Among other things, it recommends appropriating Federal funding to promote and study compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) in cultural organizations; increasing support for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting; maintaining funding for the Technology Opportunities Program (TOP); regulating open access to broadband services across platforms; and monitoring if Internet Service Providers are excluding content.

It also recommends a 100% increase in the grant budgets of Federal Cultural Agencies:

"Supporting access to cultural programming throughout the United States, making it accessible to people with disabilities, and inspiring tomorrow's leaders to give shape to their own creativity and understand the subject matter of the humanities are national investments in the country's future," ACCESS AND THE CULTURAL INFRASTRUCTURE states.

The report examines a broad spectrum of issues of access -- including the importance of education through the arts and humanities in developing cultural literacy and problems of restricted access to the arts in rural areas.

It addresses the impact of poverty on the ability to attend exhibitions and live performances or to experience Internet art, quoting Marc Miringoff, Fordham University's Graduate School of Social Sciences -- whose work has included an investigation of the correlation between household income and participation in the arts which found that financial means made a substantial difference on the ability to participate in the arts and culture -- as saying:

"When we saw results of our national study regarding arts and culture participation, we were quite surprised. The difference between those with little financial means and those with much with regard to their participation in arts and culture, outside of the house, was enormous. If you are a poor child in America, whatever benefits come from such participation, you are not receiving them."

ACCESS AND THE CULTURAL INFRASTRUCTURE notes that since ADA was passed in 1990, there has been an increased awareness of best practices for increasing accessibility to cultural organizations for people with disabilities. However, it also observes that -- in the words of James Modrick, Vice President, Affiliate and Educational Services, VSA Arts -- "The only apparent policy requirement given to cultural organizations is that they need to provide evidence of a plan, or an explanation of their 'good-faith' effort to comply with ADA and accessibility provisions."

Modrick points out that a limited definition of access prevents a significant discussion of the issue of the accessibility of the arts and culture for people with disabilities. The report quotes him as saying: "....in terms of policy relating to access, the conventional wisdom within the arts and cultural enterprise is to enact the least amount of effort that would be required to comply with the law."

The report also observes that surveys have shown that many people with disabilities do not have access to Internet services. In 1999 71.6% of Americans with disabilities had no Internet access as compared to 43.3% of those without disabilities, according to Department of Commerce findings.

It its recommendations for regulation, ACCESS AND THE CULTURAL INFRASTRUCTURE suggests appropriating Federal funds to cultural agencies for a special category of grants which support access to cultural institutions and through the media, as well as appropriating funds to study ADA's effectiveness in cultural organizations. "Legislative branch cultural agencies should not be exempted from full compliance with the ADA and related legislation pertaining to access for people with disabilities," the author adds.

Of primary importance to Internet content providers in the arts community is the Center for Arts and Culture's emphasis on high-speed Internet connections for all sectors of the country. The lack of broadband access in rural and disadvantaged areas inhibits access to and production of Internet content that incorporates live video streaming and other technologies artists and arts organizations use to present sound, music, and animation online. Indeed, the report notes that the Pew Internet and American Life project found that broadband users are twice as likely to be content creators than are users of dial-up services.

At the same time, it is important to promote open broadband connections, and to make sure that Internet Service Providers do not exclude content from their distribution systems.

In "The Future of Openness on the Internet" a report available on the Media Alliance website, Laura Stein and Dorothy Kidd caution that:

"Today you can distribute your own content over the Internet, successfully search for websites maintained by small and independent sources, and gain access to the Net from any number of Internet service providers under reasonable terms and conditions. But the race to provide faster connections, speedier uploads and downloads, and real-time video via high-capacity Internet access--known as broadband service--could make today's full access a memory for many users."

And ACCESS AND THE CULTURAL INFRASTRUCTURE quotes the American Civil Liberties Union as saying:

"With dialup, Internet access is provided over a medium that provides open, equal access to all: the telephone system. But with the shift to cable, Internet access must be adapted to a medium that has been far more subject to centralized control. The danger is that the Internet will come under private control. Core American Liberties such as freedom of speech are of no value if the forums where such rights are commonly exercised are not free."

Although the Bush Administration recommended elimination of the Technology Opportunities Program (TOP) in its FY03 Budget, ACCESS AND THE CULTURAL INFRASTRUCTURE believes that funding that the TOP program budget be maintained.

