VSA arts of Rhode Island
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500 Prospect Street |
Jeannine L. Chartier |
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Tel.: (401) 725-0247 |
Website: |
Organizational Profile:
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Full-time Staff: 1 |
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VSA arts of Rhode Island is dedicated to providing opportunities for people with disabilities to actively participate in high-quality programs in the visual, literary, and performing arts. By providing quality arts education programs and access to inclusive opportunities through which children, youth and adults with disabilities can enter the mainstream of their communities, we promote the educational and cultural benefits of the arts for all people. VSA arts of Rhode Island creates model programs for inclusive audiences throughout the state in partnership with the arts, cultural, disability, and educational communities. Founded in 1986 on advocacy for access and artistic excellence, VSA arts of Rhode Island increases public awareness of the creative talents of children, youth and adults with disabilities, integrating their achievements into Rhode Island’s mainstream community, thereby promoting the cultural benefits of the arts for all.
Programming Partners and Other Funders:
Rhode Island Department of Education, Office of Special Populations; Rhode Island State Council on the Arts; Rhode Island Department of Mental Health, Retardation, and Hospitals, Division of Developmental Disabilities; Governor’s Commission on Disabilities; Rhode Island School of Design Museum; Rhode Island ARC agencies; Rhode Island Arts Education Association; Rhode Island Dance Alliance; Rhode Island Foundation; Rhode Island Independent Living Centers; Rhode Island Special Olympics; All Children’s Theatre; Bryant University; Citizens Bank; Cox Charities; CVS; Fogarty Foundation; Gamm Theatre; Hasbro Charities and Hasbro Childrens Hospital; Lagniappe Productions; Ocean State Charities Trust; Providence Black Repertory Theatre; Reeve Foundation; Target Stores; York Foundation
Educational Programs
Access the Arts
VSA arts of Rhode Island’s program Access the Arts is a collaboration with the Rhode Island Department of Education, creating inclusive artist-in-residence programs statewide. Students with disabilities explore their creative talents in a wide variety of visual, literary, and performing arts by working with professional artists in intensive hands-on projects that enhance curriculum goals, while school educators receive job-embedded professional development in the arts. An exhibition showcasing student artwork produced in the residencies is maintained at the Department of Education’s headquarters in Providence.
Chance to Dance
VSA arts of Rhode Island supports Chance to Dance, a series of weekly Dance Alliance classes held at schools and community locations throughout the state. Students with and without disabilities work together with professional dancers to research and interpret a dance theme; choreograph, learn, and rehearse their dances; and then perform in a culminating weekend of shows in May at the Providence Performing Arts Center.
Allen Ginsberg Poetry Program
VSA arts of Rhode Island’s Allen Ginsberg Poetry Program provides a series of creative writing workshops for adults with developmental disabilities at community sites. It culminates in springtime poetry readings, a statewide call for poems, poetry competition, and the Allen Ginsberg Award Ceremony.
Monday Night Music/Tuesday Nite Dance
VSA arts of Rhode Island provides a year-round series of classes for youth and adults with cognitive and physical disabilities to participate with service providers from local disability agencies and receive instruction in a variety of music and dance styles.
Poetry Out Loud
VSA arts of Rhode Island conducts Poetry Out Loud, a National Endowment for the Arts program for high school students to learn about poetry through its study and public performance. Approximately 10 Rhode Island schools serving students with and without disabilities host artist residencies and hold a poetry recitation competition to select a school winner. Students representing their schools then compete to become the Rhode Island state champion, advancing to the national finals in Washington, D.C., in April.
Professional Development and Technical Assistance
Artistic Expressions
VSA arts of Rhode Island supports career development of artists with disabilities by producing community art exhibitions, artist receptions with gallery talks, and marketing regarding both the artists and the exhibitions. VSA arts of Rhode Island also assists artists individually in expanding their knowledge and skills regarding improving portfolios, marketing, and sales.
VSA arts Connection with RISD Museum
VSA arts of Rhode Island, in collaboration with the RISD (Rhode Island School of Design) Museum of Art, sponsors visual art classes for adults with developmental disabilities. Participants receive art history lessons and instruction at the RISD galleries using the museum’s works of art as visual references. The classes culminate in a gallery exhibition. This experience improves artists’ professional development and enhances the museum’s ability to provide inclusive programming.
VSA arts Reach: Program and Accessibility Training
VSA arts of Rhode Island conducts workshops, seminars, and consulting services for general curriculum, art and special education teachers, school and program administrators, docents, and others. Training includes information on how accessibility is achieved in specific VSA arts programs, disability awareness training, updating general inclusion techniques, and arts standards and frameworks education. VSA arts of Rhode Island also partners with the Rhode Island Arts Learning Network in developing and promoting the state of Rhode Island’s Proficiency-Based Graduation Requirement in the Arts.
Cultural Access and Inclusive Arts Services
Accessible Rhode Island
VSA arts of Rhode Island assists cultural and recreational organizations in improving access and developing new audiences by conducting site surveys to identify access barriers and develop appropriate solutions. Accessible Rhode Island, a guide produced in collaboration with Dare to Dream, a Rhode Island multiple sclerosis support group lists the accommodations of the surveyed sites. It is available in hard copy format and online at www.accessiblerhodeisland.org.
Summer Camp Connection
VSA arts of Rhode Island provides appropriate artists, program design, and other assistance to education and community organizations throughout the state providing summer programming, to facilitate the inclusion of quality arts experiences for children with disabilities.
Cultural Community p-ART-nership
VSA arts of Rhode Island individually tailors programs that provide arts services and other direct assistance to community agencies throughout the state. p-ART-nerships address specific community needs to expand a site’s programs to a more diverse population, create increased inclusion of children and adults with disabilities, and form a bridge between cultural and disability organizations.
ACTor Assistant
VSA arts of Rhode Island provides an ensemble assistant to work with children with disabilities in Rhode Island’s All Children’s Theatre (ACT). The ACTor assistant increases the participation and full inclusion of children with developmental and physical disabilities in the ensemble activities and theatrical performances.
Public Awareness and Outreach
VSA Arts Artists and Arts Resource Directory
VSA arts of Rhode Island maintains a directory of qualified artists and cultural resources providing inclusive arts programming throughout Rhode Island. The information serves as a referral service to interested schools, agencies, and individuals designing or implementing educational arts programs.
Festivals
VSA arts of Rhode Island supports a mini-festival, Arts, Artists, and Athletes, at Rhode Island's Special Olympics State Games hosted by the University of Rhode Island in June, and the family art activities at the Rhythm and Roots Festival at Charlestown’s Ninegret Park in September.
Web site: www.vsartsri.org
VSA arts of Rhode Island’s Web site extends public awareness and outreach activities to include news on school programming, disability awareness, and downloadable forms to apply for VSA arts of Rhode Island arts-in-education and exhibition programs.
(F) 202-429-0868