 Good evening everybody. My name is Matt Holloway I'm co-chair of the Amherst Cultural Council. And I want to welcome folks to a special meeting of the Amherst Cultural Council. This is an accessibility round table event. And because this may be a public meeting of a public body done over virtual means I'm going to read a little script that we have from the Attorney General's office, which simply says that pursuant to chapter 20 of the acts of 2021. This meeting is being conducted via remote means members of the public who wish to access the meeting may do so obviously on zoom right now. However, the meeting will also be recorded and posted prominently on the Amherst Cultural Council website. So folks who do not attend can certainly access it there as well. No one person attendance of members of the public will be permitted but every effort will be made to ensure the public can adequately access the proceedings in real time being technological means. And if folks have any questions about any of that we we can certainly help you just email ACC at Amherst mass Amherst MA dot gov that's ACC at Amherst mass dot gov. And then with that I'm just going to turn the turn the conversation over. I'm going to introduce Charles Baldwin, who is the program officer for the mass cultural councils universal participation initiative up, which provides professional development and universal design practices for cultural organizations seeking to move access from a regulatory obligation to a policy for inclusive community engagement. And Charles this has been an area we've been working hard on for the past couple years and we're just so delighted to have you here with us and I can't wait to turn it over to you and and here would you have to share. Very happy to have been invited. I saw a lot of people in the room, but for folks who are again my name is Charles Baldwin I am the program officer for up at the mass cultural council for folks who might just be listening in I'm an older white gentleman with a gray beard red glasses and a trim I am calling in from Somerville, which are the unceded lands of the Massachusetts Nipmuc and Wampanoag people's very rich area over here in Somerville. There used to be a lot more water so I think that had a lot to do with it. I'm really pleased to talk a little bit about access. I know that we worked last year to really put language into the criteria of the grants. And I think sometimes the, the ADA and certainly the list of regulations can sort of freeze people and bring out anxiety. And that goes to this, this goal of really of creating an embrace of all the variety of our humanists. So, I do have a little presentation and we'll talk a little bit about the ADA, but mostly I want to explore both the, the do it yourself efforts as well as the capital campaigns and everything that really can help organizations who are developing programs to really think about access and access from the start. It is always so much easier to include it in the beginning, when you're in the brainstorming or scripting phase, then to kind of try to apply it after a program has been designed. And so, hopefully this will help a little bit. I said I'm available for follow up, and certainly throughout the presentation which sometimes is brief, depending on how wordy I get. Feel free to raise a hand, ask a question. The bulk of the slides really become launching points for stories around successful or unsuccessful access practices, and hopefully we can learn from both. So, sound good. I just get this to be full screen. There we go. Alrighty, so up for universal participation. This includes an image of Elise Patterson, who is the executive director of abilities dance. Elise Patterson, based on her life and her conditions, sometimes uses a wheelchair, sometimes uses a walker, sometimes uses a cane, and sometimes doesn't use anything at all. And this has led to a lease being called not disabled enough. I'm just going to let that land there and we'll carry on. Briefly the Massachusetts Cultural Council of course as you are familiar is the state agency that reinvests your tax dollars into the cultural sector, really part of the economic, the creative economy here in our state, which of what we're the globe yesterday, we know has seen a huge, huge economic hit based on the COVID the sheltering and the need for health protocols to sort of for us to navigate them and for them to settle into our everyday lives. But what is up. It is a program that provides both learning and grants. If I'm speaking state talk I say things like systems evaluation and transformation that anticipates and responds to humans, providing choice and opportunity, but it really is an opportunity it really is a program that again is thinking about access as an action, not just as something that goes into a mission statement. And it's really human centered. I've included here a picture from the 1990s protests for access to public transportation, a number of people are on the frontline including Judy human, who is still with us and quite famous. Here under a banner with the quote by Martin Luther junior by Martin Luther King junior injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. Alongside this image are the four characteristics that we look for when thinking about folks and organization joining the universal participation initiative, which are vision, education. Representation and innovation, how you respond to those really lets us know where you are on the spectrum of understanding the initiative is one that you may be competitive but everybody gets in. I will briefly talk about statistics, because it does the numbers certainly contribute to why this is important, although since this is a human centered movement humans are number one. But statistics show us that one in five Americans identifies having a disability in urban areas that's often one in four 13% of youth between the ages of three and 21. We're seeing a rise in brain based disabilities in our youth. The silver tsunami, which of course is the aging population and the baby boomers, hitting the 65 mark 50% of adults 65 and older have disabilities in 10,000 people are turning 65 every day. And included on this slide, two images referring to the international symbol of disability on the top is the stick figure in the wheeled device this has become not only very popular but world renowned it has done what some logos can't do but it really identifies disability and a single image. Another image is the gorilla image designed by Sarah Hendron and her college students. This is a gorilla image it is not used by the federal government it's not recognized by states or towns, but it does show this stick figure with a little bit more action, leaning forward as if moving quickly to remind us that not everyone in a wheeled device is slow and sometimes they are quite quick. I include these images on this slide, because as we look at disability or the disabling qualities in everyday life, many of them are not and are not embodied in the graphic that has become quite renowned and quite well known. Those common reasons for adult functional limitations are arthritis, back problems, heart disease, respiratory disease. And again, these are not encompassed in these images but this is the image that we have that is working. We are going to be looking at new designs for this, but it's important when we think about disability which is a small word that encompasses a large population of people that includes both identities. It includes conditions that are temporary includes behaviors. It includes the invisible disabilities, brain based cognitive neurological, and these are all encompassed under the word disability, but perhaps not embodied in the very successful image. Briefly people with disabilities. One, most of us are without disabilities temporarily. And if you really start thinking about the spectrum of ability, you recognize that we are all on it. I do not identify as a person with a disability, but I do identify as old and aging is one of the number one disabling qualities in a life. I move, think here and see differently at this age than I did 40 years ago. This image of the astronaut in outer space because in outer space, everyone is disabled and by design, this suit that we see allows this human to exist in a very inhumane environment. So this is a reminder that when we instead of thinking about people were thinking about environments, so that disability is actually that point where the human meets the world. That's what becomes disabling. And with that I've also included my version of the D the E and the I with the a an acronym that can spell out idea, but inclusion as an action, not just as a something of the mind, but an active verb diversity is really the world around you and all reality. It's an acknowledgement of the real world right now today. So equity, which is about fairness, it's different than equality, it is