TOP grants are made to model projects which demonstrate how information technology can address public concerns in areas such as housing, safety, economic development, e-government, and the arts and culture. Last year the Telecommunications and Information Administration awarded $12.4 million in such grants to 25 non-profit organizations (out of 741 applications).

For instance, the Kalispel Tribe of Indians and members of other Plateau Indian tribes in Eastern Washington received funding for a collaborative online project which will preserve and sustain their shared tribal culture, history, and language; the Wolf Trap Institute for Early Learning through the Arts in Vienna, VA received funding to develop the stART smART Network, a nationwide online early childhood education community which provides and sustains professional development opportunities in literacy and the performing arts for early childhood educators; and the University of Pittsburgh received funding to develop a gateway that delivers information from any web site, whatever its level of accessibility, to people with vision impairments and other disabilities.

In this report, the Center for Arts and Culture advocates that TOP granting policies support and encourage dissemination of good models; fund more creative approaches to foster public life using new communications technologies; and, for the public's benefit, analyzes the implications for democracy, public life and education of the models that have been funded and tested.

The report also recommends expansion of the E-rate program which connects public educational institutions to the Internet -- for instance, by expanding program criteria to include community colleges, vocational schools and after-school programs.

In the area of radio, television and print media, the ACCESS AND THE CULTURAL INFRASTRUCTURE addresses programs such as Low Power Radio, and it recommends increased Support for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting to "allow for television and radio station strategic planning that would enable local stations to evaluate their missions in consultation with the community and develop programming representative of the community and its values."

But some of its conclusions in the area of broadcast media -- such as "In some ways a monopoly provider is more likely to furnish art to marginal viewers" -- seem either slanted towards coverage of "blockbuster" art or the result of not enough in depth study in this area.

Additionally, as is not uncommon in such reports, ACCESS AND THE CULTURAL INFRASTRUCTURE looks at the cultural infrastructure as institution-centered and product-centered and does not emphasize the central role of professional artists or of all of the kinds of work which they create.

However, the Center has expressed an interest in more directly including artists and artist run organizations in the Points of Access equation in future studies.

"I think in the future we'll need to develop some better measures for understanding the size of the creative sector -- including all sorts of artists and artist-run organizations, and that's part of our long-range planning," said Creative Director Keith Donohue.

Also of interest for future such research is the role that organizations such as VSA Arts and the National Arts and Disability Center have been taking in promoting access to the arts infrastructure for professional artists with disabilities.

For instance, the VSA Arts site currently hosts an online exhibition EXPRESSING FREEDOM, in which, though the medium of the self portrait, young artists with disabilities explore the conditions of their lives.

The exhibition includes a series of mixed media self-portraits by Matthew Krawcheck, (Kansas City Art Institute) who has Asperger's syndrome; photographs by Dana Liebermann, (New York University) who is in remission from Hodgkin's disease; and a painting by Timothy Batten (School of Visual Arts, New York) who is legally blind, but is able to make art through the use of dark contacts and biocular glasses.

"I live in a world in which spoken language is muted and indistinct. As a child, I discovered that pictures allowed me to experience what I could not hear, my own drawings allowed me to express what I could not say. Visual art gave me the freedom to communicate with an intensity and precision that broke through the frustration of acquiring language," Matthew Krawcheck writes in a statement about his work on the VSA Arts web site.

VSA Art's EXPRESSING FREEDOM exhibition and the "Arts Culture and Disability" session at the upcoming 19th ANNUAL PACIFIC RIM CONFERENCE ON DISABILITIES (covered under Conferences in this issue of CURRENT) address the problem of access to the arts exhibition system for artists with disabilities.

In whatever topics they chose to address, the voices of artists with disabilities have much to offer our society. But artists with disabilities continue to be very marginalized, and their work is seldom sought out by curators seeking diverse approaches. The conditions which artists with disabilities may experience need to be considered opportunities to expand the arts dialogue, rather than an excuse for continued marginalization.

ACCESS AND THE CULTURAL INFRASTRUCTURE tackles a broad spectrum of issues in the arts. It serves as an introduction to a cross-section of problems. Many of the issues it introduces need in depth follow-up. For instance, as regards the Digital Opportunity Investment Trust which the report recommends, issues such as whether or not the FCC should auction spectrums should also be considered, given that this is an integral component of the funding.

