Leadership Exchange in Arts and Disability

General Information | 2009 Conference and Training | Conference Schedule | LEAD Awards Information
Resources | 2009 Conference Brochure and Registration Form

Conference Schedule

go to Text-Only Version
Subject to change.

Thursday, August 13

All sessions will take place at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts Sessions are subject to change.

8:00 a.m. to Noon – Pre-Conference Workshops

Listen to a Bench, Chew on a Painting: Multi-Sensory Approaches to Museum Visits

How can temperature and texture affect your experience of a sculpture? How can a description shape the way you see a painting? How can taste and smell evoke the mood of a photograph, and fix it in your memory forever? As visitor demographics shift and the population ages, museums are increasingly striving to address the needs of diverse visitor populations. This workshop will give you the tools to begin new programming or expand current access in increasingly inclusive ways. Explore how art and history museums can use multi-sensory interpretation strategies to create a richer appreciation and understanding of their collections. We will see how employing multiple, redundant and simultaneous versions of information as a means of improving comprehension, engagement and access to visitors with a range of abilities and preferences, will benefit everyone. Through interactive hands-on exercises, participants will discover the benefits of investigating a work of art through touch, sound, smell, taste and movement, as well as through looking, discussion and description.

Presenters: Hannah Goodwin, Accessibility Manager, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (MA); Rebecca McGinnis, Access Coordinator, Metropolitan Museum of Art (NY)

Basic Policy Development (Part One): Craft, Implement, Enforce, and Troubleshoot Access Policies for Your Venue

An encore presentation, this workshop provides you with the nuts and bolts you need to develop, implement and enforce defensible accessibility policies. Each participant receives a policy development guidebook. Especially recommended for those new to policy writing, approval, and maintenance. At the completion of Basic Policy Development, participants will be able to:

1. Identify evidence-based reasons for policies.
2. Develop a template policy format and process for in-house use.
3. Identify necessary components for a comprehensive organizational assessment of policy needs.
4. Identify core resources for verification of policy content and compliance.
5. Identify factors needed for successful policy development and implementation, including the policy-practice connection and in-house awareness.
6. Identify principles to defend the contents of, and need for, the policies you produce.

Presenter: Susan Duncan, RN, Duncan Consulting (WA)

Audio Description Tune-Up (Part One): Energize Existing Endeavors and/or Launch New Ventures

Looking to create efficient, effective, and economical ways to start, maintain and grow an audio description program? This is the audio description workshop for you! Spend the day solving challenges associated with audio description programs in theaters, museums, and other cultural institutions in this two-part interactive session. Part one will focus on starting or revitalizing a program. What is audio description? How do you identify and audition describers? What makes for good training? How does good description become great? What’s important about program notes? What technology do you need to provide audio description? How do you reach audio description consumers? Two audio description professionals with a combined 50 years of experience as describers and trainers will offer exercises, ideas, handouts, practice, and expert suggestions galore to help participants find their answers. Sign up early and the session leaders will contact you to help tailor the day to answer your specific questions.

Presenters: Deborah Lewis, Accessibility Consultant, Arts Access (CA); Bill Patterson, President, Audio Description Solutions (PA)

Creating Arts for All

This dynamic, interactive session will train staff and volunteers from theaters, museums, community centers, after school arts programs, and others how to universally design their educational arts programming to make it accessible to children of all abilities. Participants will learn unique strategies and best practices for engaging a wide range of children in several arts disciplines. Everyone will leave the training with specific, universally-designed arts activities they can replicate with the children in their program.

Presenters: Martin English, M.F.A., Executive Director of Accessible Arts, Inc. (KS); Kit Bardwell, M.M., Program Director of Accessible Arts, Inc. (KS)

12:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. – Pre-Conference Workshop

Tips, Tools, and Techniques for Effective Volunteer and Staff Training

Your staff and volunteers are the public face of your institution. With proper training they can be enthusiastic and informed allies in your efforts to create a completely disability and senior-friendly patron/visitor experience. This session will address strategies for maximizing your training efforts, offer practical suggestions, supply sample training manuals and materials, and look at key components of thorough and effective training sessions.

Presenters: Cindy Brown, ADA and Accessibility Specialist (OR); Celia Hughes, Executive Director, VSA arts of Texas (TX)

1:00 to 5:00 p.m. – Pre-Conference Workshops

ADA Basics: Titles I, II, III

Start your LEAD experience with a comprehensive introduction to the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Discover how the ADA applies to cultural arts organizations in the areas of employment, participation in programs and services, effective communication and facility access. Learn about ADA compliance and creative ways to leverage compliance to draw in new visitors and patrons. Participants will take home case studies based on actual events, components of an access plan and solutions for effective implementation.

