CAMERAS ON! THE MICS ARE HOT! On the First Friday of each month during the spring and fall, ACCSES invites members to attend carefully curated, interactive calls hosted by leaders in government, policy, healthcare, and business to discuss the key issues of our time.

For our October First Friday Call, we are excited to talk about the impact and potential of all-ability arts.  Joining us will be Heather Pickering, Artistic Director of Flutter Productions, in Rapid City, South Dakota.  Flutter Productions, part of Black Hills Works, creates opportunities for performers with and without disabilities to come together through theater.  Flutter’s mission is to create opportunities for all performers to soar, to challenge perceptions of people with disabilities, and to build a creative community where everyone can belong.  In partnership with the University of South Dakota Center for Disabilities, Flutter Productions conducted a formal evaluation on the efficacy of all-ability arts that examined how all-ability theater can influence friendship development and a sense of belonging among performers with and without disabilities.  The evaluation, funded in part by the National Endowment for the Humanities, was designed using principles of empowerment evaluation and explored the broader question of how all-ability arts benefit both participants and audiences.  Heather will share the findings with us.

We had the privilege of attending a Flutter Productions event when we were in Rapid City last year, and it was fabulous.  We are excited to introduce you to Heather and hear about the important work Flutter is doing to make the arts available to everyone – and why it matters.  We may even have some surprise guests!  This will be an enjoyable hour you will not want to miss!

ACCSES First Friday calls are open to ACCSES members only.  We encourage all interested leadership and staff of member organizations to attend and if you didn’t get an email invitation, please contact Sarah Saar at ssaar@accses.org