12th Anniversary Excellence in Cultural Access Awards

12th ANNUAL

EXCELLENCE IN CULTURAL ACCESS AWARDS June 24, 2021 Presented by the Cultural Access Network Project, a program of the New Jersey State Council on the Arts and New Jersey Theatre Alliance

Cultural Access Network Project Committee Members Krystle Allen New Jersey Commission for the Blind & Visually Impaired

Peri Nearon, MPA Division of Disability Services, NJ Department of Human Services

Bonnie Brown Allaire State Park

Beth Prevor New Jersey Theatre Alliance & HandsOn

Susan Coen Consultant Lisa Cooney Paper Mill Playhouse Janet Zoubek Dickson Arts Advocate Donald Ehman Arts Advocate Diane Feldman Arts Advocate Pamela Gaston New Jersey Commission for the Blind & Visually Impaired Maureen Heffernan Arts Advocate/Teaching Artist John McEwen New Jersey Theatre Alliance Eileen Murray Matheny Medical and Educational Center’s Arts Access Program

Arlene Romoff Hearing Loss Association of NJ Cathy Roy The Mayo Center for the Performing Arts Michael Schnoering, FAIA Mills + Schnoering Architects, LLC

Members Ex Officio Allison Tratner New Jersey State Council on the Arts Mary Eileen Fouratt New Jersey State Council on the Arts

The Program Welcoming Remarks Mary Eileen Fouratt, Program Officer and Access Coordinator, New Jersey State Council on the Arts John McEwen, Executive Director, New Jersey Theatre Alliance Keynote Address Sofiya Cheyenne, Teaching Artist, Performer and Disability Advocate and Committee Chair of the Dwarf Artist Coalition of Little People of America Introduced by Beth Prevor, Access Coordinator, New Jersey Theatre Alliance Social Change and Disability Justice in the Arts Moderated by Sofiya Cheyenne, Teaching Artist, Performer and Disability Advocate and Committee Chair of the Dwarf Artist Coalition of Little People of America Panelists Jerron Herman, Vice-Chair, Board of Trustees at Dance/USA Monique Holt, Assistant Professor, Theatre & Dance Program at Gallaudet University Marilee Talkington, Founder and Executive Director of Access Acting Academy PHYS ED (2016) Performance by Jerron Herman, Vice-Chair, Board of Trustees at Dance/USA Introduced by Beth Prevor, Access Coordinator, New Jersey Theatre Allinace

Excellence in Cultural Access Awards Leadership Award Art House Productions Presented by Arlene Romoff, Member of the Cultural Access Network Project Committee and Past President of the Hearing Loss Association of New Jersey

Innovator Award The Arts Access Program at Matheny Presented by Diane Feldman, Member of the Cultural Access Network Project Committee

Champion Award Jim Thebery, M.A., CSW, Former Director, Bergen County Division of Disability Services Presented by John McEwen, Executive Director, New Jersey Theatre Alliance

Special Thanks ASL Interpreters Jenny Blake Hercules Goss-Kuehn Captioner Mirabai Knight Stage Manager Kayla Kim Votapek, Anti-Racist Facilitator & Creative Producer

Find Accessible Events Filter events by selecting your accommodation, enterting keywords into the search field, or by selecting a date range. www.njtheatrealliance.org/accessibility-calendar

Social Change and Disability Justice in the Arts Disability Justice at its core recognizes how disabled people are whole human beings that meet many intersectionalities. All bodies, all people have strengths and access needs that must be met. This session will explore the framing of disability rights and disability justice. It will discuss why disability justice is essential in the equity and inclusion work and policies of arts organizations.

Keynote and Moderator Sofiya Cheyenne

is a Teaching Artist, Performer and Disability Advocate. She is the Committee Chair of The Dwarf Artist Coalition of Little People of America and on the Board of Trustee’s for Access Champions Podcast, where she continually advocates for people of short stature on and off the stage. She has appeared on TV shows such as “At Home With Amy Sedaris”, “StartUP” and AUDIENCENetworks “Loudermilk.” Her favorite theatre credits include The Briefly Dead at 59E59, Other World at Bucks County Playhouse, and Guys and Dolls at Theater Under The Stars. Sofiya is a passionate educator and public speaker, she has been teaching throughout New York City for over 10 years. Through sharing her artistry, her story and educating others, she encourages the power of community, storytelling and social change. www.sofiyacheyenne.com

The Panel Jerron Herman

is a disabled dancer and writer who has created works to facilitate welcoming. Jerron regularly writes on art and culture and currently serves on the Board of Trustees at Dance/USA as Vice Chair. His awards include a 2020 Disability Futures Fellowship by the Ford and Mellon Foundations respectively, as well as the Grants to Artists Award from the Foundation for Contemporary Arts and a Jerome Hill Artist Fellowship from the Jerome Foundation, both in 2021. www.jerronherman.com

Monique ‘MoMo’ Holt

is the Assistant Professor of the Theatre & Dance Program at Gallaudet University and has been in the theater field for almost 4 decades. She wears different hats depending on the project: actor, director, translator (script text to sign languages), playwright, librettist, consultant. She feels it is her job as an artist to develop several solutions and pick the one that works the best. This includes theater access - working with theatrical sign language interpreters getting prepped to interpret the show for Deaf patrons, as well as working with Deaf and hearing actors; teaching and cleaning up their signs for performance. “Director of Artistic Sign Language (DASL) is a title MoMo helped coin with a team of Sign Masters under Access for Kennedy Center of Washington, DC in 2006. She has a BFA in Acting from Tisch School of the Arts/NYU and an MFA in Theatre from Towson University. For her MFA thesis - she wrote her paper on Universal Design in Theatrical Presentation.

