The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
Washington, D.C.
No matter what role you play within your organization, the LEAD Conference will give you the tools and information you need to make your facility and programs accessible to people with disabilities and older adults.
Drawing on national and local resources, the conference will provide an array of opportunities to:
Plan your trip to D.C. and become a part of this international network of leaders vested in creating and shaping the future of access and accommodations for the inclusion of seniors and people with disabilities in the cultural arts.
Contact us to be added to the mailing list and to receive updates about conference events!
The LEAD Conference provides professional development opportunities for:
August 13, 2009
CCome early for one or two in-depth, interactive workshops on specific topics related to access in the cultural arts. Morning sessions will begin at 8:00 a.m. and afternoon sessions will start at 1:00 p.m. Boxed lunches will be provided for individuals who register for both a morning and afternoon session. Pre-conference workshops are $75.00 each.
Several sessions are back due to popular demand. Additional topics to be announced. Session descriptions and times are subject to change.
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)
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:
Presenter: Susan Duncan, RN, Duncan Consulting (WA)
Looking to energize existing endeavors or launch brand new ventures? 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 addresses the startup or revitalization of a program. What is audio description? How do you identify and audition describers? What makes for good training? 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)
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)
Start your LEAD experience with a solid introduction to the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). The session will explain how the ADA applies to cultural and arts organizations in the areas of employment, participation in programs and services, effective communication, and facility access. Information shared during this session will allow participants to understand their responsibilities in complying with the ADA and discuss creative methods of welcoming a whole new group of patrons who will enjoy and appreciate the arts. Participants will review case studies based on actual events and identify solutions for effectively implementing the ADA as well as identify components of an access plan that may be used in their respective organizations.
Presenters: Shelley Kaplan, Project Director, DBTAC-Southeast (GA); Marion Vessels, DBTAC: Mid-Atlantic ADA Center (MD)
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:
Prerequisite: Basic Policy Development or equivalent experience. Bring to class: Examples of policy-related problems from your venue that you want to discuss.
Looking to energize existing endeavors or launch brand new ventures? 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.
This second focuses on the ongoing work to keep your program and describers strong. Who benefits from mentoring describers? What professional development works best? Why is evaluation of describers so important? Where else might you offer your audio description service? When do you evaluate 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.
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)
Subject to change.
Stay through Sunday and attend sessions on fundraising and grant writing, get tips directly from foundation representatives on pitching projects, brainstorm with colleagues in affinity groups, participate in an open discussion led by Betty Siegel, the Kennedy Center's Director of Accessibility, to resolve any lingering questions, and more!
A discussion about the new ADA Amendments Act and how it applies to cultural arts organizations.
This series of introductory sessions will cover the basics of access in the cultural arts. Learn to survey your facilities' physical accessibility; provide materials in alternate formats, how to arrange sign language interpreters for tours, events, or performances; Each session will break out into discussion groups to highlight the
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.
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.
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.
Everyone always says that you learn from your mistakes, so why not share your pearls of wisdom and listen to others'? This participant-driven session will be done in the "Pecha Kucha" style: participants will sign up in advance to deliver no more than a two-minute presentation on their worst accessibility failure (program or facility) and the solutions/lessons learned. If you have an example of a failure but no solution, sign up to get advice from colleagues in the room.
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.
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.
Subject to change.
Thursday, August 14 at 7:00 pm
Join us on the roof terrace of the Kennedy Center to celebrate the start of LEAD 2009 and peruse the
Thursday, August 14 at 6:00 pm
Saturday, August 16 at 6:00 pm
Join us on Thursday and Friday evenings for performances on the Center’s Millennium Stage featuring artists with disabilities. These performances will be sign- interpreted, open-captioned, and audio -described. Assistive Listening Devices will be available.
Tickets are $31.50
This performance will be sign interpreted, captioned, and audio described. Assistive Listening Devices will be available.
Saturday, August 16 at 7:00 pm
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.
Pre-Conference Workshops are $75 each. Each workshop is four hours long. Morning sessions will begin at 8:00 a.m. and afternoon sessions will start at 1:00 p.m. Boxed lunches will be provided for individuals who register for both a morning and afternoon session.
Access to conference sessions for one day
Available only to board or staff members of arts organizations, arts services agencies, cultural organizations, or cultural services agencies, University and College staff, and State and Local Government employees
Conference rates have been arranged at three hotels within walking distance of the Kennedy Center. To receive these rates, reservations must be made by July 17, 2009. Be sure to ask for the Kennedy Center LEAD Conference rate. A limited number of rooms are being held so call immediately! Rates do not include tax.
824 New Hampshire Avenue, NW, Washington, D.C. 20037
(800) 426-4455 (voice)
(202) 298-7499 (fax)
www.gwuinn.com, Enter Promo Code: LEAD
Rate: $129/night
1 Washington Circle, NW, Washington, D.C. 20037
(800) 424-9671 (voice) (Mention Group ID Code #423215)
www.thecirclehotel.com
Rate: $129/night
924 25th St., NW, Washington, D.C. 20037
(888) 874-0100 (voice)
(202) 337-6520 (fax)
www.theriverinn.com
Rate: $129/night
For additional hotel listings, visit the D.C. Convention and Visitors Association on the web at www.washington.org. For information about accessible travel, please visit www.gimponthego.com or www.disabilityguide.org.
Ronald Reagan National Airport (DCA) is the closest and most convenient airport to the Kennedy Center. Please visit the airport’s website for information about accessibility services and ground transportation.
Dulles Airport (IAD) in Virginia is a 30- to 60-minute drive from the Kennedy Center. Please visit the airport’s website for information on accessibility services and ground transportation.
Baltimore-Washington Airport (BWI) is a 45-to-75-minute drive from the Kennedy Center: Please visit the airport’s website for information about accessibility services and ground transportation.
The Kennedy Center is located on the banks of the Potomac River at 2700 F St., NW, Washington, D.C. 20566, at the intersection of New Hampshire Avenue, NW, and the Rock Creek Parkway. It is accessible by Metro (via the subway and bus lines), by taxi, and by car. You can find information on garage hours, fees, and accessibility under Parking at the Kennedy Center.
Special thanks to the 2009 LEAD Conference Content Committees members.
(202) 416-8727 (voice)
(202) 416-8728 (TTY)
(202) 416-8802 (fax)