about distribution in a fair manner. So equity becomes an aspirational point and access that is achievable by design. Now, universal design is a practice. There's a disability lens on design. There are seven principles but I'm a fan of the eight goals as designed by Edward Steinfeld and his crew at the University of Buffalo. And while it includes these aspects of design that can accommodate a multitude of bodies, things like body fit and comfort and awareness. The eight goals have also is cultural appropriateness which I think is important as we're reaching out and thinking beyond a traditional white, Euro centered person with a disability but recognizing the disabling natures of racism, sexism, as well as and it also talks about social integration and the importance to treat people with dignity and respect. I'm not going to go into universal design for learning but this is a brain based practice, taking universal design one step further, taking it into the brain. It is often used in classrooms as a way to understand that people learn and take in information in different ways. This is again brain based practice. And by understanding how people take in information, you can provide a more successful student. And that of course is the goal in school to have our young people succeed in school. I like to bring universal design to learning to folks who are in marketing departments and development departments because it does talk about information. I am also not here to be the expert on the ADA. There are people who are that I'm also not the ADA police. I am. There are certain obligations that you need to be held accountable to, but I am more of an expert on the idea that obligations are baseline. The work that I am hoping to steward is one that is creative and expansive and really embraces our very regular atypical humanity. But I'm going to pick out three things from the ADA, which are kind of abstract but allow for a deeper look. The phrase is reasonable accommodations, which asks us what is reasonable. What is reasonable settings, which is often the goal, but not always, and effective communication, because what is effective for me may not be effective for you. These are kind of nuanced terms. So, often, activism, activists will think the only way to make things change is through litigation. And I would like to say we can make change one step at a time, but what's important is to make that first step and when to do it is now. So I'm going to provide a couple of ideas around achieving access that is both small and incremental and big and grand. Access can be nuanced, so I will go through them and if there are questions, if there are ideas, if this percolates something, please do let me know. But the number one most affordable access feature that you can have is a staff that is informed and empowered that attitude and will shift can be one of the harder things to break the biases that we have towards people with disabilities the that often happens with people when they're dealing with folks with disabilities, the pity that might come forth based on all the societal biases. But if you can have a staff that has a good attitude that is informed about what provisions your institution offers that is welcoming to all humans who show up at the door and empowered to make decisions. So that can be the number one most affordable access feature that you can provide. You can go deeper and certainly for those of you who are getting money from the state, which often means that you're also getting money from the feds because it's all combined. There are certain obligations and one of those is the ADA coordinator, someone who's central to your business practice or institutional practice, who can do the research, answer the questions, and also touch multiple departments, so that the entire institution is informed. I think that when we're talking about language which is ever dynamic and ever changing that their default can often be the person first language, see the person, not the disability see the person, not the color see the person. This is human centered work, but obviously as you get to know people that's all going to change. Again, this is the nuance, but there are some positions that you can take to be more respectful and to really create that. That first step into a welcoming environment. You'll note that I put transactional or transformational. This is I think a challenge for many organizations when thinking about patronage. Access certainly can increase your patronage, but accesses on both sides are all sides of an institution. It's not just about the patron. So what are the environments that you're creating and is your relationship more than the transaction, the monetary transaction. Additionally, when you're thinking about customer service, you do want to have what the ADA protocols my column grievance procedure, I like to think of it as more of a response. How do you respond to queries, complaints, concerns, suggestions, sometimes that could be conflict negotiation, but again you want to have somebody who knows the answers. And as I like to say, always says yes, or at least yes and yes, but yes in just a moment. Effective communication. Again, another nuance term in the ADA. Here I have an image that is used by a fair that was held by Mass Audubon. It has several plates that have tactile designs on them. Each of these tactile designs then represents an area of this outdoor fair. So a person by touch is able to know where they are. These are beautiful images, they look like they're on slate. But again, it's the tactile communication that is key in this image. Below the image I have included a number of logos that are used when thinking about how you inform people about what services you have, what services you are providing. Not only do you want to provide that in text, but a image can really go a long way in providing a consumer to let them know what services that you might provide. Each of those logos represents different aspects of access. Certainly the first one people should recognize which is the question mark, which is frequently asked questions. Sometimes the first step of access is how do I get over the anxiety of leaving my apartment getting off the couch? What are the reasons? And knowing the answers to some basic questions can really help you make that decision. Within this slide I've also included a number of methods of communication. Sometimes it's as easy as creating a large print document or large print labels, and sometimes it can get more complicated and people oriented when you're providing language interpretation. But all of these things become communication techniques and what may be effective for one person may not be effective for the other. So recognizing that the visual, the text, perhaps an audio file, these are all forms of communication and you sometimes need to provide pieces and everything to really be effective. Well, because I work in access, I do tend to get this request a lot. Where can I find ASL interpretation? Where can I find the ASL interpreters? And certainly in the call for equity that has really been ramping up over the last couple of years, there has been a greater need for the interpreter. I'm just going to pose a question and let it land, but which comes first, the person or the accommodation. In the context of language interpretation, people are providing that reasonable accommodation. People are providing the translation or the interpretation. But I think it's always important to start with the person whose language this is. So in the context of this slide showing the two hands that represent ASL interpretation. I would start with the person who is deaf who uses ASL authentically before I would start putting an interpreter on the side. And this is tough, because obviously an interpreter is going to compel hopefully people who are deaf who are ASL users to come to your event. But it's something to think about when you are thinking about integration of English and ASL in your program. Another note, more and more in performance settings, when thinking about having a theatrical or concert performance interpreted, people are really centering the deaf user of ASL, the authentic user of ASL. And that would be the director of ASL or the coordinator of ASL, so that the language interpretation comes from an authentic user of that language, the director of ASL that would hire the interpreters and rehearse the interpretation so that it becomes the best interpretation possible. And this is where connecting with directors and designers and touching upon the themes that the production team is wanting to express through a production. This is why having people involved at the very beginning is so very important. How you include interpretation, whether that's static overstage left shadowing based on having voice interpreters behind ASL performers or vice versa, establishing zones. This is all to help