In the area of the Digital Divide, the Benton Foundation and the Digital Divide Network provide much more in depth information and resources about the continuing Digital Divide in this country. The Media Access Project and the Center for Digital Democracy are important resources for information about diversity and access to media. And, as Olivia Raynor, Director of the National Arts and Disability Center (NADC) at UCLA, points out in an Op Ed in this issue of CURRENT, in the area of access to the arts for people with disabilities, a systemwide approach to the problem is much needed.

Nevertheless, the report promotes an increased awareness of the importance of the search to make access to cultural resources open to all citizens -- regardless of race, gender, beliefs, economic, and educational background and location, as well as the importance of Federal cultural funding in making such access a reality.

"....Barriers to the cultural infrastructure have the tendency to be self-perpetuating. Opportunities to experience the cultures of other communities are essential. People with disabilities need more than limited participation. Rural communities need equitable access to the new media. Voices for culture need to be at the table when policies shaping the infra-structure are being discussed," Allison Brugg Bawden emphasizes in ACCESS AND THE CULTURAL INFRASTRUCTURE.

Sources/resources:

CENTER FOR ARTS AND CULTURE -- http://www.culturalpolicy.org/
_Allison Brugg Bawden
ACCESS AND THE CULTURAL INFRASTRUCTURE -- http://www.culturalpolicy.org/pdf/access.pdf
November, 2002

VSA ARTS -- http://www.vsarts.org
_Books and other Publications or Media on Accessibility and Inclusive Design http://www.vsarts.org/bestpractices/culturalaccess/resources/ books.html

NATIONAL ARTS AND DISABILITY CENTER -- http//nadc.ucla.edu
_A STEP BY STEP GUIDE TO ACCESSIBLE ARTS IN CALIFORNIA
http://nadc.ucla.edu/10steps.htm

American Associations of Museums
"Reference Library - Museums and the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA)" --
http://www.aam-us.org/resources/reference_library/10ada.cfm

National Endowment for the Arts' Office for AccessAbility -- http://arts.endow.gov/partner/Accessibility/Brochure.html

New York State Council for the Arts (NYSCA) Universal Planning Web Site http://www.nysca.org/public/accessibility.html

BENTON FOUNDATION -- http://www.benton.org

DIGITAL DIVIDE NETWORK -- http://www.digitaldividenetwork.org

MEDIA ACCESS PROJECT -- http://www.mediaaccess.org

CENTER FOR DIGITAL DEMOCRACY -- http://www.democraticmedia.org

LUMINA FOUNDATION -- http://www.luminafoundation.org
"Lumina Foundation launches grassroots initiative with $474,000 to improve college access: http://www.luminafoundation.org/the_latest/the_latest011503.shtml
The Lumina Foundation's McCabe Fund supports organizations that enable students - particularly first-generation college students, low-income students and students of color - to gain access to postsecondary education

TECHNOLOGY OPPORTUNITIES PROGRAM -- http://www.ntia.doc.gov/otiahome/top/index.html
visit the TOP website for updates on TOP funding

Laura Stein and Dorothy Kidd
"The Future of Openness on the Internet"
THE MEDIA ALLIANCE -- http://www.media-alliance.org/mediafile/19-3/openaccess.html

E-RATE
_FCC E-RATE information -- http://www.fcc.gov/learnnet/
_SCHOOLS AND LIBRARIES DIVISION (SLD) WEB SITE -- http://www.sl.universalservice.org/
For Funding Year 2003 Applicants, the Form 471 application filing window opened on November 4, 2002 and will close on February 6, 2003. The SLD site contains detailed information

"....TO EMBRACE SUCH PRINCIPLES REQUIRES A FUNDAMENTAL SHIFT WITHIN THE CULTURAL COMMUNITY TO ADDRESS ACCESS AS BOTH A CIVIL RIGHTS AND MORAL ISSUE"

In the paper ACCESS AND THE CULTURAL INFRASTRUCTURE, Bawden identifies 5 barriers to participation in cultural experiences-lack of adequate funding, disability, geographic remoteness, inadequate literacy, and policies related to Internet access and other media. While I welcome the attention being drawn to the obstacles to participation in the cultural community by people with disabilities; I find the category of "disability" an awkward fit.

