Key Achievements
1993
Twelve women with disabilities attend CATA’s first workshop held at IS183 Art School of the Berkshires and led by textile artist Wendy Rabinowitz.
1995
CATA visual artists have their first public art show at the Rica Gallery in Housatonic, Massachusetts.
1996-1997
CATA receives its first year of operational support from the Massachusetts Cultural Council.
1999
CATA stages its first theater performance, introducing artists and performers with disabilities to an audience of 250 community members at the Triplex Cinema in Great Barrington.
2001
Former Mummenshanz Theatre member Roger Reed joins the CATA faculty.
2002
CATA’s annual performance moves from Berkshire Theatre Festival to the Founders’ Theatre at Shakespeare & Company.
2003
CATA’s annual performance, CATAlive, celebrates CATA’s tenth anniversary and includes special guests: actor Tina Packer, dancer Marge Champion, and journalist John Hockenberry.
2004
“CATA on Tour” brings CATA’s performing arts companies to Berkshire County Public Schools and is selected by the Massachusetts Cultural Council as a Gold Star Project.
CATA Program & Artistic Director and choreographer Dawn Lane receives LEF New England grant to create “Mattress Ticking,” a duet including Ms. Lane and Marisa Yudkin, a dancer with Huntington’s Disease.
2005
CATA and the Berkshire Theatre Festival present “for heaven’s sake,” a movement event choreographed and directed by Dawn Lane and featuring five CATA dancers from The Moving Company.
CATA is named a VSA Massachusetts affiliate.
2006
CATA and Black Ice Entertainment screen “Too Much to Stop,” a film documenting the collaboration between Dawn Lane and Marisa Yudkin at the National Brain Injury Association Conference, Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival and at the Berkshire Museum.
Nominated by State Representative Smitty Pignatelli, CATA receives the Outstanding Community Arts Collaborative award from the Massachusetts Alliance for Arts Education.
CATA holds its first public poetry event, featuring readings by CATA participants, actor Sally-Jane Heit, and four-time National Poetry Slam winner Taylor Mali.
2007
Pollack-Krasner award winning artist Gordon Sasaki comes to CATA for a week long residency program that integrates CATA participants, faculty artists and community members.
CATA receives a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts to expand its Artistic Realization Technology program.
Program & Artistic Director Dawn Lane receives the Distinguished Educator in Dance award from the Massachusetts Alliance for Arts Education.
2008
CATA presents The Sprout Film Festival in Great Barrington featuring films by and about people with disabilities.
CATA expands into Northern Berkshire County adding 154 workshops, 70 participants and 4 new settings.
2009
CATA receives $15,000 from the National Endowment for the Arts for school programs.
CATA received $10,000 from the William J. and Margery S. Barrett Fund for a digital photography workshop series.
Ferrin Gallery, Pittsfield hosts first A.R.T. exhibit. Eight paintings sold.
Sandy Newman receives the Unsung Heroine Award from the MA Commission on the Status of Women.
CATA artwork travels to ten venues thanks to a grant from Berkshire Life Charitable Foundation.
2010
The Moving Co. is invited to perform in Washington, D.C., at the VSA International Arts Festival.
Sandy Newman elected “Citizen of the Year” by the Great Barrington Rotary Club.
Dawn Lane receives a fellowship from the Massachusetts Cultural Council for outstanding choreography.
2011
Rated in the top 50 Disability nonprofits by “Great Nonprofits” in partnership with Guidestar.
CATA artwork travels to North Adams Regional Hospital, Fairview Hospital, and the State House (Boston) among others.
“one potato, two potato,” choreographed by Dawn Lane, premiers at the Doris Duke Theatre in cooperation with Jacob’s Pillow Community Dance Programs in September 2011.