Presenters: Shelley Kaplan, Project Director, DBTAC-Southeast (GA); Marian Vessels, DBTAC: Mid-Atlantic ADA Center (MD)

Advanced Policy Development (Part Two): Craft, Implement, Enforce, and Troubleshoot Access Policies for Your Venue

If you need help making your policies work in real life, this workshop is for you. Workgroups will gain practical experience by applying the principles learned in Basic to produce venue-tailored policies that comply with accessibility standards. Strategies for identifying and overcoming problems with policy implementation and maintenance will be discussed. Each participant receives a policy development workbook. Recommended for those involved in policy development, implementation and enforcement—administrators, legal counsel, managers, marketing directors, staff educators, policy committee members, program coordinators.
At the end of Advanced Policy Development, participants will be able to:

1. Discuss various strategies for achieving administrative support and end-user compliance.
2. Discuss strategies for in-house teambuilding for accessibility issues.
3. Compare centralized and decentralized accessibility responsibility and oversight.
4. Discuss related education and performance requirements for employees and contractors.

Prerequisite: Basic Policy Development or equivalent experience. Bring to class: Examples of policy-related problems from your venue that you want to discuss.

Presenter: Susan Duncan, RN, Duncan Consulting (WA)

Audio Description Tune-Up (Part Two): Energize Existing Endeavors and/or Launch New Ventures

Looking to create efficient, effective, and economical ways to start, maintain and grow an audio description program? This is the audio description workshop for you! Spend the day solving challenges associated with audio description programs in theaters, museums, and other cultural institutions in this two-part interactive session.

Part two focuses on keeping your program and describers strong. Who benefits from mentoring describers? What professional development works best? Why is evaluate experienced describers? Where else might you offer your audio description service? When do you assess your program’s effectiveness? How do you expand your audience?

Two audio description professionals with a combined 50 years of experience as describers and trainers will offer exercises, ideas, handouts, practice, and expert suggestions galore to help participants find their answers. Sign up early and the session leaders will contact you to help tailor the day to answer your specific questions.

Prerequisite: Audio Description Tune Up Part One or previous exposure to audio description as an administrator, trainer, or describer.

Presenters: Deborah Lewis, Accessibility Consultant, Arts Access (CA); Bill Patterson, President, Audio Description Solutions (PA)

“How Did We Do? How Can we Do Better?”
Practical Evaluation for Program Developers

This workshop will address skills and methods for evaluating programs and provide insights that benefit future programs. Both quantitative and qualitative methods will be included, and participants will practice the methods in this interactive, hands-on workshop.

Presenter: Andrew Pekarik, Program Analyst, Office of Policy and Analysis, Smithsonian Institution (DC)

6:00 to 7:00 p.m. - Millennium Stage Performance

A free performance on the Center’s Millennium Stage featuring artists with disabilities. This performance will be sign interpreted, captioned, and audio described. Assistive Listening Devices will be available.

7:00 p.m. - Opening Reception

Join us to celebrate the start of LEAD 2009! Reconnect with colleagues and make new contacts.

back to top

Friday, August 14

All sessions will take place at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts Sessions are subject to change.

9:00 to Noon – Concurrent Sessions

Sessions will include:

• Building Blocks of Access
  This series of introductory sessions cover the basics of access in the cultural arts. Learn to survey your facilities’ physical accessibility, provide materials in alternate formats, arrange sign language interpreters for tours, events or performances, design accessible exhibits, and more!
• ADA Amendments Act and You
  A discussion about the new ADA Amendments Act and how it applies to cultural arts organizations.

Noon to 1:00 p.m. – Lunch

1:00 to 6:00 p.m. – Website Accessibility Consultations

Meet with Knowbility web specialists for an individualized consultation and get useful recommendations on making accessibility improvements to your organization’s website. (Space is limited. Must request consultation on registration form.)

1:00 to 6:00 p.m. – Concurrent Sessions

Sessions will include:

• Leadership Skills: A Portrait for Success
  Thousands of skilled professionals are promoted into leadership positions every year but never given the training or resources to effectively lead their organizations. If you are one of them, or in search of a leadership refresher, this session is for you. What makes a good leader? What is the forgotten skill? Are leaders born or made? What is the secret to success? Learn the answers to these questions and more as the speaker shares his experiences, challenges and passion for this critical skill and provides a solid foundation that will make you a more effective leader.
• Challenging the Conventions of Audio Description
  Researchers at the Centre for Learning Technologies at Ryerson Polytechnic University in Ontario, Canada, have been evaluating the feasibility of introducing first-person narration in television and film as an alternative to conventional third-person audio description. Come ready for a lively discussion with Dr. Deb Fels, the Director of the Centre, about this new take on audio description. To prepare for this session, please visit http://www.ryerson.ca/clt/projects/clime.html.
• An Intro to ALDs
  You know that Assistive Listening Devices are an essential tool for providing effective communication, but how do you know which system is right for your venue? How can you use the system to provide the highest quality experience for patrons regardless of their level of hearing loss? This session will cover the ins and outs of ALDs so you can invest in the equipment will work best for your venue and learn the technical lingo you need to communicate clearly with sound technicians who maintain and operate it.
• Risk Management: Examining Complex Accessibility Situations through a New Lens
  You have operating procedures, accessibility policies and customer service practices. And then a disability-related issue arises that conflicts with one or more of those guidelines! Before your staff on the scene or you can plan a course of action, you must assess complex and unusual situations to determine whether you are dealing with an accessibility issue, a customer service issue, or even a health and safety issue. This panel will discuss some of the more challenging situations and demonstrate how accessibility coordinators can apply risk management principles to analyze and resolve conflicts. We’ll also address resolution responsibility, authority and follow up.
• Accessibility and the Built Environment
  