an audience member not to have to ping pong between the language they understand the language that's being used and the visuals that are being used on stage. And of course ASL interpretation, if you are using it in a production setting you want to remember backstage, front of house, talk backs, etc. Integrated settings is one of the goals of the ADA the idea is again to have us all together. This image shows a picture from an event that was developed by VSA mass now known as open door arts Massachusetts. It's called inclusive by design. This is actually a riff over jazz art signs which is a process that Lisa Thorson, a pianist from the Berkeley College of Music established, which is to provide a musical performance that is interpreted visually by a painter, interpreted into American Sign Language by an interpreter and also includes an open audio description of what is occurring. And usually mostly we think of ASL interpreters as interpreting English language in this context they are interpreting the music and description when used at a performance setting is often a verbal description of key visual elements choreographed into a production. And certainly it's heard by the person who wants this service and so it's often on a receiver that's, you know, radio receiver, but in this case, all people hear it. I was doing some work with the Boston Children's Museum, where again the average age of the patron is three years old, and they had someone come in wanting to audio describe one of their performances for kids, and they handed them a series of receivers. They both got to laughing because which three year old is going to sit there with headsets and a radio listening to an audio description. So it was decided to make the audio description of the performance, a little bit more of a narration, and that would then be an open description that all people would hear. Again, while the goal might be integrated settings. There are times when populations of people actually want specific settings. Often these are language based, and we'll talk a little bit in the future. In a future slide about relaxed performances or performances that have been modified under the umbrella of being more accessible to people with autism. It's important to include digital access. You do not want to forget your websites and you do not want to forget your social media websites so importantly are of course the front door to many institutions. Invitations, registrations. These are all things that are sent through these digital platforms and digital access means if I use a screen reader is this still accessible to me. If I do not have manual dexterity, can I use the keyboard and simply the function keys to navigate through your website. The photos all include alt text, do your videos all include captions. This information is through the web consortium accessibility guidelines. We're actually at 2.2 now, my slide still says 2.1. You can find a lot of this information on the web, but this is about again creating websites that are accessible to all people. I was doing some work with folks in the medical field and their goal is to make websites intuitive and responsive. And as we know, multiple ages respond to the digital environments in multiple ways. So you need to be prepared for all sorts of people who may be coming to your website. I like to include this one. This slide called provide auxiliary aids, because sometimes we get lost in the technology and sometimes as the graphic shows it could be as simple as having a paper and a pencil. So that someone who does not speak English is able to provide a written note or an image that will help. We also know that in many environments, the questions are always the same. How long is this, where's the bathroom, can I get a smack, where's the trash. So within this, thinking about the different auxiliary aids, that's everything from pen and paper to the amplified sound devices as described earlier, but it also touches upon real devices that people may use. So you need to be prepared for folks who use mobility devices and that's everything from a manual wheelchair to a segue. Have included and of course I've also spent much time on service animals like the real device service animal is allowed on your site, but it would be best to really start thinking about policies around pets and emotional support animals, currently protected under the ADA, but state and federal rules often differ you housing in Massachusetts does support the inclusion of emotional support animals, but the ADA is specifically around service animals, service animals who have been trained to provide a service for the person with a disability, they do not need to wear a vest, they do not need a certificate, but they have been trained to perform a distinct skill. So when we think about access I was people think about physical access. It's noted earlier I didn't say it was an ADA expert but it does help like the website to know what questions to ask. So, if you are in the year, you're improving a facility you're adding to the facility. So the ADA is a very important part of this project and it's a very important part of our architectural advisory board will have a lot of obligations, you have to meet, but again, always wanting to get above and beyond mere obligations. When I think about physical access I think about a couple of things one way finding and mapping, getting around an outdoor festival, getting around the neighborhood it's more than just signage. It's a way finding is its own distinct piece. The other is risk management and emergency preparedness. For those of you who have venues or houses. The idea of being sure that people with disabilities are included in any emergency planning. If you're planning an outdoor festival. Where do people go if some kind of emergency or medical comes up. If you're thinking about the physical environment beyond architecture. I always think about slopes surfaces threshold counters seating banisters acoustics. So there's lots of different pieces to this. As noted the relaxed performance. This is a performance. A lot of different folks are really thinking about the relaxed or modified performance. Originally designed by the theater development fund around the lion king, coming out of some of the work that had been done in Britain. I used the term relaxed performance as opposed to sensory sensitivities or autism friendly performance, the relaxed performance, then, like many of the features that I'm talking about create opportunities and choices for people. There may have been designed thinking about a distinct population, but you want to create, you want to get beyond thinking that the relaxed performances for this type of person, and more about by providing this modified performance performance that has taken out maybe some of the louder sounds that this creates an environment that many people might enjoy for a variety of reasons. And while noting that the integrated experience is one that the ADA is really trying to compel us forward to experience that sometimes the behaviors that sometimes exhibit with young people and adults with autism that in this environment people want to feel safe and comfortable if there's additional noises or people moving about. And this is where creating a space that will work is one that becomes more and more important as our human variety and our human needs become more specific. One of the things I worked for a theater for many years and this theater was radically inclusive. And I say radical, it shouldn't have been but it was considered thus, and we always had the right, you know, we were the first theater to always interpret our productions in American sign language we brought audio description into Boston. We open captioned every single performance. So this relaxed performance idea seemed like a great one. And we did two of those performances, but not a lot of people came. So we surveyed you know, responsive we surveyed our audience to say what was up and what we found is that the performance that we thought was designated for people that already created an environment where folks were already coming. They didn't need a special performance. They were already felt welcome. Marvelous response. Super happy to hear that we were creating environment that anyone could come to. And what we did instead of creating more relaxed performances was to provide a deeper know before you go social narrative to make sure that our staff was trained to recognize a variety of people that there were quiet zones and fidget toys available at all performances, and that our partnerships were really critical for creating new audiences in this environment. And lastly, over the last couple of years, really thinking about the essential nature of what access can provide. Definitely an emerging vocabulary about disability aesthetics. If you've attended a dance performance by Alice Shepherd or I mentioned Elise