As noted in the article, to address disability as a barrier requires the cultural community to think about access not simply as making the arts more equitably available to more people, but to embrace the fundamental principles of access. To embrace such principles requires a fundamental shift within the cultural community to address access as both a civil rights and moral issue. The barriers for people with disabilities include the issues subsumed under the other categories -- its cost, location, lack opportunity for formal and informal arts education, and the digital divide. The category of "disability" can not be analyzed or resolved along the same lines as the other categories presented. Any meaningful discussion about access to culture by people with disabilities needs to address architectural and communication access beyond the legal obligations to do so. The disability community will more likely be involved if there are physically accessible spaces such as wheelchair accessible front and back stages, and alternative formats for communication such as sign language, audio description, and Braille. However, these methods should serve as tools to creatively engage a large segment of America's communities as audiences and creative innovators of art.

Future work needs to look at public and private policies and services for people with disabilities in the areas of transportation, public benefits, training, education, vocational rehabilitation and their impact on cultural participation.

(c) 2003 Olivia Raynor - For permission to redistribute this contribution, please contact her at oraynor@mednet.ucla.edu

Sources/Resources:

TRAJAN CENTER FOR DEVELOPMENTAL DISABILITIES -- http://tarjancenter.ucla.edu

NATIONAL ARTS AND DISABILITY CENTER -- http://nadc.ucla.edu

CENTER FOR ARTS AND CULTURE -- http://www.culturalpolicy.org

The Artist-Museum Partnership Act (also known as the Artists Fair Value Market Deductions Bill) would restore to artists, writers, composers, and scholars the ability to take a fair-market-value deduction for works which they donate to an appropriate non-profit institution. Under current law, although art collectors can deduct the fair market value of works which they donate to a museum or library, the artists who created them can only deduct the cost of the materials which they used to create the works. They asking that last year's cosponsors sign on as original sponsors when the bill is introduced this year.

NASAA urges that the arts community contact their legislators and ask that they sign as an original sponsor when the artists' fair-market value is reintroduced.

For more information including a list of legislators, visit http://www.nasaa-arts.org/nasaanews/artists_tax.shtml

Sources/Resources:

THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY OF STATE ARTS AGENCIES (NASAA) -- http://www.nasaa-arts.org

"Artists' Deduction Bill Included in CARE Act" June 25, 2002 Volume 11, No. 25 http://www.nyfa.org/current_archive/2002/cur062502.html

The Rockefeller Foundation's Multi-arts Production (MAP) fund fosters the creation and production of outstanding new work in the contemporary performing arts, while supporting a diversity of artists and arts organizations.

Projects eligible for up to $50,000 (depending on the size and scope of project) include new works in the developmental or first production stage. The awards encompass commissioning of artists, research and development, collaborations among artists or between artists and communities, artist residencies, and the production of new work. Artist fees are a priority.

For instance, in the last round, the Guild Complex (Chicago, IL) received funding for SISTERS IN THE SMOKE. Co-directed by Anida Esguerra and Emily Chang (and produced and developed with the Asian American Artists Collective-Chicago and the Asian/Pacific Islander American community collective Mango Tribe), SISTERS IN THE SMOKE focuses on violence in the Asian/Pacific Islander American community and on the role of artistic expression in the resistance and healing processes.

The Builders Association (New York City) received funding to produce ALLADEEN, a collaboration with the London-based company Moti Roti. Directed by Marianne Weems and designed by Keith Khan and Ali Zaidi, ALLADEEN was inspired by early central Asian legends of Alladeen, the later South Asian incarnations, and the more recent Anglo-American versions of Aladdin.

"....Rather than expressing India, Britain, and America as monocultures, we will draw from our experiences as citizens of the hybridized, urban landscapes of New York, London and Bangalore. The interaction of ethnicity and cultures within these sprawling metropolises blurs the line between identities, and reflects how cultures borrow, steal, and reinterpret each other's signs and stories......" the company notes on its website.

Other recipients of MAP Fund grants -- totaling $1 million to 40 arts organizations,in the last round -- included Circus Amok (New York, NY); Dansology (New York, NY); Fund for Women Artists (Florence, MA); Walker Art Center (Minneapolis, MINN); Helena Presents / The Myrna Loy Center (Helena MT); Alley Theatre; (Houston, TX); ShadowLight Productions (San Francisco, CA); AVAZ International Dance Theatre (Los Angeles, CA); and Edith Kanak'ole Foundation (Hilo, HAWAII).

