2015 Cultural Access Network Awards Set for 6/18 at Grounds For Sculpture

On June 18th the Cultural Access Network Project (CAN), a program of New Jersey Theatre Alliance and New Jersey State Council on the Arts, will host the 7th annual CAN Awards at Grounds For Sculpture in Hamilton, NJ.

Attended by leaders in the state's arts and cultural community, the CAN Awards is a day-long event with a keynote address by Betty Siegel, Director of VSA and Accessibility at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, an awards presentation, and a panel discussion on model patron-engagement programs in the areas of autism, arts and healing, veterans, and creative aging. Registration for the CAN Awards runs through June 11th, and is open to the public.

"The State Arts Council is pleased to join New Jersey Theatre Alliance in recognizing these outstanding individuals and organizations," said Nicholas Paleologos, Executive Director of New Jersey State Council on the Arts. "Accessibility to the arts is a fundamental right for all people, and our commitment to achieving this is reflected in the 23 years we have partnered with the Alliance on the Cultural Access Network Project. It is gratifying to see that representatives from independent organizations and from the State's Department of Human Services are embracing arts accessibility to enhance the lives of the people they serve."

The following organizations and individuals will be honored:

Matheny Medical and Educational Center's Arts Access Program, located in Peapack, NJ, will receive the Leadership Award. Arts Access uses a unique method to ensure complete creative ability for their clients, most of whom are in wheelchairs and have limited mobility of their arms and legs-and many of whom are non-verbal. Facilitators who are trained artists work with Matheny clients to execute the artwork they envision, taking direction from them and withholding any of their own opinions or suggestions.

Pamela Gaston of Maplewood, NJ, Community Involvement Specialist at the New Jersey Commission for the Blind and Visually Impaired, will receive the Champion Award for over 40 years of service, which includes organizing and presenting events, and writing and designing publications. Ms. Gaston was also recognized by U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan for helping establish a library for blind children in Ghana.

Jason Weiland of Highland Park, NJ, Field Representative at the New Jersey Division for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, will receive a Champion Award for his work training companies, state and private agencies, and non-profit organizations that provide services to the Deaf/HOH. He also educates Deaf/HOH consumers on technology, culture, and other resources available to them.

Music for All Seasons of Scotch Plains will receive an Innovator Award for Voices of Valor, a program that helps veterans heal through musical expression, bringing together veterans with professional-musician facilitators and a psychology mentor to write lyrics about their experiences, and then compose and record an original song.

Peak Performances, a project of Montclair State University in Montclair, NJ, will also receive an Innovator Award. Dedicated to engaging audiences as well as artists with disabilities, Peak Performances featured three innovative productions in its 2014/2015 season: Robert Whitman's Swim, Heidi Latsky's Triptych, and Liz Lerman's dance piece Healing Wars, which featured a Navy veteran who lost his leg in the Iraq War.

The Harmonies: A Therapeutic Singing Group, an initiative of the Atlantic Health System at Overlook Medical Center in Summit, NJ, will receive an Innovator Award. The Harmonies is a community choir music therapy program for people living with Parkinson's disease, their families, and caregivers.

Plays in the Park, a theatrical program of Middlesex County Department of Parks & Recreation, will receive the inaugural County Achievement in Cultural Access Award for their dedication to providing open-captioned performances, assistive listening devices, sign-language interpreted performances, and audio description at their summer outdoor performances in Edison.

The Cultural Access Network Project is a co-sponsored program of New Jersey Theatre Alliance and New Jersey State Council on the Arts. Since its inception in 1994, CAN has facilitated accessibility among the state's cultural community through training, workshops, a comprehensive online resource bank, an online theatre performance directory searchable by access services, and a tool that streamlines cultural organizations' ADA planning and reporting. CAN's innovative programs and services have earned national recognition and have framed New Jersey as a model state in the cultural access field.

This event is made possible in part by the generosity of Johnson & Johnson. In addition to support from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, New Jersey Theatre Alliance's access initiatives are made possible by The Fund for New Jersey Blind, Kessler Foundation, The National Endowment for the Arts, and The Wallerstein Foundation for Geriatric Life Improvement.

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