Patterson at the beginning of the program, we are now developing a new vocabulary for dance and movement. The program was able to fund an after school program for kids who are blind, led by a woman who was deaf blind in photography, wasn't up for me to decide who gets to use a camera and who doesn't. But the images that they created, it was so important for these young people, like everyone else to have a camera to take photos and be able to share those. So I think that as we're thinking about strategic partnerships and thinking about access that the impact of the barriers that people experience day to day. We can't think of our sites as isolated bastions of culture, we have to recognize the connection between these other social services so from thinking about food and water housing and transportation. And also health and wellness. These are things that our cultural institutions are cultural projects need to be aware of. Certainly technological literacy, who has Wi-Fi who doesn't particularly in this world now we're so much is spent in the digital environment. So I think that there's an included pace in there, because I do think, and I'm sure many of you are feeling it it's April, and spring is here and summer is coming and we're going to be outdoors, and the pace of everything is really ramping up. Sometimes you really need to pause, you want to make sure that you're as healthy and strong as possible, so that you can serve and contribute as much as possible. This is a slight shift. We've all found the last couple of years very disabling. People are more aware of mental health, the effects of isolation. So thinking about our creative practices as ways to combat that I think is one way to consider access as an essential activity. This is the really the last slide and I've included this one because PJ Moynihan and digital eyes is located in Hamhurst, and he worked with Valerie over at the Institute for human centered design and creating a film on their report. So the changing reality of disability in America is a pretty extensive report began in 2019 came out 2020. PJ Moynihan turned it into a 30 minute film which you can get on the homepage of the Institute for human centered design, but it really is touching upon this idea, this switch, rather than thinking about people as disabled thinking about environments as disabling and working at age and chronic traditions, trauma and stress and how that can contribute to the barriers that we experience homelessness and behavioral health. It's a great little report and I think it's worth looking at as we're really thinking beyond disability, but really embracing access as an active verb to really create opportunities for everyone to participate in whatever programs we're designing. I've got a couple of resources and happy to have any of these shared. And then, number one policy, as always, is nothing about us without us. I've had the privilege and the honor to work with so many artists and put them at the podium. All of this work comes and stands on their shoulders. I am hoping to alleviate the burden of artists having to both be a teacher and a producer, and sometimes they just want to create. And so if I can help eliminate this first barrier. I've done my job. And that's what I've got. So thank you very much, Charles. That's really an amazing, amazing body of content and I feel, again, just very grateful to have your presence with us here today. I definitely have several questions for you written down, but I guess rather than jump right into that, I'd like to kind of set the stage for the discussion a little bit. I do have a number of cultural council members in the meeting now. And then we have several folks in the audience as well on the audience side. And those folks, I believe should be able to raise their hand and if they'd like to enter the round table now we'd love to have you, or you if you're more comfortable hanging out in the audience that's totally fine as well. I just want to say, Ricardo these links that you're putting in the chat are really fabulous and I'm going to ask Ricardo, and we have Charles's slides as well so so we'll post this recording and Charles's slides, and also Ricardo if you don't mind when we're done emailing me those links will post all of that on the ACC website so we can preserve all this great, always great artifacts that you are sharing with us. And I guess you know I'm not going to I'm going to hold off on my questions and see if others want to but I do want to just make one sort of plant one seed before we jump into the discussion and that's that, you know, for for cultural councils when you're allocating your grant funds, you have the option of doing council programs. And so over the past couple years as we've worked on accessibility topics, we've had in mind the idea of doing an accessibility event. So, so the ACC the Amherst cultural council did put aside some funds to conduct an actual an event with guest speakers and pretend you know I'm thinking out loud here a little bit but but possible in person, possibly hybrid, you know, but so we would be in ideas about something to do in the fall that, you know, that kind of takes some of the learning that we've started with you here today Charles and, and takes a few steps further and I guess you know my big my big thought is is what can we do to make to make accessibility accessible to you know to our grantees to our to our artists and creators and cultural entities. Because you know I think some folks get get intimidated by this and I appreciate your focus on depth rather than compliance when it comes to accessibility thinking and when it comes to this kind of work but but I also know that you know for for some artists and some other folks, there is that creative impulse. And, and so some folks are still struggling with, you know, how do I make, how do I make what I make accessible accessible and still authentically make that thing that I make and so I think the more that we can engender dialogue around that topic. So, and I'm going to jump in Matt because I think that is such a, actually a key piece, and I'm thrilled to see Robin here and I can't wait for you to have objections to my to my approach, but it's that it's the it's so often the dialogue that is important. Every whole thing is make that first step, knowing that you're going to make the second step the third step the fourth step, the pace is yours, but the whole idea is to improve over time. I got a lot of folks one year concerned that the ADA was going to require them to pave the trail through their mouth. Yeah, and, and that's not that that isn't the goal but to provide a description of the trail so that people then can choose. Oh I can handle a no dirt road with a couple of hills, but maybe I can't do a single track rocky path up the but the picnic table at the base event actually does have an area for myself and my grandmother who uses a wheelchair so we can sit and eat while the kids go up the mountain. So it's really so much of a just a candid assessment to start with so that you know what your baseline is so then then again what my first step might be different than Robin's first step would be different than your first step, based on both human and capacity, but the key thing is the first step. That first step has to happen as I like to say, yesterday, but I'll say joy. And joy it's great to see as well joy I want to just take a second to acknowledge all of your hard work and really putting this together and taking the lead on this event. So I feel lucky to work with you and you know I know it's been a busy couple days for you for you but we're thrilled to see you here as well and one thing that joys done. I won't speak for her but she's certainly pushed our envelope in terms of expanding when we think access we don't just think disability and she's really helped us drive that conversation this year and so we're really just grateful for you all. Thank you for having me and sorry for being late again. Yeah, Charles that was even as a lot to think about in terms of not just disability and you know I've been trying to get people to think of this as inclusion is not about figuring out how to get disabled people in it's about figuring it's it's figuring out how to get everybody access. So I really, and, you know, thank you for going with that approach because I think that's a difficult concept to grasp for for some people and it's like, you know, I remember when you and I had this first conversation about even this panel. You were like okay should we have an ASL interpreter and you were like, do you have deaf attendees. And it's like, okay let me get back to you. I'm not going to have one because, you know, obviously, if there's an interpreter. And again so I'm going to say the mass cultural council is on this journey to figuring out when to have the interpreter and when to not. And they're currently basing it on numbers, you know, if