She is one of the 17 BIPOC Certified Deaf interpreters in the U.S.

Marilee Talkington

is a professional actor, writer, director, and filmmaker. She is also an activist and thought leader in the Disability Justice and Arts movement and is the Founder and Executive Director of Access Acting Academy, which is a 1st-of-its-kind professional actor training studio for blind and low vision actors. She is one of only two legally blind women in the United States to earn an M.F.A. in Acting (American Conservatory Theater) and has originated over 80 characters on stage and screen with leading roles at Tony Award winning theaters under the direction of Broadway directors. She has also recurred and guest starred on multiple television shows on NBC, CBS, CW, and Apple TV+.

Champion Award

James (Jim) Thebery, M.A., CSW, began his career with the Division on Disability

Services since 1994 and was named Director of the Bergen County Division on Disability Services in September 1999 and retired in December of 2019. He was responsible for overall supervision and evaluation of (9) full time office staff, (9) field evaluators, (4) program facilitators, and manages an annual fiscal budget in excess of 1.5 million dollars. This Division was established in 1978 by the Bergen County Board of Chosen Freeholders as the first office in the state to address and serve the needs of persons with Disability. Division programs include, Post Stroke & Disabled Adult Support Groups, Personal Assistance Services (PASP) for Bergen and Hudson, Statewide Respite Care, Meals on Wheels, In-Home Caregiver Education, Information & Assistance, Speakers/ Advocacy Bureau.

Jim has been involved in self-advocacy for many years and continues in his pursuit of equality and opportunity for all individuals with disabilities. Some of these campaigns include, the statewide Access for All committees focused on addressing concerning residents with disabilities, and the Come & See, All Are Welcome campaign to ensure accessibility in houses of worship, through education and examples.

Along with the DDS advisory board, Jim created the publication It’s ALL About Work, Exploring an Untapped Labor Pool for employers looking for guidance in hiring persons with disabilities, containing valuable information on the low-cost of accommodations, tax credits for companies, proper disability related language and guidance and protocols in the hiring process. He has also created the annual Salute to Champions honoring those with and without disabilities who have a positive impact with regard to individuals with disability.

As Director he presented a series of informal panel discussions on Sensitivity Awareness for Persons with Disabilities in schools and for organizations to educate the public on the issues confronting persons with disability.

Jim has been a member of the Cultural Access Network Project Committee for many years, and collaborated with Bergen County’s Cultural Affairs to ensure accessible venues for cultural events. He serves as Commissioner-Chair of the Casino Revenue Fund Advisory Commission, which holds annual hearings on the service needs of the States aging and disabled populations. He has also served as Chairperson of the NJ State Association on County Disability Services (NJACDS) for over 15 years.

As Chairperson of the Bergen Community College Advisory for Students with Disability for 12 years, he has developed many initiatives aimed at improving the college experience for all students with disabilities and continues to develop seminars and employer fairs to enhance the employment prospects of the students.

He currently serves on numerous State and local advisory commissions including the Workforce Investment Board (WIB) and NJ BUDDIES Board of Trustees.

Additional recognition of Jim’s efforts include: Ambassador for Inclusion in “People to Watch in HealthCare” January 2010 issue of 201 Magazine, recipient of the 2010 Government Achiever of the Year Award, 2010 Professional of the Year Award by the Board of Trustees of the Bergen/Passaic ARC, appointed as permanent member to NJ Transit ADA Task Force 2010, and he was appointed in 2011 to Bergen County Board of Elections as representative of persons with Disabilities.

Leadership Award

Art House Productions ensures their productions and gallery presentations are accessible for all audiences. Their focus on accessibility has not been an add-on or an afterthought, but the center of their programming priorities: budgeting and coordinating effecting live ASL interpretation and closed captioning, engaging with activists and leaders in their community and platforming artists from diverse backgrounds and differing abilities.

They have mobilized the diversity of talent and cultures in Jersey City to program exciting varieties of work from artists from many backgrounds, platforming them through programs like JC Fridays (both virtual and live), and various workshops, seminars, training exercises, internship opportunities and events. By amplifying the voices of local women artists and artists of color, they use their strength and role in the arts community to help steer the community into a more inclusive stage.

