 Good morning. I'm Anita Walker, executive director of the Mass Cultural Council. I am a woman in her 60s wearing glasses. I have about shoulder-length hair, and I'm wearing an ivory top. Welcome to the UP Awards, a virtual celebration of excellence in access. UP is an initiative of the Mass Cultural Council for universal participation in the arts, humanities, and interpretive sciences. There is so much work to be proud of and work that deserves recognition, but let's face it. This hardly seems like a time for celebration, with more than 100,000 people in our country killed by the coronavirus, with millions who have no job and no idea how they're going to make ends meet, and with, once again, last night, searing pain, anger, and rage spilling into the public square, as we watch yet another person of color denied rights, denied justice, and denied life itself at the hands of an official in uniform. We're all wondering, how long must we wait? How long will it take for real change? It is important that we're here today to celebrate the accomplishments of our colleagues who are striving every single day to be better, to be inclusive, who are really stepping up. We built up as a way to excite our field around the intent of the Americans with Disabilities Act, which turns 30 years old this year, to tap into our collective superpowers of creativity, innovation, and aspiration. We celebrate the anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act every five or 10 years. However, it is not the act itself, but the movement it represents, a civil rights movement, a human rights movement that knows no singular victory, but only a thousand steps in the right direction. That's why we call our movement for inclusion up, up as a direction, not a destination. When we launched this program, we saw the ADA not as the pinnacle, but the platform on which we advance our work. It's not about tolerating and accommodating. It's about bringing forward the voices of the unheard and making change, persistent, relentless, urgent change. These past two months have been wrenching. We grieve for the sick and dying, we feel for the millions who have lost their jobs, and we're angry because people in our own communities must live in fear because of the color of their skin or because they look different. Still, there's no one victory. There's only one step after another, dogged persistence because we can do better, we must do better, and we will do better. And we must use the incredible power of culture to accelerate and amplify real change for real inclusion. It's appropriate that we celebrate those who have shown leadership, innovation, and change enough, not with one big singular celebration, but with a series of moments this week, each of the next five days, step by step, and it is right to mark these accomplishments. For just over a little over a half an hour, each of the next five days, we will stand together for the power of culture and the power of inclusion. We'll meet the organizations chosen by their peers for their excellent work, providing access for all. We'll find out on Friday who gets the top honors. You know, the irony is not lost that at a time when all of us are denied access to our cultural treasures because they're closed due to COVID-19. Here we are celebrating access. But maybe this is the best time. Our field is facing recovery and rebuilding, and when we rebuild, we have the opportunity to redesign our programs and our spaces for inclusion. To leave behind once and for all the legacy of privilege, white privilege, that is the birthmark stamped on so many of our organizations, and to invite the unheard voices to speak and to design the change we seek. Over the next five days, we'll see what that looks like, what our future can look like if we just keep moving up. It is my honor and pleasure to introduce now, someone you all know, Charles has been leading the charge for up, for what, five years now, Charles? Charles, more than five? I can't keep track. I am delighted that Anita, to have you welcome all potential listeners and viewers and to really have gotten this up initiative going. I do think that this virtual celebration, while it can, or more like jewels, we have an opportunity to hear from a really expansive, diverse crowd of activists and artists who I have the wonderful opportunity to work alongside because the key part of is this idea of centering marginalized voices and amplifying them and responding to them. And that is always one of my real pleasures with this initiative is to not only respond, but to really think of this work as aspirational. So very excited that we've now been able to move to this virtual platform, which is a whole other level of what access might need. For those of you who are tuning in, you will note that we're going to try to have a nice easy pace over the next five days. Many of us who are working are Zoom, Zoom, Zooming a lot, so we want to slow things down. You'll also note that we have included ASL interpretation. We hope that our patrons and our colleagues and our artists who use ASL are participating. We also have included real-time captions so that if you are in a place where you prefer to read, if this is a service that supports your getting the information, that is something that we're doing as well. And at the end of the day, we're going to have a little universal participation challenge. I have been talking to many teachers and many artists, this idea of how do we reach through the virtual screen? And it isn't easy. And so to access that third place, we'll have the day will end with a little bit of a challenge that we hope you will share with us so that we know we actually have gotten through this virtual screen. So those are the goals of this week, pace, communication, and somehow to reach through this screen to really connect with the artists and the organizations and the people that are part of this movement, which is a movement to dismantle barriers. So I'm very happy that we've been able to reflect on the times as they are and to even think about the times that might be. So with that, I think let's jump in. So Charles, and I do want to say to everyone, Charles is an amazing inspiring teacher. So much of what I've learned about inclusion, we're all learners. We're all learning together. Again, there's no finished learning. It's all continuous learning. And Charles, tell us what you're wearing, what you look like today. Oh, yes. So I have asked each of us on this call over the next five days to describe ourselves. And naturally, I have already forgotten. So my name is Charles Baldwin. I am the program officer for the Universal Participation Initiative. I am an older white gentleman with a beard and a mohawk. I'm wearing