you're meeting hits 50 will automatically have a captioner and if you're meeting hits 100 will automatically include an ASL interpreter. Great. However, the work that I do based on. Again it's inclusion of everybody but it's specifically not excluding people with disabilities. That's sometimes what gets lost in this let's include everybody conversation is that that gets left behind. So, although I may not have an ASL interpreter at every single class that I offer. I had it at the kickoff because I had money cult from Gallaudet to the keynote. I had this fantastic deaf artist theater panel, where I was able to get an interpreter per artist, so that the hearing people in the audience realize the communication was the voice interpretation for them, as opposed to the other way around, Robin I got to get said to the transcript it was so hot. It was so hot. That is so cool. So I've got a couple things from which I was saying not just access for everybody to attend, but access for everybody to be able to tell let's say their story. Or give their whatever that is, whether it's written theater music, whatever. So, right now we're mostly having, you know, people who supposedly don't need any access. And we're, if there are other people trying to provide access but not other people telling the story, not a dancer in a wheelchair, telling their story, not a deaf musician and there are deaf musicians, not, you know, all of that. So, and I keep saying this and I, and I'm not sure how to drive that, actually. The other thing is, when you said, Oh, are you going to have a deaf attendant in terms of the signer for me. That's not the only reason to have an ASL interpreter it's to make it so it's the norm. And so that people who might need or want to have a, I'm not quite sure the language, someone doing ASL interpreting. But I realize is, Oh, this group is doing this, I can, you know, I can put this on my ideas of where to go and what to do. And I don't necessarily have to call and find out and make sure that it's there. But also for the other people who to change our reference points of what's the norm and of who participates. I think, sometimes that's a more important thing to learn than. I'm not sure if the terms but sometimes I don't think it on certain levels matters if there's someone in the audience reading ASL, because there will be eventually if we do it as a normal thing. And I'm so glad you're in the room today Robin because of course as I was saying that I was like, we talked about this. I'm coming out on this. That's a real thing if there's something that's consistent. So the person who uses this language knows that they can choose whether to come and not have to ask. But I always will say, you know, when you're thinking about ASL. I would say, are you thinking about span it what are the other languages that are used in the region. You know, when you're thinking about creating an environment where people who use ASL are going to start trusting that this is something that you offer, how great to have that centered around a person who is deaf first, as opposed to the accommodation. If there is a person who's deaf who's like you never have interpretation I'd be like, join our board and we'll have it at every single meeting. So and again it's it is a definitely push and pull, you know, I've had courses reach out to me looking for interpreters to join their chorus, but again, with no deaf patronage and unless you're sweet honey in the rock, where you've, you know, over the years created an experience that deaf people want to participate in, and know that they can just show up and not have to worry about making a request. It's an exchange and I can see both sides. Like I said, I just think it's everyone always asks me when there are many other resources and I'm not deaf. So, you know, it's always something I wrestle with. I do have friends who are deaf so this is where some of this conversation comes from. For you. Yeah, science. I'm sorry. Speaking of speaking of the just sort of the natural flow of things Charles I just I did really notice how. So, you know, you make it seem effortless or instinctive but how naturally you sort of weave in descriptions of the visual imagery in your slideshow which I think is, you know, as we all adapt to the changing environment in which we are having human days, you know, just being mindful of those things and not taking a picture for granted, you know, not taking a tune for granted and just, and just doing everything possible I think, you know, or, or even just making an attempt because you'll never do everything possible but making that attempt as you as you share content to make it as to just to remove it as many barriers as possible as you go and, you know, I mean I work in public education and Universal Design for us is a major, you know, is a major set of sort of instructional principles that we try to work with with folks on and, and just today you know I was listening to a math teacher talk about worksheets, you know, and he had done, he had done something where he'd taken the formula, you know, you're trying to do a math worksheet and you're hunting through a textbook and, you know, there's 10 different formulas in the book. And so he just took the four all the formulas the students would need and put it on the top of the worksheet. You know I said what a what a brilliant way to just eliminate that barrier of flipping around for no for no good reason you know that barrier that wasn't doing the kids any good to have to flip back and forth back and forth. And so I think, you know, just it's just that simple sort of thought process of eliminating barriers. I wanted to just say we do have a few people still in the participation participation booth, I suppose I would call it I don't know so so if folks want to be be brought into the audience or if you have any questions that you want to just pop in through the chat please don't hesitate to do I just wanted to make that statement. And, and again, invite anyone, like I said, I don't have all the answers but I always have something to say. The, I was happy that you mentioned the universal design for learning because I include that but it's a full multi hours session I tried to jump over that because it's it's going to be an all day thing. And the students does of course, I think they're now in wall fan but maybe it's will burn a cast the David rose group which is of course, number one but more and more schools and educators are recognizing how brains work and how brains absorb information and this is like to bring it to folks in marketing and development departments, because it really starts thinking about, if I put out a press release or an ad, it's going to have text. I'm not a fan of pictures of text, because those aren't picked up by screen readers. I'm a fan of picture and text and a logo and a description. And once you get into the habit, then it becomes wrote, you know, creating all text for your images shouldn't be like, oh, I've got 75 images on my website, how am I going to get it all done. Well one you want to get that done but then as photos get added, it's just done naturally. Some all texts are better than others and that comes with practice as well. You know, minimizing and getting to the essence of it. So one of the questions we spent a long time talking about self descriptions in the theater description is used to push the story along. And obviously you don't want to over, you don't want to over sound with someone speaking so it's, again, key visual elements are going to push the story along. The learning network I lead, which is about developing community if that's the goal. The first session was a lot of people describing their visual self. But as we've gone along. The visual self doesn't change that much hairstyle or shirt, and the self description has become one of how I'm feeling today, because that contributes to the community that we're developing so it really gets tied to what are the goals of the meeting, the production of the description. So you've seen us, I mean you've seen us as a council sort of muddle our way through, you know, first we, we really did a lot of accessibility like we did the logistics for folks you know grantees who are interested we, you know, we couldn't do everything but we did quite a bit when I look back, you know, in terms of coordinating those services. You know, and that was a relatively small amount of money but a fairly significant amount of work to just, you know, the communication that goes into that and the scheduling and. And so this year we've tried to integrate accessibility more into our guidelines and, you know, still set aside funds for for grantees who are interested in, you know, funding services but also try to, I guess, provide the resources for them to find to find services as opposed to, you know, doing it as a volunteer group ourselves. If you have if you have thoughts