
Art Beyond Sight Awareness Month: October 2008
Art Beyond Sight Collaborative invites cultural organizations to join Art Beyond Sight Awareness Month: October 2008, an international initiative to call public attention to the need for and benefits of making art and visual culture accessible to people with vision loss and other disabilities. Art Education for the Blind coordinates the annual Awareness Month initiative, an activity of the loosely organized Art Beyond Sight Collaborative. Participating organizations will be listed on Art Beyond Sight Awareness Month brochures and the 2008 poster, which are designed, printed and distributed to all participants at no cost. Participants are asked to do what they can during the month of October to promote their own accessible programs, and to help spread the word that children and adults who are blind or visually impaired can and do enjoy the life-enhancing beauty of art when learning tools such as visual description and touch objects are made available to them.
If you want ideas for specific ways to celebrate Art Beyond Sight Awareness Month, look at Art Education for the Blind's Website, www.artbeyondsight.org (go to Change, then Awareness Month), or send an email to coordinator@artbeyondsight.org.
You do not need an active program for people with vision loss to be a part of Art Beyond Sight Awareness Month, but participating organizations should have an interest in developing such a program. You can use Awareness Month to learn about other cultural organizations´ successful programs, educate staff, and urge your board to provide funding for future programming for patrons with vision loss.
Join Art Beyond Sight Awareness Month by filling out and returning the sign-up form. Also check out the attached backgrounder on Art Beyond Sight Awareness Month. Last year, there were 220 organizations celebrating; please help to top that number this year!