glasses. And today I am wearing a blue sweater. Thank you, Charles. Thank you, Anita. That was good. That was good. So one of the wonderful things about our upper wars is we actually turn to you, to our field, to think about those you've worked with and one of our learning networks that Charles has run, and talk about who you think is an exemplar, someone who's doing something that is inspiring, that you'd like to aspire to do as well. And so each day we're going to introduce you to one of these wonderful organizations that is working so hard to make our world a better place. And so it is my honor to start the conversation around the person who has been, or the organization rather, who's been nominated for our community asset award. I have to tell you, by the way, Charles, I spilled tea all over by notes this morning, and then my Zoom crashed and only started working one minute before we came on. But that's live television, isn't it? That is live TV, and this is a yes and moment. Absolutely. So we would like, this is the community asset award really recognizes the history of centering people with disabilities with inclusive creative practices. And our recognition this year goes to Open Door Arts, which was established 40 years ago. And we have with us the executive director, Nicole Goyce, I hope I said that right, who's going to tell us a little bit about Open Door Arts. And Open Door has been a great partner since the beginning of up. And I work closely with them on many different levels through the learning network. And I am delighted that Nicole is able to join us today. Thank you, Nicole. Thank you, Charles and Anita. And in the spirit of best practices, I will start by describing myself. Hello, everyone. Again, my name is Nicole Goyce. And Anita, you did pronounce that correctly. Thank you. I am the managing director at Open Door Arts. I identify as a Latina woman in my late 30s. I have shoulder length brown hair and brown eyes, and I'm wearing a tan top today. So again, thank you so much, Anita, Charles, and the Mass Cultural Council for this wonderful honor and recognition of our work and our history in the field. Just as Anita said, as I prepared my remarks, I was struck by how timely receiving this award is for our team, for the organization, but also for the community at large. The last couple of months, and particularly the past week, have given us stark reminders of the deep inequities and systemic injustices affecting our communities. We continue to see how systems of oppression intersect with one another. We know that disabled people of color have been disproportionately affected by the COVID pandemic. And we know that about half of the people that are killed by police have a disability. So where do we go from here is the question that we find ourselves asking now. Disability activist Alice Wong says, Liberation is conceived by our imagination, carried in our hearts, and birthed through our revolutionary madness. Her words resonate deeply with me, especially today, and highlight the critically important work of the arts. The arts allow us to imagine, to love, to think wildly outside the box. Art gives us a place to heal, a place for comfort. And our work has been just about that, about giving voice and a vision to alternative possibilities, alternative realities. They give us a common experience through which we can see each other and tools for sharing things that cannot be shared otherwise, and platforms to come together as a community in dialogue. In the words of Mia Mingus, access is a practice of love. And I would dare to say that art is also a practice of love. It's really hard to imagine that we've been doing this work for 40 years. So that's 10 years before the ADA was passed. We were born in the midst of the disability rights movement, and we find ourselves 40 years later fighting for the same rights, but also having accomplished so much. Today, I want to share this award with our dedicated team, our incredible staff, our teaching artists, our students, artists, partners, our generous funders and supporters, our Seven Hills Foundation family, our advisory board, and everyone who helps make this common vision a reality. We stand on the shoulders of our predecessors and of our community, especially grateful to Meta Abrams, our founder, and to Charlie Washburn, who continued in Meta's legacy and expressed our deep gratitude for their vision and commitment as we continue to collectively imagine and work towards a more fair, inclusive, and ultimately a more beautiful world. Thank you. Thank you, Nicole. Thank you very much. I think it's important to remember as we go through the award is that all of the organizations, it all started with peer nominations. So it's really the initial vote, the initial, these are the organizations we look to, has come from your peers. And I think that's important to note, and thank you very much. Nicole, that was beautifully said. And I have to say that looking at the slides on the screen and the amazing artwork that has been produced by so many amazing artists in your organization and in your program, it is the art that inspires. And that's why we keep talking about the power of culture. It is more effective, more impactful, and touches more people in ways that we can't even describe that makes your work so incredibly valuable and so incredibly important. So thank you so much for everything you've been doing for 40 years and for the next 40 years, I'm sure. And Charles, we couldn't possibly be celebrating the power of culture and inclusion without having a little art in our program, right? Well, back when this was going to be a physical event, I did have a number of artists that I invited to participate. When we did this in 2018, we had entertainers and a wonderful keynote, and we will have another wonderful keynote tomorrow, Sarah Minkara. But to kick us off today in this new virtual environment, I've invited Precious Perettes. And I love the story of how I met Precious, because I really didn't meet Precious. Carmen Plasas, who is our communications director, was at a street festival last summer, and she was hearing, ah, and here is Precious now. She was hearing Precious sing, and I don't think Precious, you are off the stage yet when Carmen texted me right away, just like, you have got to hear this young woman. She has got to be a part of the up award, and here you are. So Precious Perettes and Shane, Shane Lowe, thank you for joining us today. Of course. We're really excited to be here. I'm super excited and super grateful for this opportunity. Yeah, I remember Carmen actually found my artist website, which I was really stoked about, because I haven't had a lot of traffic through there. And sent me an email