on what cultural councils can do, I guess to, you know, to promote. And then I really do prefer sort of joys broader, well, it's not just joys but she has, she has been sort of our loudest voice but the broader, the notion of cultural, racial, ethnic, gender, you know, just a broader concept of accessibility. But just just thoughts that you have on cultural councils that are doing, doing that well or what you wish councils did more of. Well, I do think that, you know, again, this is human, this is human centered work. And so a lot of people and organizations have been doing racial equity work which is so great it starts thinking about the implicit and explicit biases that we carry within us, because of the systems that we live in. How can you work your way through those. This certainly connects to ableism as well. How can you actually be honestly receptive to anyone who might show up. So I really do think staff training or self education around these biases can still be that one quote unquote, most affordable. I think the other thing and even brought it up is some little things like, again, what's the difference between audio information and audio description. It's a headset that you can listen to and then you look at, you know, each image and you're getting the painter and the era and the style, but audio description particularly in a two dimensional format follows a certain formula. But what a wonderful thing to practice with using words to describe an image. But I would also say within that the other piece is with me not for me. And make sure if you're trying to reach out to communities invite them in or go to where they are. That's also key, you know, so much we get so in focused on, you know, come to my event, but it really has to be an exchange. So if you're practicing your audio description. Great way to do that is to wander through a gallery with someone who is blind or limited vision, and hear their immediate reaction to the words that you're using. So, those are just some of the simple ideas and websites which do cost money are super important. How do we find to go to these groups. That has been one of our main questions. I mean we don't have a whole world volunteer world. So, you know, we've done a fair amount of work, but we're limited in terms of, you know, time and ability, but we have tried. With I'd say limited success that we need to reach out to more people and say, how can we get you know what can we do and how can we, you know, make it so that you want to apply for a grant to produce something and well as come to something and I might pull Ricky into this because he has a greater understanding of the local cultural councils because my thought would be, you know, are when you're putting out the call like we've got this money apply for a grant. So you got money. So, are you reaching artists who might be in social service organizations are you reaching artists at the schools that accommodate kids or death. You know, so that way again you start centering the human, which always has so much more human interest by getting what the councils do right Ricky. Yeah. So, I guess, before I should start, I should probably the identification so Ricardo Guillaume, I'm on the community's initiative the mass cultural council working with cultural councils in Franklin County south central County, I'm coming from Hyde Park Boston, which is original land of the Wampanoag, and I'm wearing a white sweater with black stripes, short black hair, brown black glasses. My beard is coming in a little bit. And I'm a black man 32. So, to answer the question. Yeah. So we're having conversations with, you know, with the team and councils on how we can better asset map. And perhaps, you know, councils can, you know, build relationships with their municipalities and ask them for like data. And kind of, you know, see, all right, this is who makes up our council. And this is who makes up our community by zip code by area. And, you know, sometimes, you know, small towns or rural towns can be predominantly white. So, in terms of diversity access, you know, are your council members different ages. Are they coming from, you know, different life experiences. You know, do they identify differently in terms of gender or pronouns or, you know, some people went to college or some people did it. And women, things like that to make sure the council is more representative community. So perhaps you go and, you know, ask the town contact and like, you know, you know, give us different areas from the town and you know, let's see what we can reach out to. And I would also say, you know, go to the, the town halls go to the table sessions that go to the school committees as to be put near local paper. If you have a face of page Instagram social media is huge. Things like that. And I think that's such a great point because I've certainly heard this before, you know, we don't have any diversity here. And that, you know, one. I'd like to bring up, and I did it this time in my slideshow, but I'd like to bring up ecosystems because an ecosystem works because of its diversity. And our human creative system works because of the diversity so it's not about the percentage of people sometimes it really becomes the, the, what works best is when the diversity is all working together to make that system work so even when the percentages of indigenous Americans is small there's a value to that inclusion. Anyway, just, I think that particularly when there is a deep desire to make change, we can get into a place where we want it to happen quickly. Sometimes this changes incremental and to really, you know, again, change hearts and minds can take quite a while. But my first thought would be would be to find the creative practitioners and then work around them. You know, Hartford school isn't too far away from where you guys are, I think I don't have a map in front of me. Robin you mentioned you know there are deaf musicians there most definitely are. You know, the idea of, of creating an event based on the artist often will bring in people that you may didn't realize were already your neighbors. The schools because you've got a lot of schools out there so the schools might be having things that are worth going to as a way. So part of that is the difference between meeting the local community versus meeting the school community. So that has its own challenge, I would imagine not every 20 year olds as a student but a lot. So we do have a lot of them and it's funny that you bring that up and this is totally unrelated but but we've this year, grappled with and and explored, you know, expanding our student you know the the availability of our grants to students you know conditional on them engaging with the community, you know, I mean you couldn't be just with the school system but but I think our, you know, the university system but I do think that's that's an important thing for us, particularly here in Amherst obviously, you know, to be mindful of is that some of the best diversity we have, you know, so much of the diversity that we have in this area is directly tied to the to the colleges and university. Yeah, you could must have a huge population that comes in and leaves 30,000. So yeah, harnessing that that energy really could be worthwhile as well. Absolutely. So, Charles and others I think, you know I don't see any any questions coming from the audience although, you know, we're really grateful to have them here and I noticed that representative Dom was in the audience but I think she left before we before we broke so I didn't get a chance to say hello but she's been a great supporter of ours and we're really grateful to her as well. I think I think we might be at a point where we want to kind of close it and definitely post this video for other councils and for for certainly for our grantees if they're interested in accessing it and, as I said we'll make sure to share the resources that Ricardo has been posting and, you know, as much as we possibly can we'll get on to our website so that folks can have access to it. And really if anyone, sometimes it takes a while to settle I mean I'm one of those people that you know you sit in the presentation and people say what are the questions and I'm not yet, but in about 24 hours I might have three people. Anyone obviously here who comes up can go through you can go through Ricky who's in the communities department come directly to me and I'm happy to try to, you know, again unpack some of the nuance. As Robin knows I'm a great encourager. The idea of just get started and sometimes it's a baby step but still an important step. Yeah. Rachel. Hi Charles that was really good thank you very much and nice to meet you to Ricky. So, I'm a council member here and the question I have is with regard to the statistics and data of whether it's performers or artists I should say. And are there, does the state have any statistics on the