Community Forum Launch
Hello residents!
We have launched our community forum! If you haven’t already, please create an account, so you have engage is discussions with your fellow residents. Our community forum will be are primarily location for asynchronous dialogues. You can access the forum by going to Community.SociallyDistantArt.org. There is also a “Community Forum” button on the Community Resource Center homepage.
We have created some forum goals and guidelines, which you can read below, or as a discussion thread on the forum itself. If you prefer, you can also view the below information in our Welcome + Forum Overview Google Doc.
Forum Goals + Guidelines
To start things off we thought we should talk about what we’re trying to do here and how this forum is a part of that.
Socially Distant Art imagines an inclusive, accessible Art world that engages with and expands upon creative innovations built by the Disability community. We believe that creators have the opportunity to build a more equitable and accessible Arts world, if they consider Disability Justice, Universal Design, and accessibility features at the core of their work. We see exciting opportunities for creative applications of accessibility practices that both serve their essential function and provide unique art experiences. This community forum is one avenue for pursuing these goals.
A few specific goals we have for this community forum are as follows:
Create a supportive and inclusive community for artists and arts leaders, especially for those who often face barriers to accessing the majority of other arts opportunities
Explore the concept of “accessibility” broadly while considering disability, socioeconomic status, identity, and support systems. Use this developing and expanding definition of “access” to reimagine the structure of artistic practice and the arts organizations.
Encourage artists-in-residence to think about disability-related “accommodations” as an expansion to their art practices, and the art world as a whole.
Develop resources that can be shared openly and freely with our various networks.
In the coming weeks, we will all be collaborating on some Community Agreements, so we can ensure a successful, respectful and fruitful residency experience. In the meantime, we hope that you will take a look at a few guidelines we have for this forum, and for our community spaces overall:
Engage with the community
Please use this space to connect asynchronously with us and each other. SDA is spread across multiple locations with a wide range of time zones and so it may not always be possible for everyone to always engage synchronously. We hope this forum can provide a space for us all to communicate and get to know each other regardless of time zone.
We will be using this forum to keep the community updated on monthly topics and other program news. We hope this will allow everyone the chance to respond and engage at their own pace.
Make your posts accessible - to you and your fellow residents
Express yourself using whatever mode of communication is most comfortable for you. This can include:
Written post on the forum
A video link shared on the forum (please make sure your video has captions and/or a transcript)
An audio file linked on the forum (please make sure your posting also has a transcript)
Please provide all appropriate accessibility features to all your posts. (image descriptions, transcripts and captions, content warnings, etc.)
If you need help with this please check out our online Guide to an Accessible Creative Practice.
When adding hyperlinks, please make sure they are short and descriptive.
Bring your ideas
This is a new space that we are developing together! If you have an idea please share it with us. Rather than dictate the course of your residency for you we’re hoping that we are able to explore and create this experience collaboratively.
Collaborate with each other! Our residents are amazing creators, and we’d love for you to get to know and work with them on your own.
Be thoughtful about the language you use
Please take time to learn about ableist language, and omit this from your posts. Do not use ableist language or other language that degrades people for who they are.
While there may be some words that you don't find offensive, others might find this language upsetting. We don't want to police your use of language (with the exception of clear cut slurs and hate speech, which will not be tolerated,) however we ask that you be thoughtful and considerate with the words you choose.
Remember to engage with the content of the discussion and not the emotional tone of it. And please keep in mind that marginalized peoples have a right to feel however they want about their lived experiences.
Respect and affirm the identities and humanity of others
SDA firmly believes that some things are not up for debate. We will not give a platform to anyone who engages in harmful rhetoric. A few (but certainly not all) examples of topics that SDA doesn’t believe has two sides are:
Black lives matter.
Trans rights are human rights.
Disabled people are not a burden.
Do your best to use people’s correct pronouns, names, and identity related language. If you don’t know - ask. If you make a mistake - apologize, correct yourself, and move on.
Remember that access is a process
We’re all in this learning together. Some of us may be more familiar with Disability Justice and digital accessibility than others but we all have to start somewhere.
Like all social justice work, creating access for all is a labor of years. SDA believes, as the Jewish proverb notes, “you are not expected to complete the work, but neither are you permitted to abandon it.”
Help us build a strong community and a safer space
If you have suggestions for how to improve our community, please let us know.
This is an evolving document; we welcome feedback on improving it and will update it as necessary to deal with future issues which may arise.
For questions, concerns, comments or suggestions, please contact us via email at hello@SociallyDistantArt.org.
Lastly, we would like to introduce some of the discussion topics that will be ongoing threads of this forum. Please take a look below for a short overview of each topic, and let us know if you have any additional ideas for helpful discussion threads!
Thanks,
The SDA Leadership Team
Ongoing Discussions
Please take a look below for a short overview of each topic, and let us know if you have any additional ideas for helpful discussion threads!
Community Agreements
We would like to spend some time on the forum collaborating on Community Agreements. These will be essential to ensuring that our community is respectful, fruitful and a “safe space.” Creating these agreements together will be an on-going process, but we want to put some focus on them during the first few weeks, so we can develop a version of them to guide our community in the coming months.
Community Agreements are a consensus on what every person in our group needs from each other and commits to each other in order to feel safe, supported, open, productive and trusting. We are creating these so that we can create collaborative, learn, have fun, and work towards building a more accessible and equity Art world. (source)
Program News + Updates
In addition to adding Program News + Updates on our Community Resource Center website, we will add news and updates to this thread of the forum, so you can access information from a few different places. You are welcome to ask questions regarding news and updates on this thread, and we will do our best to answer and/or clarify information.
Bulletin Board
The Bulletin Board thread the place to share and/or learn out artist opportunities, exhibitions, or art events. We also would love for you to use this thread to “share your good news” - if you are involved in an exhibition, project, art event, etc, share it here!
Please keep the announcement and opportunities that you share relevant to our program. We also strongly prefer any artist opportunities that are shared to be no-fee submissions.
Featured Residents
Each month - September through April (with the exception of December) we will have three “Featured Residents”, who will have a dedicated thread to share their work, request peer-feedback, and work through ideas. These threads will be “pinned” as featured discussions for the month. We encourage you to take down to learn about your fellow residents' work, and offer recommendations, ideas, and words of support! (More information on our featured resident schedule soon!)
Interdependent + Collaborative Artmaking
Do you have an idea for a collaborative project? Are you looking for someone to create an iterative version of some of your artwork - for example, would you like someone to create a visual artwork to accompany your poems? This is the place to share your ideas and look for collaborators! Even if there isn’t someone in the cohort who is a good fit, your fellow residents might be able to point you towards another artist, creator, or project!
Accessible Art: Questions and Workshopping
If you have a specific question or issue related to integrating accessibility features into an artwork or project, this is a great place to post! We encourage you to help each other find creative solutions to these questions. This is also a great thread to share some accessibility feature related tips or creative approaches that you are experimenting with.
Art + Disability Recommendations
If you have come across an interesting article about Disability Art or culture, or Art more broadly, this is the perfect place to share! We also would love to learn about artists and disability activists that you are discovering. (In fact, collecting these recommendations will help us create expanded content for future cohorts!)
Do you have an idea for a new ongoing thread? Let us know if you have any additional ideas for helpful discussion threads!