The deadline for grants for project activities taking place between August 2003 and December 2004 is February 15, 2003.

For complete details, visit http://www.mapfund.org

Sources/resources:

THE ROCKEFELLER FOUNDATION -- http://www.rockfound.org
_2002 MAP Fund Recipients -- http://www.rockfound.org/documents/551/recipients.html

THE GUILD COMPLEX -- http://www.guildcomplex.com

ASIAN AMERICAN ARTISTS COLLECTIVE-CHICAGO -- http://www.thecollectivechicago.org

THE BUILDERS ASSOCIATION -- http://www.thebuildersassociation.org
_ALLADEEN -- http://www.thebuildersassociation.org/alladeen.html
ALLADEEN will be a crossmedia performance, a Web project, and an MTV-Asia music video. The performance (between 90 and 110 minutes in length) will combine electronic music, new video systems, an architectural set, and live performance.

CHICAGO, IL- This month the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation marked the beginning of its 25th anniversary by announcing $42 million in grants, including $14 million to National Public Radio (NPR) and $21.5 million to arts and cultural organizations in Chicago.

In the Chicago area, 41 arts and culture organizations received a total of $21.5 million in grants. The recipients range in size from the city's largest museums and performing arts groups to small community-based performing arts companies and arts education groups.

"One of the great treasures of Chicago is the number of arts and cultural organizations that, like the Foundation, call this great city home," said Jonathan F. Fanton, president of the Foundation. "....These organizations bring new works of art to the attention of international audiences, bind communities together, and stimulate economic activity. In these challenging times, it is important to remember how critical it is to support institutions that do so much to nurture the spirit, and so we are proud, on the occasion of our 25th anniversary year, to give this gift to these organizations."

None of the organizations receiving the grants applied for them, and they learned that they had been awarded the funds through a phone call from the Foundation. They will be free to use the support for endowment, facilities, or special projects.

In the arts, Chicago recipients include:

• Nine major institutions -- including the Art Institute of Chicago, the DuSable Museum, and the Mexican Fine Arts Center Museum -- will receive a total of $10 million.

• The Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Lyric Opera of Chicago will receive $1 million each.

• The Chicago Shakespeare Theater, Goodman Theatre, Joffrey Ballet, Museum of Contemporary Art, Newberry Library, Ravinia Festival, Steppenwolf Theatre Company, WBEZ Public Radio, and WTTW Channel 11 will receive $500,000 each.

• Chicago Children's Museum, Chicago Humanities Festival, eta Creative Arts Foundation, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, Lookingglass Theatre Company, Merit School of Music, Muntu Dance Theatre, Old Town School of Folk Music will receive $250,000 each.

• Arts Matter, Black Ensemble Theater, Chicago Children's Choir, Chicago Opera Theater, Chicago Public Art Group, Chicago Theatre Company, People's Music School, Redmoon Theater, Sherwood Conservatory of Music, Urban Gateways will receive $100,000 each.

As a part of this round of 25th anniversary grants, the Foundation is making a $4 million endowment grant to NPR and will also award $10 million in general operating funds over the next 10 years in support of NPR's domestic and international news and public affairs programming.

"Good information is critical to a well functioning democracy, all the more so as citizens confront complex issues of domestic and international policy," said Fanton. "National Public Radio is a reliable source of objective information and thoughtful analysis which places American issues and interests in a worldwide context."

One of the nation's ten largest private philanthropic foundations, MacArthur has awarded more than $3 billion in grants since it began operations in 1978, and today has assets of approximately $4 billion. John D. MacArthur (1897-1978) developed and owned Bankers Life and Casualty Company and other businesses, as well as considerable property in Florida and New York. His wife Catherine (1909-1981) held positions in many of these companies and served as a director of the Foundation.

Other cultural organizations receiving anniversary year grants include the Raymond F. Kravis Center for the Performing Arts in West Palm Beach, the area where John and Catherine MacArthur spent the latter years of their lives.