and said, hey, you know, I'm Carmen. I saw you at, you know, the Chelsea Day Performance, and I'd really like to talk to you more about this. And then I ended up meeting with her and Charles. And so it was just such a cool thing, and a cool way to get involved in this wonderful, wonderful thing that everyone has put together here. A little bit about us. So I was born in Chelsea, Massachusetts, I'm born and raised there. And I'm Puerto Rican. And so I grew up around a lot of, you know, in an urban community, there's a lot of different cultures, different people. And I feel so blessed to have been surrounded by all of that growing up. I came from a low income, you know, community. And that's, you know, first generation college student. All of these things are part of who I am and where I came from. And then having a disability, being blind on top of that and dealing with advocacy, dealing with people who think that I can't do things that they can do, kind of added to all of that. But when I realized what I truly wanted to do was become a performer, become somebody who could through my passion show the world that, hey, people with disabilities, you know, people from all these different communities, people of color, people with mental health things, all these things that I represent, all these communities that I represent can do anything that anyone can do. And being able to perform, and I'm also studying music education, teach students from all demographics, whether they're blind students or sighted students, and being able to show them like, hey, people that look like me, people that look like you, can do anything that they put their mind to and you can follow your dreams. And Shane is my fiance, but he's also my percussionist, and we perform together, and we travel together, we do all these things, and we're kind of in this, on this journey together to help get our message across and really show people that we're capable, and anyone in these positions is capable of doing whatever they want to do and live a full productive life. So that's really a huge part of what we do, of what I do as an educator, as a performer, and just as a person every day is educating people and just really leading by example. And given the times that we're living in with all of the heavy things going on in this world, all of the injustices, everything, the song that we're presenting to you today is called Campiona. It's an original song and the title translates to champion. And it essentially talks about, you know, as one person, it's really easy to feel like nothing that we're doing matters. Like, you know, the world is on our shoulders, but nobody's there for us until you realize that the community and those that are around you that lift you up together, we have the power to make a change and we have the power to change the world. And when all is said and done, we are all champions. So it's something that gives me hope to think about and, you know, something that we put into practice, just trying to do the best we can to help support any community facing injustice these days and just doing everything we can. And it's basically alone, we're one person, but together, we're not alone. And so I'm really excited to present Campiona to you today and thank you so much for having us. Precious, thank you so much. Of course, this is super exciting. Precious, and that was... When you chose that song, who knew it would resonate so much? Thank you. A few notes for anyone who is watching. We did decide that we wanted to just hear and see Precious, which is why we had the captions and not the interpreter. We'll be doing a little experimenting with that throughout the week and we look forward to you telling us what works and what doesn't. So along with the challenge right now, as Precious said this, self-assessment, strengthening for ourselves and our wellness, how can we make sure that we are strong enough to contribute? So if you have the opportunity, please go to massculturalcounsel.org slash up award. Look at the challenge and look at the evaluation. And thank you for checking it out. So Anita, you want to give us a sense of what we've got coming up this week? First of all, Charles, before I do that, I want to give you a big old round of applause. Do I do this right? Yes, yes. Because Charles and Angelina and Ann and a whole bunch of people at the Mass Cultural Council have been thinking long and hard about how we were still going to recognize this incredibly important and we now know more important than ever work that so many in our field are doing and that Charles has been leading across the Commonwealth. And, you know, all right, no heavy hors d'oeuvres. That is usually a feature of our up awards. You're certainly welcome to bring your own from your very own kitchen as you join us hopefully for the rest of the week. And we will be here every single day, same time, same station. And tomorrow we are going to be taking a look at Barrington Stage and South Shore Conservatory who have also been doing some incredible, incredible work. But Charles, you know, it's really hard to, it's hard to step away from the world around us. It's hard to take this wonderful, wonderful few minutes that we've had together this morning to think about the good work that's being done. And so I'm always trying to look for that work wherever I can find it. And I'm almost afraid to open the newspaper in the morning because it's just so painful. It's so painful to see what's happening in our country all over the world and in Massachusetts. But there was a little bit of something that I found a bit inspiring that I saw overnight. And that was, of course, there's protest not just in cities across our country but all over the world around the injustice that plagues cities and communities and people every single day. And in Flint, Michigan, I think it was, the crowds turned out to let their voice be heard around injustice. And the chief of police, instead of showing up in an armored vehicle with layers and layers of bullet protection and carrying military-style rifles, he came in a t-shirt and he went into the protesters and he said, what can I do? And they said, march with us. And he did. And I think that's one of the things that we're saying this week. March with us one step at a time. We can do this together. You're doing it. We're learning from you. Every day we will take a step and we will learn another amazing story of inclusion in our field. So thank you. Thank you, Charles. Thank you for your inspiring leadership every single day. And thank you so much to all of you who have signed on to our Zoom today and hopefully well for the next four days as we celebrate good work. Thank you very much. Thanks, Charles. Thank you.