population by whether it's county or town or did you see what I mean like regarding disability. Yeah. I'm sure they do. And the report that I hinted at the end. There's a couple of reports that come out of the Institute for human centered design, talking about the percentage of people, not only who identifies people with disabilities, but also who exhibit disabilities, we know that veterans are going to identify as a veteran first, even though there may be a number of disabling conditions in their lives, but the, the national statistic is one out of, you know, like I said it's, it's one out of it's 20%, but in our urban areas, where people with disabilities will go because there's more services that often becomes closer to a quarter of the population, I suppose to a fifth. So the data out there all of the offices of disability have this data. What happens is that so often disability because of the success of that image, the figure in the wheelchair, people equate disability with someone who uses a wheelchair or mobility device and doesn't think about how I can't even see without my classes, but I don't consider myself disabled. That's the aging part of me. So I don't think I'm on that statistic. If you're looking specifically for artists with disabilities. That's a whole different thing. I don't think anyone's tracking that the mass culture council. I think we've just this year, starting to start collect demographic data on a voluntary basis. I think it's really important what you, oh, sorry, Robin. No, go ahead. I was just going to say it's very important. It certainly kind of opened up my thinking a lot just by using the term functional limitations, because yes, I have my glasses. So, I'm going to tell you how loud the sound of my computer is never mind. I think my first question. As you were running through your slides was, well, did the people come first to the accommodations come first and then that came up in one of the, you know, subsequent slides and I guess it sounds like it's something that we as a community need to figure out by trial and error and just maybe, you know, doing some exploratory pilot projects that are intended to help us figure out how to just use access as a as a standard, right, maximum access as a standard. So that's so I just want to thank you for for the presentation and and you know, and joy and Robin for helping us get Charles and Ricky here. Thank you. I did that. So Charles, do you know if like England has data on artists with disability because I know it's weird because you know tip top comes on Facebook and I'm a little bit of an addict at this point. And there was this came up this thing about these. I think this was in the 80s, maybe, or 90s it was a while ago, where there was this whole strike to shut down the transit system in London to make it accessible. And I think there was a movie made out of it and it was like a really well known thing and this push. And these were performing artists as well. So they seem to be a little ahead of us or maybe it's just, I happen to see, you know that there are. There's a radio program on it and there's, you know, blogs that I'm just not seeing here, which doesn't mean we don't have them or they have more but you're so right as soon as you said that because I was like, Oh, I have homework after the meeting. So I was like, Oh, I wonder because they just might have that kind of data. Yeah. And even how an artist, how do you define an artist. I have, and you may have heard this I really purposely try to say creative practice because I also think the word sometimes artist is a barrier. People will be like well I don't paint, because that's all an artist does you know I'm out in the field, painting a picture of lilies. And yet, you know I live in an artist collective and I'm always trying to push this idea of creative practice, you know it's more coders and digital designers come in, that's creative. I don't know how they do it, but that's it. And anyway so naturally I can wrestle with the term but I am going to look that up Robin and I'll let you know if I find it. I have it somewhere if I find it easily but artists I think the cell is a self defined term I mean I don't do any of that stuff, but my stage craft is hard it's very different than the way other people stage manage. And I've been told on every level. And it is to me in art because I have to create it and do it in a certain way and very intentionally. I don't know, but I can't paint I can't sing. But you can stage man I'm just adding you to a list. Imagine a way that is like a good stage manager. Well, how much you can do with these days, but just it's also defined what we need in terms of what I thought it is so I had a physical therapist and I was saying, you know, I can no longer run and nobody will tell me why I can no longer I would like to be able to run because it's a lot more important than you think in terms of safety and because they have a spinal cord injury and I can't run since then. I mean literally run. So she said you know, there are these people I have who they want to function and their functioning is that they need to be able to run to catch a bus. And because they're also walking more slowly, they missed the buses a lot. And, and it's a significant disability for them, because other people can do it. You know, and, and like, if they're in New York City, you have to be able to run to get the bus. And so that's a whole different, you know, concept of what it needs to be disabled but to function in their lives, these people need to be able to run, and they couldn't before. I mean they could before and now they can't because of whatever reason, usually stuff that happens with aging. You know, is aging like incredibly healthy friends are having, you know, hearing is going down or they've got cataracts and they can't drive at night, or, you know, hips are being replaced or they just make a little fall and they rip their, you know, rotate a cuff. We're all, as long as you assume you live long enough are going to have various disabilities meaning cohorts could do it, or we need to be able to do it. And we can't and the way the world is, you know, we can't do something we need to do or want to do, and the people around us are able to. Our expectations are different, we live longer and plan to rock out until I can't anymore. Well invite us to the party parties parties parties. I see your hand is up. Um, this is probably going to be a bigger, too big of a question for this panel but it does lead me to a more focused one so bear with me. Kind of on the, you know, going off of the definition of an artist, you know, and the idea that some people don't think of themselves as artists because they don't do a specific thing. So, like, kind of keeping that in mind as well as you know this larger conversation, but what is the biggest challenge to accessibility in the arts and how are we going to try to think about it. And the more focused question is, what is our role as a cultural council and trying to shape this conversation. So is it like, do we and this may help focus the fall panel which I'm sadly not going to be a part of. Because I'm moving away from Amherst. Um, you can still come to. I can come. You can say. But like, so, in our role as a cultural council, like, are we like trying to come up with a guidebook and a set of guidelines for people to think about. Or is it like, are we trying to, like set in place, you know, opportunities for people to think about the idea of art. What is art, what makes an artist and what then how do you bring that to the table like what is it in you that you could add to this cultural conversation, even if you don't think you're an artist. We know what I mean. So that that's a that's a whole like, what are we doing. I go to that panel discussion joy. I mean, I don't have it. There's a seat, there's a seat with your name on it, Charles. Whatever this, trust me, you're, you're, you're more than invited. I mean, I think that's a really, yeah, go ahead, Charles. No, I was just going to say, and I'm sure Ricky has more to say, you know, the role of the cultural council either as helping define or reacting. I don't have a real sense. And I would imagine you're wrestling with that in the department. Maybe it starts by just trying to demystify everything, you know, making the term artists just be less like intimidating, or you know, no art world or our culture. And people know that they can be a part of it different ways that, you know, works for them. I think the agency is trying to make sure that staff and the board is representative of the Commonwealth as old, and that, you know, grantees and people are reaching out to us see our staff pages and they see people will look like themselves. So they know that, you know, once we're evaluating their grants or when cultural councils are evaluating their grants. They're like other community who looks like them. And I