Starting in late June 2023, CRNY Artist-Organizer Kevin Gotkin will host a series of Zoom-based events called “Access Access.” Some of these gatherings will focus on strategies for organizations looking to begin or deepen a commitment to disability artistry, culture, and access. Other gatherings will explore artistic methods for working with access features such as captioning and descriptions as creative materials. Please join us as we tend to the ways we enter conversations about access, how we access access itself.

Below you will find information about the first set of programs in this series. As we move along, we may add more events, and you can return here for more information. After you register, you will receive more information about what we will call our “access ecology,” the Zoom space and its many features we will create together. Feel free to register for one event or join us for all of them. Everyone who registers will receive the event recording and follow-up materials.

Access as Artistry, Access for Organizing

Wednesday, June 28, 12:00-1:00 PM Eastern

This event will launch the Access Access series. It will ground and introduce access as a set of artistic tools and as a framework for organizing. This event is designed for a general audience, including artists, organizations, and activists. We hope this event can advance your work whether you are new to access or not. Click here to register for ‘Access as Artistry, Access for Organizing.’

Tools for Access Design: An Introduction to Access Ecologies

Thursday, July 13, 10:00-11:00 AM Eastern*

* Note: An earlier version of this post listed the incorrect day of the week. This event will take place on Thursday.

This event will introduce an emergent ecological model for thinking about access. What we will call “access ecologies” will allow us to map interdependencies (or the ways we rely on each other in webs of connection) and plan for more intricate access interactions than compliance- and regulatory-minded approaches to accessibility currently offer. This event is designed for a general audience, including artists, organizations, and activists. Click here to register for ‘Tools for Access Design: An Introduction to Access Ecologies.’

A Survey of Contemporary U.S. Disability Aesthetics

Friday, July 21, 1:00-2:00 PM Eastern

This event will involve a collaborative overview of current artistic methods that use access as primary compositional tools, with a focus on the U.S. art worlds. This event is designed for disabled artists, and all are welcome. Click here to register for ‘A Survey of Contemporary U.S. Disability Aesthetics.’

Tools for Access Design: Plain Language and Easy Read

Tuesday, August 1, 10:00-11:00 AM Eastern

How do we prepare written materials to be inclusive of readers with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD)? In this session, we will be joined by expert Reid Caplan to look at some fundamental principles for translating documents in Plain Language and Easy Read formats. This event is designed for a general audience, including artists, organizations, and activists. Click here to register for ‘Tools for Access Design: Plain Language and Easy Read.’

If you have questions about this series, please email Kevin Gotkin at kevin (at) creativesrebuildny (dot) org.

Header image description: Against a blue background with faint gridlines that look like the canvas for a technical drawing, ACCESS / ACCESS. One ACCESS is a dotted outline, the other is in large all-caps, solid white text with arrows flanking some of the letters suggesting future edits or movement.