ADA Silver Anniversary Summit
Presented by the Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs, Florida Access Coalition for the Arts, and
Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts of Miami-Dade County
Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts - 1300 Biscayne Blvd. Miami, FL 33132
Schedule and presenters are subject to change without notice.
Follow the ADA Silver Anniversary Summit on social media @MiamiDadeArts and using #MiamiArtsADA25.
SCHEDULE: Thursday, September 24, 2015, 8:30 am – 5:00 pm (Click here to download)
8:30 – 9:00 Registration: Ziff Ballet Opera House – Lobby
8:30 – 9:00 Continental Breakfast: Ziff Ballet Opera House – Peacock Foundation Studio
9:00 - 12:30 GENERAL SESSIONS: Ziff Ballet Opera House - Carnival Studio Theater
9:00 – 9:15 Welcome!
M. John Richard, President & CEO, Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts
9:15 – 10:15 Celebrating 25 Years of the Americans with Disabilities Act
Commission on Disability Issues (CODI)
10:15 – 10:45 Performance: Better Chance Music Production Program
Miami Lighthouse for the Blind and Visually Impaired
Jeff Zavac-Sax
Rick Williams-Piano
Gerardo Ubieda-Drums
Natalia Sulca-Vocals
Carlos Camacho-Bass
Julio Fumero-Keyboards
Oman Pedreira-Violin/Keyboards
Tony Cobo-Sound tech/bass
Nick Mastrovito-Coordinator/guitar
11:00 – 12:00 The Arts are for Everyone: Universal Design in Cultural Settings
Valerie Fletcher, Executive Director, Institute for Human Centered Design
12:00 – 12:30 The Future of Museums Begins Here
Gillian Thomas, President & CEO, Patricia and Phillip Frost Museum of Science
While science centers have long been committed to providing access for all, the awareness of the challenges faced by different groups has increased and our response in adapting to a broad audience spectrum of interest, knowledge and ability has steadily improved. In this session, some of the challenges, opportunities and solutions being explored at Frost Science will be discussed, as we develop the new building, exhibitions and website, for opening next summer.
12:30 – 12:35 ADA and the Arts: The Power to Make a Difference
Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos A. Gimenez
12:35 – 1:15 Lunch / Resource Fair: Ziff Ballet Opera House – Peacock Foundation Studio
1:15 – 3:45 BREAKOUT SESSIONS: Knight Concert Hall
Knight Concert Hall - Peacock Foundation Education Center
1:15 – 2:15 Accessible Arts: Assisting Patrons with Disabilities
Beth Gordon, Access and Inclusion Consultant
2:15 – 3:45 Providing an Inclusive Experience for Your Patrons with Disabilities
Heidi Johnson-Wright, ADA Coordinator, Miami-Dade County
How the ADA applies to arts organizations/venues and how to ensure ADA compliance in communications, programming and physical facilities.
Knight Concert Hall - RM 2039
1:15 – 3:00 Performing for a Wider Audience
Lew Balaban, Open Captioner, Board Member, Florida Access Coalition for the Arts (FLACA)
Judy Litt, Director, Education and Community Engagement, Miami Theater Center
Garry Novick, Director of Guest Services, Broward Center for the Performing Arts
Matt Saurusaitis, Box Office Manager, Miami City Ballet
3:00 – 3:45 Florida Access Coalition for the Arts
Judy Litt, Director, Education and Community Engagement, Miami Theater Center
Garry Novick, Director of Guest Services, Broward Center for the Performing Arts
Knight Concert Hall - RM 2032B
1:15 – 3:45 Tips, Tools and Techniques for Effective Staff and Volunteer Training
Talleri McRae, Theatre Access, Inclusion and Education Consultant, Louisville, KY
4:00 - 5:00 GENERAL SESSSIONS: Ziff Ballet Opera House – Carnival Studio Theater
4:00 – 4:45 Patrons’ Perspectives / Expert Panel Q&A
4:45 – 5:00 Closing Remarks
ADA Silver Anniversary Summit
Presented by the Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs, Florida Access Coalition for the Arts, and
Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts of Miami-Dade County
Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts - 1300 Biscayne Blvd. Miami, FL 33132
Schedule and presenters are subject to change without notice.
Follow the ADA Silver Anniversary Summit on social media @MiamiDadeArts and using #MiamiArtsADA25.
SCHEDULE: Friday, September 25, 2015, 8:30 am – 5:00 pm (Click here to download)
8:30 – 9:00 Registration: Ziff Ballet Opera House - Lobby
8:30 – 9:00 Continental Breakfast: Ziff Ballet Opera House - Peacock Foundation Studio
9:00 - 12:30 GENERAL SESSIONS: Ziff Ballet Opera House – Carnival Studio Theater
9:00 – 9:30 Welcome!
Jennifer Sabo, Executive Director, VSA Florida
9:30 – 10:15 Digital Technology: A friend or a foe of the blind?
