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Photo Credit: The National Women’s Theatre Festival
The Creative Life Vision, developed during the creation of the Raleigh Arts Plan, is the community's collective vision for its life in the coming decade. To realize this vision, improving the inclusion of people with disabilities in the arts must be a key focus. Goal three of the Raleigh Arts Plan is to ensure equity, access, and inclusion in all culture programming and includes the intention that Raleigh become a national model for arts accessibility and inclusion for deaf and disability communities. Universal Access and the Arts creates initiatives that achieve this goal.
Arts Learning Community for Universal Access
What does it mean for an arts organization to include people with disabilities in its programming? While arts organizations are increasing their accommodations, they still face obstacles to making improvements and have questions about the what, why, and how of getting things done.
To support these efforts, the City of Raleigh Arts Commission and United Arts Wake County are partnering once again to offer arts and cultural organizations the opportunity to join the Arts Learning Community for Universal Access. This year will mark the 10th anniversary of the program.
Learn more about the Arts Learning Community for Universal Access and the application process for the 2025-2026 year.
Betty Siegel Universal Access & the Arts Award
The Betty Siegel Universal Access and the Arts Award recognizes the substantial achievements of Arts Learning Community for Universal Access members who complete all three years of the program.
Honorees have successfully improved the accessibility of their organizations through multiple projects and initiatives over the years. They are also recognized as arts community resources, sharing their knowledge and engaging their arts and cultural peers, as well as others, around the topic of accessibility in the arts.
2019 Award Honorees
| Advocate | Organization |
|---|---|
| Hilary Leggett | N.C. State University Gregg Museum of Art and Design |
| Liani Yirka | North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences |
| Courtney Wheeler | PineCone, Piedmont Council of Traditional Music |
2018 Award Honorees
| Advocate | Organization |
|---|---|
| Jamie Katz Court | PineCone, Piedmont Council of Traditional Music |
| Julia Meder | Sertoma Arts Center |
| Gab Smith | CAM Raleigh |
| Megan Sullivan | Artspace |
Disability, the Arts and Raleigh: Inclusive by Design Blog Series
Produced in partnership with Raleigh Arts and writer and 2019 Piedmont Laureate David Menconi, this series, published on VisitRaleigh’s website, explores how that vision is playing out when it comes to Deaf and disability community members in the city.
Read the Disability, the Arts and Raleigh: Inclusive by Design series