"Foundations make their impact through the work of their grantees, the courageous individuals and institutions that confront challenging problems at home and abroad," said Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot, chair of the Foundation's Board of Directors. "In recognition of the critical partnership between donor and grantee, the Board of Directors of the MacArthur Foundation is proud to support these 51 organizations with which the Foundation has worked over the years."

For more information, visit http://www.macfound.org

"When artists, humanists, teachers, and community members work together, they spur each other's creativity and strengthen the community as a whole. Yet many boundaries divide schools and colleges, colleges and the community, the arts and the academic humanities, and academic professionals and the wider citizenry. A systemic lack of support for projects that cross these boundaries diminishes opportunities for genuine creative advances. The Woodrow Wilson Public Scholarship Grants Program, generously funded by the Rockefeller Foundation, is designed to erase such boundaries - in fact to redraw the map." -- Woodrow Wilson Public Scholarship Grants

In 2003, the fourth year of the program, the Woodrow Wilson Public Scholarship Grants are available for projects that serve communities where poverty and lack of access to resources exclude children and adults from creative endeavors.

Woodrow Wilson invites project teams to apply for one of two sets of grants:

PARTNERSHIP GRANTS are awarded to partnerships of arts and humanities faculty and community-based artists, humanists, and educators, who have defined and designed a collaborative project in community creativity at the local, regional or national level. Each project may request up to $10,000.

CURRICULAR DESIGN GRANTS are awarded to faculty teams to investigate ways to integrate public scholarship into doctoral curricula . Funds may be used to support planning and/or a small-scale pilot. Each project may request up to $10,000. Related grants for individual graduate students are available at the Woodrow Wilson Humanities at Work Practicum Grants program.

For complete information, visit http://www.woodrow.org/imagining-america/rfp.html

Complete applications are due by February 12, 2003.

WOODROW WILSON PUBLIC SCHOLARSHIP GRANTS -- http://www.woodrow.org

"The Nathan Cummings Foundation is rooted in the Jewish tradition and committed to democratic values and social justice, including fairness, diversity, and community. We seek to build a socially and economically just society that values nature and protects the ecological balance for future generations; promotes humane health care; and fosters arts and culture that enriches communities" -- Nathan Cummings Foundation

The Nathan Cummings Foundation supports artistic practices, programs and policies that encourage cross-cultural and multidisciplinary collaborations and give voice to the issues and experiences of underrepresented communities. Grants in the arts also encourage partnerships with community groups who interactively engage the public about social justice issues and shared community concerns.

Past recipients have included the New York Foundation for the Arts (New York, NY) to support the Knowledge in Technology (KIT) to help small and mid-sized nonprofit organizations stay on track in a climate of technological change; Public Knowledge (Washington, DC) to support EMPOWERING CREATORS IN THE DIGITAL AGE, an initiative that seeks to make copyright and technology serve artists and the public more effectively through convenings, needs assessments, education and informed policy debate; Art in the Public Interest (North Carolina) to continue to develop the Community Arts Network, including publication of APINEWS; California State University Monterey Bay (Seaside, CA) to develop ACTS OF RECLAMATION: ARTISTS AND COMMUNITIES IN PARTNERSHIP; and Grantmakers in the Arts (Seattle, WA) for this membership organization which supports arts grantmaking programs of private, family, community and corporate foundations, corporate giving programs and nonprofit organizations.

For more information, visit THE NATHAN CUMMINGS FOUNDATION -- http://www.ncf.org

PACIFIC RIM CONFERENCE ON DISABILITIES - ARTS CULTURE AND DISABILITY SESSION

".........Artists with disabilities are entering mainstream galleries and demonstrating that disability is not a barrier to full participation in the arts and the cultural life of society" - Irene Brydon, Creative Growth Centers, Oakland, CA

E Komo Mai (Welcome) - At the ANNUAL PACIFIC RIM CONFERENCE ON DISABILITIES, artists with disabilities; educators; parents; new media artists and arts administrators; DVR and career development professionals; art promoters; arts education and humanities professionals; and economic development experts are welcome to the "Arts Culture and Disability" strand -- with over 20 presentations, discussions, and roundtables and a focus on artists with disabilities exhibiting and performing as integral members of the arts community.

The Keynote speaker is Olivia Raynor, Director, National Arts and Disability Center at UCLA and Co-Director of the Tarjan Center for Developmental Disabilities at UCLA.

