will again assist schools in bringing outside artists to work with students involved in special education programming. The $500 mini-grants will allow students with disabilities to have greater access to and participation in the arts.

Partnering schools and/or organizations must have funds to supplement costs of hosting an artist or artists (visual arts, music, theatre, dance, writing) in classrooms. A majority of participating students must have an IEP or 504 plan.

During this summer’s Kids in Motion project, young dancers worked hard and had fun while exploring the magic of movement. Special thanks to instructors Brittany Fridenstine and Jodie Fridenstine for their vision to bring Kids in Motion to Minnesota. Funding was provided by the Metropolitan Regional Arts Council and VSA arts.

Outsider artists are invited to submit works to a new Hospital Audiences exhibit at Hospital Audiences, Inc., Arts Workshops (www.hospaud.org/hai/workshop/Survey.htm). Applications, slides and a $10 entry fee are due October 1. For links to other arts opportunities, go to: Minnesota artists (www.mnartists.org), Springboard for the Arts (www.springboardforthearts.org), or Minnesota State Arts Board (www.arts.state.mn.us), or request the Artists’ Pipeline.

Craig Dunn, Executive Director, VSA arts of Minnesota.

The world was just a little bit different the last time VSA arts of Minnesota held a fund-raising event. It was the spring of 1990 and I was president of the Very Special Arts Minnesota Board of Directors. The Americans with Disabilities Act was a couple of months from signing by President George Bush, Sr. The five-year-old organization was struggling financially and administratively but beginning to do some good programming. The event, a formal evening affair at the Minneapolis Radisson Hotel, included a fancy dinner and performance that ultimately lost money!

Today we still have a President Bush but we also have the ADA and I am entering my 13th year as executive director of VSA arts of Minnesota. People with disabilities are active in all facets of life, including the arts, and our organization is strong at all levels of activity.

As the world is different today, Autumn’s First Silent Auction & Cabaret will be much different than the gala event in 1990. We will have at least five performing artists and all will have a disability. Our event will be an informal, afternoon gathering that we hope is accessible to all who want to attend. There will be good food and drink, silent auction items available for bidding by people of all income levels, and a wonderful view of one of our country’s most famous resources - the Mississippi River. All of these factors should enable us to produce one more difference from that event 14 years ago: we should be able to come out "in the black"!

So plan on joining us for VSA arts of Minnesota’s first fund-raiser in over 14 years. You’ll enjoy the afternoon and should even be able to make it home in time to see the Vikings’ highlights on the 5:30 news! Order your tickets below!

VSA arts of Minnesota will offer two trainings this fall to improve access to live theatre, dance, music and spoken word.

Seeking Audio Describers:

Audio Description is a service for people who are blind or of low vision that describes the visual aspects of performances – the style of costumes, set pieces and props, actions on stage, gestures, facial expressions, and other aspects that help fill in missing information for blind patrons. There are only 8 or 9 trained Audio Describers in the Twin Cities, and no others outside of Fargo-Moorhead in Minnesota.

On October 23-24, VSA arts of Minnesota will offer a training for people who wish to become Audio Describers in their communities. Individuals can register on their own or theatres can send staff or a volunteer to learn the basics from Describer Teri Grossman of Los Angeles, CA. Participants can also attend the audio described Death of a Salesman on Friday, Sept. 17 at 7:30 PM at the Guthrie Theater. If you wish to attend this described performance, you can do so for $16 per ticket (description trainee and companion) by calling or emailing the Ticket Services Manager, Hunter Gullickson, at (612) 347-1127 or HunterG@GuthrieTheater.org. Grossman will also meet with already-trained describers on October 22 to discuss common description experiences, techniques and feedback in order to brush up skills. Funding is provided by the Ethel Louise Armstrong Foundation and VSA arts.

Theatre Training on ASL:

Theatrical Interpreting translates the typical English language of a play, poem or song into American Sign Language (ASL) used by people who are deaf or hard of hearing. Theatres who employ ASL interpreters for one or more performances of each production need to train staff on how to make the service work effectively, including knowing what patrons and interpreters need, how to light and place the interpreters, reserve seating for ASL patrons, how to attract this audience, and much more.

On Saturday, October 30 from 9:00 to 3:00, ASL interpreters Anthony Verdeja and Susan Masters will lead a training of theatre staffs (tech crew, box office, administrators, artistic staff and volunteers). Funding is provided by COMPAS and VSA arts.

For more info or to register for either training, contact Jon Skaalen, Access to Theatre Coordinator at VSA arts of Minnesota.