Join the Network for Accessibility, Performing Arts, and Disaster Preparedness—a growing community shaping the intersection of accessibility and safety—and participate in our first Listening Session.

Come tell your story, meet others exploring the connections between accessibility and safety, and help shape actionable strategies to enhance performing arts spaces. Whether you are an artist, audience member, arts administrator, accessibility worker, venue staff, event planner, or festival director, your voice matters.

Session Details:

First Listening Session
Date: Monday, February 10, 2025
Time: 11:00 AM to 1:00 PM (EST)
Location: Online  Register here
Hosted by: Story Tapestries
Facilitator: Jessica Wallach, Story Tapestries’ Accessibility Manager

Why Join Us?

In performing arts spaces, individuals come together as a community, where you don’t have to face challenges alone. Audiences, artists, and staff share a collective experience, creating an environment of mutual support and collaboration. This is different from many spaces where, when disaster hits, you are often left on your own. In a theater or at a festival, we can work together to face challenges, ensuring that everyone remains safe, and no one gets left behind or disrespected.

Safety and accessibility are deeply connected. By integrating both, we can create environments that are prepared for emergencies while supporting the diverse needs of their communities. People with disabilities navigate daily environments with a perspective that highlights gaps in both safety and accessibility. Their lived experiences provide essential insights into how performing arts spaces can be better prepared for emergencies. This session will center disability experiences to explore how accessibility and safety intersect and inform one another, creating practical solutions that benefit everyone.

In this work, everyone has a role to play—everyone is on the accessibility team, and everyone is on the safety team.

This session will:

• Explore what works and what doesn’t in accessibility and safety planning.

  

• Gather experiences from stakeholders who navigate these challenges daily.
• Provide opportunities for networking and collaboration among participants.
• Lay the foundation for practical resources, such as individualized toolkits for different roles, to improve planning and response strategies.

What to Expect

During this session, participants will:

• Engage in group discussions to identify shared goals and challenges.
• Join small breakout rooms tailored to specific perspectives and experiences.
• Contribute insights that will shape actionable resources and foster collaboration among stakeholders.

This is the first of two Listening Sessions. The second session will take place in-person in Montgomery County, Maryland, at a location to be determined, and is planned for March 2025. Further details will be shared soon.

About the Network

• Build partnerships advancing accessibility and safety strategies.
• Foster mutual aid among members.
• Develop tailored toolkits for:
  • Audience members
  • Teaching artists
  • Performers
  • Arts administrators with disabilities/chronically ill/deaf
  • Arts and arts service organizations
  • Arts institutions
  • Festivals
  • Venues
  • Emergency workers.

These resources recognize that everyone has a role to play in an emergency and provide practical steps for planning, training, and effective response.

Join the Conversation
Your voice matters! Help shape the future of safe and accessible performing arts spaces.

Register now: https://forms.gle/RFUeCHBbe3oMzDDQ6

By registering, you’ll have the opportunity to:

• Take part in the February Listening Session.

• Stay informed about the March in-person session.

• Join the Network for Accessibility, Performing Arts, and Disaster Preparedness.

RSVP by Thursday, February 6, 2025.
Once confirmed, we’ll provide you with the meeting link and additional details.

Accessibility Information:

This event prioritizes accessibility for all participants. We will have ASL interpreters and AI-generated captions available If you encounter any challenges completing the registration form or require specific accommodations to participate in the session, please contact us at jessica@storytapestries.org. We are happy to assist and ensure your full participation.

Together, we are building the tools and relationships needed to ensure performing arts spaces are inclusive, accessible, and safe for everyone. Join us in shaping the future of accessibility and safety in the performing arts.

This project is made possible with funding from Performing Arts Readiness and contributions from founding members of the network, including the Underground Music Showcase, Open Circle Theatre, The Movement-Movement, Bodywise Dance, The World Institute on Disability, and Americans for the Arts.

For more information, contact:

Jessica Wallach
Story Tapestries’s Accessibility Manager
Jessica@storytapesteries.org

Jessica Wallach: Jessica Wallach, an artist with a disability, has over 30 years of experience creating inclusive spaces in the performing arts and public venues. She developed one of the first accessible urban maps in 1995 and has consulted on accessibility for festivals across the U.S. and Canada. Her leadership in accessibility spans her role at Story Tapestries, where she advances accessibility initiatives, and her work as a key organizer for The Art of Mass Gatherings. She collaborated with the Underground Music Showcase on a multi-year program to enhance accessibility and regularly partners with the Kennedy Center’s Accessibility Office to support programs with Open Circle Theatre.