The theme of the 19TH ANNUAL PACIFIC RIM CONFERENCE is "Collaboration and Change: A Future of Choices for Mind, Body, and Spirit". It "reflects the opportunities that await us all through partnerships," the Conference notes. The Conference has grown since its founding in 1985 to include participants from the U.S. Mainland, Alaska, Pacific Islands Nations, Japan, Australia, the Philippines and numerous other countries. It brings together persons with disabilities, family members, researchers, and service providers with policy-makers and nationally recognized speakers in the field of disabilities "to learn from each other and to share resources for communities to fully accept and support persons with disabilities."

Keynote speakers for the 2003 PACIFIC RIM CONFERENCE also include disability rights advocate and storyteller Norman Kunc, whose work uses humor and narrative to initiate self-reflection and social change; and Dave Hingsburger, who authored and voiced the award winning two hour radio documentary: LIFE, DEATH AND DISABILITY.

Among other sessions, preconference events include PUTTING CREATIVITY TO WORK, a two-day Business and Marketing Workshop (February 8-9, 2003) for artists, arts technicians, administrators with disabilities and others interested in promoting careers in the arts for people with disabilities. Presenters will include artist Susan Maley (Volcano, Hawaii).

"At least 50% of adults with disabilities, especially women, are unemployed and struggle economically," the workshop notes. "This workshop directly addresses disability, economic class, age and gender. The outcome of this workshop is for participants with disabilities to learn how to increase their economic independence and social-skill development by strengthening their ability to participate in the marketplace of art."

The conference will also host ARTS FOR ALL, ALL FOR ARTS, a juried visual art exhibit which will include a Meet the Artists Reception Arthouse and music, dance, and poetry.

For details, applications, ADA accommodations, and reservations, call the University of Hawaii Center on Disability Studies at (808) 956-3975 or visit http://www.cds.hawaii.edu

Information is also available on the VSA Arts Hawaii-Pacific website at http://www.vsarts.hawaii.edu

CLMP IN PARTNERSHIP WITH EL MUSEO DEL BARRIO AND THE STUDIO MUSEUM OF HARLEM:

In partnership with El Museo Del Barrio and The Studio Museum of Harlem, The Council of Literary Magazines and Presses (CLMP) is co-presenting writers and their editors in a series designed to both demystifying the editorial and publishing process and accessing to new literature being produced by specific cultural communities.

In each program, three leading indie lit editors will each introduce one of their writers -- reading a selection from a work being published, speaking about their collaborative work with the writer. The audience will then be invited to participate in a discussion with the editors and writers about the state of literature and publishing within the community.

Upcoming programs are:

_February 8, 2003 - 2:00 - 4:00 PM
El Museo del Barrio, 1230 Fifth Avenue at 104th Street

LITERARY VOICES FROM THE WORLD OF LATIN AMERICAN INDEPENDENT PUBLISHING PRESENTED WITH EL MUSEO DEL BARRIO

Participants include Mexican-American novelist GRACIELA LIMON (ERASED FACES, THE DAY OF THE MOON, SONG OF THE HUMMINGBIRD, THE MEMORIES OF ANA CALDERON, and IN SEARCH OF BERNABE), who will be introduced by Nicolas Kanellos of ARTE PUBLICO PRESS.

Cuban-born American poet, novelist and essayist PABLO MEDINA (THE RETURN OF FELIX NOGARA; THE MARKS OF BIRTH, THE FLOATING ISLAND; ARCHING INTO THE AFTERLIFE; AND EXILED MEMORIES: A CUBAN CHILDHOOD), who will be introduced by Dennis Maloney of WHITE PINE PRESS.

Spanish-American author, poet translator, editor, and scholar MARTA LOPEZ-LUACES (EL EXILIO Y ODIO: HATE AND EXILE, AND DISTANCIAS Y DESTIERROS; and LA VIRGEN DE LA NOCHE: THE VIRGIN OF THE NIGHT), who will be introduced by Alexandra VanDerKamp, of the bilingual journal, TERRA INCOGNITA.

Moderated by Jeffrey Lependorf, Executive Director of the Council of Literary Magazines and Presses.