  A two-part series on physical accessibility.
  Part 1 introduces participants to the various Federal Accessibility Standards and will look at tangible ways to approach assessments and/or surveys of the built environment.
  Part 2 will take participants on a tour of the Kennedy Center with tape measures and levels in hand. Experts in exhibit, stage, and auditorium design will take a look at what works and what doesn't. Participants will receive practical advice on what to look for and how to avoid common errors.

• Emergency Evacuation Planning for Theaters and Museums
  What you need to know about planning to evacuate or shelter in place with individuals with disabilities during emergency situations.

Saturday, August 15

All sessions will take place at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
Sessions are subject to change.

9:00 to Noon – Plenary Session

• Doing Access Justice: Legal Issues for Arts Administrators
  This forum opens with a brief introduction to the major federal disability rights laws and quickly transitions into a dynamic, participant-driven Q & A session with experts from the U.S. Department of Justice and Disability Business and Technical Assistance Centers.

1:00 to 6:00 p.m. – Concurrent Sessions

Sessions will include:

• The Three-Minute P.A.S.
  You can make the perfect hard-boiled egg in three minutes, but can you describe your P.A.S (Perfect Accessibility Solution), or your favorite accessibility triumph, in the same amount of time? Deliver a three-minute rapid-fire presentation on an accessibility solution or program that demonstrates how your organization turned a negative situation into a positive one. Share the lessons you learned and stimulate a vivacious discussion about best practices in accessibility. Be as creative as you want to be. (Check "Yes” on your registration form to present during this session!)
• The Future of Accessible Technology
  Larry Goldberg, the Director of WGBH’s Media Access Group, will discuss the explosion of new accessible technologies and how those technologies will change and shape the way we provide accommodations in museums, theaters and other cultural venues.
• Cultural Tourism: A Market Focus
  Find out how to connect with the cultural tourism industry and make your organization "go-to" place for visitors and tourists with disabilities.
• Inclusion of Older Adults in Museum Experiences
  Take a peek into some of the successful programs being offered today that keep older adults active and engaged in cultural experiences. Participants will have the opportunity to start shaping programs for their own organizations.
• Speed Dating for Access Coordinators
  Explore decisions that theater access coordinators often must respond to on short notice or in the moment. Following the format of a speed-dating event, participant work through a range of scenarios that draw on their experiences as access coordinators.
• In the Future Will We Know a Museum when We See it? And, Will It Be Accessible?
  A look at the museum experience of the future and what needs to be done to ensure that it is accessible to people with disabilities.

6:00 to 7:00 p.m. - Millennium Stage Performance

A free performance on the Center’s Millennium Stage featuring artists with disabilities. This performance will be sign interpreted, captioned, and audio described. Assistive Listening Devices will be available.

7:00 p.m. - LEAD Awards Dinner

Tickets are $35.

Always one of the best conference events, the Awards Dinner is not to be missed! Join us for an elegant evening to present the 2009 Leadership Exchange in Arts and Disability Awards for Excellence in Accessibility Leadership in recognition of the achievements and contributions of an individual and an organization to the field of cultural arts access.

Click here for more information about the LEAD Awards.

back to top

Sunday, August 16

All sessions will take place at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
Sessions are subject to change.

9:00 a.m. to Noon – Concurrent Sessions

• How to Keep Accessibility Alive in this Tight Economy
  Fundraising in a challenging economy is an art in and of itself. Take a look at the changing world of fundraising for cultural institutions and get tips on how to keep your accessibility initiatives going.
• Cost-Effective Access Solutions
  Economy putting the pinch on you? Find out how to pinch back without sacrificing the quality of patrons' and visitors' experiences.
• Affinity Groups
  Get answers to any lingering questions in these roundtable discussions.

12:30 to 4:30 p.m. – Post-Conference Session

• Expand Your Audio Description Skills
  Registration deadline: July 22, 2009
  

  With a combined 50 years of experience as describers and trainers, Deb and Bill will challenge you to sharpen your skills with intensive exercises, ideas, handouts, practice, and expert suggestions. Increase your expertise, learn from fellow describers, become a more comfortable and confident describer. Quicker thinking on your feet? Better pre-show notes? Break some bad habits? All this and more in this professional development opportunity for experienced describers.

  Sign up early and the session leaders will contact you to help tailor the day to address your specific concerns.

  Presenters: Deborah Lewis, Accessibility Consultant, Arts Access (CA); Bill Patterson, President, Audio Description Solutions (PA)

back to top

Contact Us

• (202) 416-8727 (voice)
• (202) 416-8728 (TTY)
• (202) 416-8802 (fax)
• access@kennedy-center.org

back to top