Program Information

Casual discussions over zoom based on a specific topic related to the Arts and accessibility.

- Synchronous Zoom meeting with auto captioning

- Recording with Closed Captions available afterwards

We are creating an online community forum for asynchronous discussions about art, disability justice and creative approaches to accessibility. We will also use this forum to post program updates, and highlight our Featured Residents. You can use this forum to talk through ideas, share artist opportunities, learn about your fellow residents, and more!

A resident whose work is highlighted as a “featured post” on the community forum, SDA public blog, and Instagram. Cohort members will be encouraged to engage with the resident’s work through blog comments with ideas, recommended artists / projects, feedback, based on what the resident requests. The asynchronous discussion of the resident’s work should include some aspect related to accessibility within the artwork or resident’s creative practice.

The monthly featured residents have the option to participate in any of the following:

• Post to our public community blog (as a blogger-in-residence for the month)

• Have a week-long takeover of the SDA Instagram account

• Post artwork, writing, ideas, and/or works in progress to the community forum as “featured posts” and request feedback and/or ideas from the cohort (like an asynchronous version of Open Studio Hours or Art Critique.) Residents can set specific guidelines for feedback based on their needs by posing questions, or requesting suggestions related to a specific issue and/or artwork.

We started this project in mid 2021. It is a collaborative project led by Akari Komura, one of our Leadership Team members. Members of the community interview each other in various formats (video or audio recording, or written) and we share them on the website and in our newsletters. You can view some of the past Interviews in the Exhibition + Projects section of out website.

Are you interested in leading or co-leading an Art Dialogue, Asynchronous Open Studio Hours, or other community event?

We are always looking for community members who would like to lead one of our art dialogues or open studio hours. If you are interested please fill out our Event Lead form and we will reach out with more information! The roles available for Event Leads are Art Dialogue Discussion Lead, Featured Resident, Featured Resident Assistant and Accessibility Workshop Co-facilitator.

Art Dialogue Discussion Lead: Our Art Dialogues are casual group discussions centered around an art, culture, and/or Disability Justice related topic. Discussion leads choose a topic, help write an event posting, and lead the Art Dialogue over zoom. Most discussion leads come with a few prompt questions for the group, and help moderate the conversation, though the dialogues are intended to be relatively informal and open to all members of the SDA community. Discussion leads can also share related recommended articles, videos, or podcasts before or after the zoom meeting, if they like.

Featured Resident | Asynchronous Open Studio Hours: If you would like to share your artwork or creative practice with the community and/or discuss some ideas you are working through, this is a great opportunity! In order to provide a flexible environment for residents to share their work and discuss idea with the cohort, we will have week-long Featured Residents who will have the opportunity to:

- Have their work highlighted on our website and social media;

- Share their work with the cohort via an asynchronous presentation, so other residents can offer ideas, provide feedback, and connect about collaborations;

- Work with another resident - a Featured Resident Assistant - to find solutions to accessibility, technical or presentation related concerns.

Featured Residents can choose the goals of the week-long period to fit their needs; residents can include a recorded presentation (artist talk) and request feedback or ideas from the cohort via comments on a google slide presentation, community area blog post, and/or slack.

Featured Resident Assistant: These Event Leads work with the resident who is sharing their work during a week-long period to determine their preferred format, assist with writing an event posting, help resolve accessibility or technical questions, and moderate any asynchronous group discussion of the resident’s work. Assistants also work with the Featured Resident and SDA leadership to ensure that the workshare presentation is as accessible as possible; this includes collaborating with the featured resident to meet each other’s access needs during the planning process and event. (Much of the assisting will be done in the few weeks prior to the “Feature Resident week” while the featured resident is preparing their presentation, recording, etc.) This role is designed to be an aid for finding solutions to issues that arise - the Featured Resident will be creating the presentation themselves.

Accessibility Workshop Co-facilitator: We are planning several synchronous workshops that explore accessibility practices in an arts context. We plan to offer this series of workshops on a yearly cycle, and to expand and improve upon them as our community develops. We are seeking residents who might like to co-facilitate a workshop based on their interests and accessibility knowledge. This idea is still a work in progress.

Our Slack workspace is a great space to casually chat with other residents, share ideas, and plan collaborations. We have this workspace available to the community for quick communication with your fellow residents, especially for times when you might be collaborating on a project and want more informal communication than the forum can provide.

We plan to create (as a collaborative project with our community members) one virtual exhibition or project annually for both our new cohort and our full community, along with an event series to accompany each exhibition / project. The “Cohort virtual exhibition / project” will be just for our newest residents (those in their initial year of the program) and the “Community virtual exhibition / project” will be open to all community members. Each project will be organized and curated by a team of community / cohort members, and “supervised” by a member of the Leadership Team. Our Liminal Beings project from 2021 is an inaugural virtual exhibition.

Since we will not be able to keep all of our virtual exhibitions and projects online forever, we plan to develop creative ways to document and archive these projects, along with other community collaborations and gatherings. Community members will have the opportunity to serve on a community archive team (led by a member of our Leadership team) which will work on creating the History + Community Archive section of our website.

More info soon!