LITERARY VOICES FROM THE WORLD OF AFRICAN AMERICAN INDEPENDENT PUBLISHING PRESENTED WITH THE STUDIO MUSEUM OF HARLEM

multidisciplinary artist/writer/musician CARL HANCOCK RUX, (PAGAN OPERETTA; RUX REVUE; TALK), who will be introduced by Steve Cannon of the publisher A Gathering of the Tribes.

Poet/visual artist DEBORAH DRISANA JACK (THE RAINY SEASON; "a spanish rhythm blows my mind at 140 mph"), who will be , introduced by Jacqueline Bishop of CALABASH: A JOURNAL OF CARIBBEAN ARTS AND LETTERS.

Novelist/poet MIRLANDE JEAN-GILLES ("My Grandmother Danced; COLORIZATION) who will be introduced by Carolyn Butts of AFRICAN VOICES.

Moderated by Jeffrey Lependorf, Executive Director of the Council of Literary Magazines and Presses.

The Council of Literary Magazines and Presses the independent publishers of exceptional fiction, poetry and prose. "Literary magazines and presses accomplish the backstage work of American literature: discovering new writers; supporting mid-career writers; publishing the creative voices of communities underrepresented in the mainstream commercial culture; and preserving literature for future readers by keeping books in print," they note.

Starting in January of 2003, CLMP will expand its community to include members throughout the world, hosting an international membership of English-language publishers which will benefit publishers and readers alike.

For more information on CLPM Programs, visit http://www.clmp.org

NEW WORKS INITIATIVE 2003

Next month, The Nevada Shakespeare Company's (NSC) New Works Initiative -- which gives playwrights the opportunity to hear their new works read and to engage in dialogue with an audience. -- will expand to the reading of six new plays selected from the unprecedented 856 received in the past year.

The event is led by a literary panel guided by poet and creative writing professor, Gailmarie Pahmeier.

This year's plays -- as described on the NSC website -- are:

IMPOSSIBLY BLONDE: MARILYN AT 76
Maggy Anthony
"Solo tour-de-force exploring the socio-psychological implications of a 76 year old Marilyn Monroe -- spirit or flesh? Murder or suicide?"

AMIGAS
adapted by L. Martina Young and Jeanmarie Simpson from Emma Sepulveda and Marjorie Agosin
"Two Latin American women come of age in the 1970's, class and religious differences, political activism and immigration to the United States."

REMAINS
by Colleen Shelley
"A deep and intimate look at death, loss, childhood, adolescence and parenthood in upstate New York at the end of the 20th Century."

HEMLINE
by Jim Lund and John Hadder
an original Theoretical Theatre piece
"Two new-age gurus, 'Highly Evolved Men,' have a radio talk show on K-OM. Watch and listen as Stefan and Stardawn solve your problems for you."

THE TABLE
adapted by Mark Curtis
with Cameron Crain and Jeanmarie Simpson
"Kevin and Alex, husband and wife, own and operate a charming restaurant in contemporary Reno, but all is not well. Mystery, romance, casino intrigue, history and the beauty of the Truckee Meadows twist and turn in this film noir send up of Mark Curtis' novel."

NEARBY FARAWAY
a musical by Neal Herr and Catherine Reid
"Theatrical examination of the tumultuous relationship between Georgia O'Keefe and her husband, Alfred Stieglitz."

For complete information, visit http://www.nevada-shakespeare.org/newworks.html

NEVADA SHAKESPEARE COMPANY -- http://www.nevada-shakespeare.org

Opportunities for Artists

OPPORTUNITIES FOR ARTISTS, formerly published as a part of Arts Wire Current, are now an integral part of NYFA INTERACTIVE, the new NYFA Website. Please visit http://www.nyfa.org/current and click on "Opportunities for Artists" for complete listings.

Thousands of additional listings of ongoing opportunities of all kinds can be found in the NYFA SOURCE database at http://www.nyfa.org/source

To submit opportunities, visit http://www.nyfa.org/current click on "Opportunities for Artists" and then on "Submit an Opportunity". Paste the information into the online form.

CURRENT JOB LISTINGS, formerly published as a part of Arts Wire Current, are now an integral part of NYFA INTERACTIVE, the new NYFA Website. Please visit http://www.nyfa.org/current and click on "Jobs" for complete listings.

To submit jobs, visit http://www.nyfa.org/current Click on Jobs, and the click on "Submit a Job Listing". Paste the information into the online form.