10:30 – 10:45 Performance: Celebrating 25 Years of Mixed Ability Dance
“FULL CIRCLE” (premier at the Miami Dade County Auditorium, May 14, 2015)
Choreography: Karen Peterson
Music: Olafur Arnaids
Video: original 1990 VHS footage by Shelley Gefter at the New World School of the Arts Theatre
Video edited and reimagined: by Alexey Taran
Performers: 2015 cast: John Beauregard, Shawn Buller, Lize-Lotte Pitlo, Juan Maria Seller, Katrina Weaver
Video Performers 1990: Carol Kaminsky, Sharon Meskowitz, Margie Burnett, Karen Peterson
**** notes: “Common Denominators’ was first showcased at the New World School at the Arts Theatre in 1990 and today’s projected video brings Karen Peterson and Dancers history into the present. .... thank you to the many dance artists who have inspired me. Karen
10:45 – 11:15 The Dance Lens: A New Paradigm for Envisioning Assistive Devices and Disability
Merry Lynn Morris, University of South Florida College of the Arts
This presentation examines the ways in which dance is re-imagining traditional binaries of abled and disabled bodies and foregrounds the ways in which assistive devices utilized in dance prompt new embodied approaches to assistive device design. At present, AD design is often prioritized with functional goals (e.g. safety, efficiency, durability) but dance suggests other priorities be considered in terms of form, motion, and intimate interactivity between bodies. This presentation asserts the value in bringing multiple disciplinary perspectives to the table in terms of device design, and in particular, incorporating dance/arts perspectives as a meaningful way of viewing and envisioning human-device interactions. Drawing upon the work of current dance practitioners working in the genre of mixed ability/integrated dance, and self-reflexively including my own work in mixed ability dance and assistive device development, I will discuss the ways in which bodies of difference intersect in and through assistive devices. I will share my own development of a new type of assistive technology device motivated through a dance lens, re-prioritizing the focus of the device from “medical aid” to “creative, expressive partner.”
11:30 – 12:30 Using Remote Smart Presence Devices to Provide Access to Cultural Sites
Christa Cliver, Director of Education & Museum Business Development, Suitable Technologies
Henry Evans, Founder, Robots for Humanity
How does remote presence technology extend a cultural institution’s reach? This session will present remote access projects that have provided cultural organizations with virtual entry to visitors with disabilities providing self-guided remote exploration of museum collections and live performances from their personal computer via the on-site Beam Device. Henry Evans, a technology fan and quadriplegic, will share his experiences touring museums from his home in California.
12:30 – 2:30 VSA Residency Showcase
12:30 – 1:15 Lunch / Resource Fair: Ziff Ballet Opera House – Peacock Foundation Studio
1:15 – 3:15 BREAKOUT SESSIONS: Knight Concert Hall
Knight Concert Hall – Peacock Foundation Education Center
1:15 – 2:00 Show Me the Money! Finding Help and Funding Access
Francine M. Andersen, Chief of Arts Education, Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs
Heidi Johnson-Wright, ADA Coordinator, Miami-Dade County
Jennifer Sabo, Executive Director, VSA Florida
2:15 – 3:15 Effective Marketing and Communication in the Digital Age
Sharron Rush, Executive Director, Knowbility
Knight Concert Hall – RM 2039
1:15 – 2:00 Autism Awareness
Dr. Jennifer Durocher, Center for Autism and Related Disabilities
2:00 – 3:15 Creating and Marketing Sensory-Friendly Cultural Programs for Audiences and Visitors with Autism and Sensory-Processing Disorders
Francine M. Andersen, Chief of Arts Education, Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs
Talleri McRae, Theatre Access, Inclusion and Education Consultant, Louisville, KY
Knight Concert Hall – RM 2032B
1:15 – 3:15 The Art of Access: Making Museums Inclusive
Valerie Fletcher, Executive Director, Institute for Human Centered Design
Beth Gordon, Access and Inclusion Consultant
3:30 - 5:00 GENERAL SESSIONS: Ziff Ballet Opera House – Carnival Studio Theater
3:30 – 3:55 Performance: Antiheroes Project – Excerpt from Nomadis: FEARS
“One day, as Jack Kerouac was resting in his cabin, he heard one of Beethoven’s symphonies. There, sipping a cup of tea, he decided he would be a writer and not a football player any more. I wanted to write about that moment, so I stayed while all my friends left.” (Excerpt from Nomadis)
NOMADIS is an original theater piece by Antiheroes Project, and it had its premiere in August 2014. Inspired by the concept of freedom, the lives and works of some of the authors of the Beat Generation and memories of the very life of the performers, the piece is a collaborative experience and a theatrical laboratory that merges the complexity of a group of Miami based artists and the nomadic nature of the human being.
Nomadis is, in other words, a piece about a group of friends during their youthful days of glory; a story about the people who come and go in our lives, a universal tale of the fire that burns in all of us, a compilation about the dreams we once had
FEARS is an excerpt of Nomadis and the second scene of the piece out of a total of nine. This twenty minute fragment features elements of physical theater, live projections and sounds. It will be performed in Spanish and English, with supertitles in both languages.
Performers: Claudio Marcotulli, Fernando Goicochea, José Manuel Domínguez, Sergio Mora
4:00 – 4:15 Performance: Signing Stories – JohnPaul Jebian, Waving Hands
4:15 – 4:45 Patrons’ Perspectives / Expert Panel Q&A
4:45 – 5:00 Closing Remarks