think that's maybe the first step. And kind of letting people know that yeah art is like, I don't know, and I have the bolder it's not just painting and singing and dancing. Yeah. Yeah, I think from the many conversations that Council had it really has had it comes from a point of being open in many ways, you know, tonight we are opening the conversation and encouraging conversation we want to make sure that events are open and welcoming we want to make sure that people are open to the dialogue that needs to happen. You know, we can fund projects but if we aren't considering that they're open and welcoming, why are we doing it. So I think, you know, to really try to distill down a huge concept, whatever we can do to keep people open and welcoming and consider it and helpful to others is at the heart of it. And, you know, these are conversations we are having at the Council, I think we had a staff meeting the other day we never got to a sense of what is public value and yet that really is tied into this. You know, the creative expression that needs to be shared. Does it exist without the public does it exist without the audience and what is that exchange between the viewer and the creator. I could talk about this all night so you better wrap me up. And I hate because unfortunately that does raise some of the biggest challenges that we that we face which are, you know, even though this is a in the world in the big world of art grants and culture grants this is a fairly loose is a fairly loose system though that the cultural councils run you know compared to some of these hundred page applications that people fill out. And yet, if you're not, if you don't live in this world of, you know, filling in the right boxes and using the right verbiage and all that. It's extremely daunting for folks and you know we've had conversations. Unfortunately, more conversations after an application is submitted than before. But you know, I think for me and that's a very simplistic take on, I think, I mean, you know, what are we trying to do with with this this allotment of state funds that we have you know we're trying to, we're trying to enrich the cultural life of the town in a representative fashion you know I mean that's, that's I think one of the simplest things that you can say. And, you know, I do worry about this every time we have a grantee who is clearly not meeting expectations either in the, in the upfront paperwork or the after the fact paperwork. I always worry that that there is a cultural sort of just a cultural barrier, or an experiential barrier, you know somebody who just is not raised in a, in a household or in a lifestyle where this stuff is. I mean for, and of course they're surrounded by college professors and their children so you know for many of them this is just sort of the bread and butter of life. So, so for me one very basic concrete tangible, you know thing that we can accomplish and around access is to have a richer dialogue before the grant submissions happen. I wish we were talking to, you know we're talking to one person before, and 10 people after, you know that's the ratio, let's say, I wish we could just flop that ratio and just have 10 people coming to a workshop and we've done our, you know we've done in person and virtual in advance trying to be as as open as we can. For me that's a very small but that I think meaningful metric is, you know, how many people are am I helping enter the grant portal as opposed to, you know navigate their way through the through the grant portal after they've, after they started to struggle you know, the application itself accessible is what you're saying to people who don't come from that experience or mindset or reference point, as well as language and everything else and we've had a lot of these conversations and I think as Matt said it's afterwards because it's been a significant amount of focus and effort when we think that's happening to someone to speak to them and try to, you know, figure out what it is they meant to say and what it is they meant to do and and how we're not saying it in a way that makes sense to them. And I think that's a really nice message that we can, you know, have that happen less often on the after end and figure it out on the initial end. But I think part of it is the application is not that easy. I almost wonder if we just print the thing, could we just print it and put stacks of it at the library and the you know what I mean just just like fill it out in dummy examples. And type it for them. You know what I mean. I mean, you know, I'm just, that's a stretch but but you know I mean, geez, I just think about school kids, you know, and yeah they're all digital natives but click click click click all that clicking and typing and clicking and typing, you know, people get burned out interacting that way. It's something we're like having constant conversations about because we introduced a new system this year. And we knew there was going to be, I guess, you know trials and error, and then we put our survey to councils to finished and we're, you know, anticipating a feedback to make it better. Because, you know, there are, because it's government there are certain like box you have to check for legal purposes but with that said, our executive director Michael is big on this and we all agree that it should be very easy. The language should be simple. It should take like five minutes or less to, you know, and minimize as much cooking as possible, with regards to working with this within this like legal state government, you know, statute frame. And yeah, you know, there's definitely room for improvement. And we're going to be having those conversations. I love it. I mean, I love, I love the smarts, you know, it's a wonderful system and I found this is my first, you know, year behind the scenes and it's really is extremely accessible. You know, for those of us who are sort of natives in that world but and so I don't think any, you know, I think it's less about sort of the particulars of the online and more about just sort of folks just, you know, just just navigating that much information. So, you know, but I think that's like that's a conversation for us as a council to keep having and, you know, we certainly make the best efforts we can to to have our public meetings be accessible and straightforward and you know I think we did that afternoon in an evening session this time and we offered. We may not have offered in person just because of COVID but but certainly that's, that's on the table is is to do it in person and more workshop format. So, so always areas to grow in. That's for sure. I'm going to take this note to say well I've been zooming for a long time today. It's been a real pleasure to share space with you again and and really based on the work that we did last year together, I appreciate it. And again, reach out to me based on any questions that you have. Reach out to Ricky and make him do answer the questions were added. But part of this that you know working access touches everything and so I'm always willing to help and Ricky thank you so much for coming today. Because I knew that I didn't. I like to say I know every department but I really don't. I'm happy to come and help, you know, I know you guys miss Mina. I can't fill her shoes but my best. Thank you both so much. It gets nice to put a face with the name is Carolyn call still here she is. Yeah. Our new teammate Carolyn. Let's invite her in before I go off because I haven't had a chance to meet her. Can we make her a panelist. She have to request it. I've invited her. Here I am. Hey. Mass cultural council greeting to you so nice to meet you, Carolyn. You know what I learned so much tonight. Charles you are just such a talented individual the way you you phrase things in a way that really gets people thinking completely not even outside the box but outside the, the galaxy. This was really, really insightful and I have my, my five year old here she's learning with me so. Well, hopefully for her this will be a norm and not something we have to add. Exactly. And I look forward to meeting you. I look forward to making a trip down there and seeing you all in person. I am the new cultural districts program officer. Yeah, means what. I work with cultural districts and a few of the local cultural councils and honestly I just love people so you'll just see me hopping about the state over the next few years. I like day, day three Carolyn so. Yes, it feels like a year three. I'm completely immersed in this but I love it I love every second of it. So you're working with the cultural districts of which and hers has one. Yes, yes. Yes. Thank you for inviting me invite you in I was an opportunity for me to meet you, which I appreciated very much. So thank you for having me honestly this was wonderful. Yeah, I'm going to head out. Thank you very much for inviting me and Robin always a pleasure.