Programs like the comedy festival and virtual drag bingo attracted audiences from all backgrounds to help ease the stress and find joy during the pandemic. A very real community was built through these programs.

Innovator Award

The Arts Access Program at Matheny, was completely shut down to protect the nation’s most vulnerable population during this past year. They knew, however, that the isolation and lack of opportunity to express would be so detrimental to the community. The Arts Access Program at Matheny sprung into action and figured out how to turn their facilitation process, traditionally done in-person and on a 1:1 basis, into a completely virtual interactive experience.

Their team found ways to make painting and dance accessible via Zoom, sharing screens to show charts, dancing through their kitchens and bringing smiles one Zoom meeting at a time.

This initiative came with a host of complications including lack of internet access and suitable technology, lack of trained staff to establish connections between the client and facilitator and communication challenges for their non-verbal and limited verbal artists.

Through trial and error, they have not only reinstated most of their community clients again, but have also added new artists to their Arts family. The Arts Access Program at Matheny is so proud to have kept to their mission to bring the arts to their most vulnerable as they have needed it most during this time.

Past Cultural Access Award Recipients 2019 Champion Award: Robert Carr Innovator Awards: Eyes Like Mine

Pushcart Players

Skyline Theatre Company County Achievement: Monmouth Arts 2018 Champion Award: Don Ehman Innovator Awards: Mayo Center for the Performing Arts Center’s Miracle Project

MorristownHigh School Theatre

Nai-Ni Chen Dance, Project D.R.E.A.M. 2017 Champion Award: Michael Schnoering, FAIA Leadership Award: Premiere Stages at Kean University Innovator Awards: Nimbus Dance Works

Monmouth Museum 2016 Leadership Award: Young Audiences New Jersey and Eastern Pennsylvania Innovator Awards: Center for Modern Dance Education

Arts Unbound and Matheny Medical Education Center’s Arts Access County Achievement: Cape May County Division of Culture and Heritage 2015 Champion Award: Pamela Gaston, NJ Commission for the Blind and Visually Impaired

Jason Weiland, New Jersey Divison of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Leadership Award: Matheny Medical and Educational Center Innovator Awards: The Harmonies: A Therapeutic Singing Group, Healing Arts at Atlantic Health System

Peak Performances, Montclair State University

Voices of Valor, Music for All Seasons County Achievement: Plays in the Park, Middlesex County Office of Parks & Recreation

2014 Champion Award: Thomas Shaw-Gardner, Director, Mercer County Office for the Disabled Leadership Award: Two River Theater Innovator Awards: New Jersey Special Olympics

Writers Theatre of NJ/Enabling Creativity

Enable Inc. and Grounds For Sculpture 2013 Champion Award: Ina White, Community Outreach Coordinator, Kean University Leadership Award: The Newark Museum Innovator Awards: Maurice Levin Theater at JCC Metro West

Paper Mill Playhouse Theatre School and Horizon School’s

Lend Your Voice Project 2012 Champion Award: Anna Aschkenes, Executive Director, Middlesex County Cultural and Heritage Commission Leadership Award: McCarter Theatre Center Innovator Awards: City Without Walls, Mural Project

Bergen County Access for All Campaign 2011 Champion Award: A Memorial Tribute to Alan Albert Champion Leadership Award: Grounds For Sculpture Innovator Awards: Paper Mill Playhouse

Pushcart Players

The Ritz Theatre 2010 Champion Award: Arlene Romoff, President, Hearing Loss Association of NJ Leadership Award: Paper Mill Playhouse Innovator Awards: Appel Farm Arts & Music Center

Surflight Theatre 2009 Champion Award: Janet Zoubek Dickson, Access Coordinator, McCarter Theatre Center Leadership Award: VSA Arts of New Jersey Innovator Award: Arts Unbound

Elizabeth A. Mattson, Chair Sharon Burton Turner, 1st Vice Chair Kevin M. O’Brien, 2nd Vice Chair Chris Foglio Ofelia Garcia Lana Gold Walder Joyce C. Goore Felicia Grant Carol Ann Herbert Dolores A. Kirk Ruth Lipper Vivian Scott Chew ex officio members Tahesha Way, Secretary of State Senator Thomas H. Kean, Jr. Assemblywoman Valerie Vainieri Huttle

FY21 Board of Trustees

Staff

John Wooten,Chair Larry Capo, President Michael Hurst, Vice Chair Seth Geldzahler, Treasurer Laura Ekstrand, Secretary

John McEwen

Connie Alexis-Laona Neha Bhalani, Esq. Joseph Benincasa Etta Denk Ruth Fost Laura J. Hay Carol A. Herbert Marshall Jones, III Linda Kinsey Suzanne Klar, Esq. Mindy Richardson Michael Schnoering, FAIA Gayle Stahlhuth Michael Stotts

Executive Director

Erica Nagel

Deputy Director

Deonté Griffin-Quick

Director of Programs and Services

Lauren Mancuso Manager of Digital Communications and Marketing

Beth Prevor

Access Coordinator