Arts for All Kentucky

Arts for All Kentucky is a non-profit organization; it is statewide and an arts and disability organization.
We provide programs for schools and communities all across Kentucky.
I’m the executive director, and I’m sort of more or less the coordinator of the programs.
I reach out to people to bring residencies, artists in residence to schools, to bring artists to community centers.
Arts for All provides an inclusive experience for kids with disabilities, in that they participate in visual arts, musical arts, and theater in inclusive settings where they are among typically developing children.
I’m currently a roster artist, so a teacher, an administrator, could choose to write for a project and bring me in to do a painting project, a clay project, anything that is in my line of experience.
There’s so many cuts to the art program that arts are important and they need to be seen as important, and this program really helps to bring them into schools and highlight the importance of art.
I feel strongly about Arts for All, and I think it’s a great organization, and it serves the needs of a very specific population that really goes underserved.
Some of us take for granted that we can take a painting class or that we can participate in a musical or a voice competition; a lot of that is not always accessible to people with disabilities.
Often children and individuals with disabilities can easily become isolated, and these activities, these programs give them opportunities to express themselves that they may not otherwise have readily available to them.
People with disabilities, in some ways more, maybe than people who do not have disabilities, art reaches them on multiple levels.
I think it adds a broader element of education to their lives.
Well, I feel that it’s very important to support Arts for All in your community because it brings artists to students.
I think it is so important to support Arts for All both financially and if you’re able to volunteer.
I think the inclusive experience that Arts for All creates is not just about art but about community.
Well, I think when you have a more enriched and more enlightened community, and you take care of all your citizens, it’s a better community for everybody.
It’s awareness, awareness of bringing people with disabilities into our facilities, into the classroom, to include them in the arts, the culture of our communities.