Community Access to the Arts: redefining disability

CATA to Exhibit at Lichtenstein Center for the Arts

December 17, 2008

Community Access to the Arts (CATA) is pleased to announce that its traveling art exhibit, “CATA Art on Tour,” will open at The Lichtenstein Center for the Arts on January 14, 2009 and run through February 7. A reception will be held on Thursday, January 15 from 5:30pm to 7pm.

CATA provides visual and performing arts workshops for over 500 people with disabilities in Berkshire County. Funded by a grant from Berkshire Life Charitable Foundation, CATA Art on Tour allows the community to view the results of hundreds of visual arts workshops that take place annually in therapeutic, educational, and cultural settings and in the CATA studio on 70 Railroad Street in Great Barrington. A number of community members joined Berkshire Life Charitable Foundation in sponsoring the traveling exhibit including: Carol & George Minkoff, Leslie & Steve Shatz, Elaine & Ben Silberstein, Marjorie and Sherwood Sumner.

CATA employs 25 faculty artists. Visual arts faculty includes Laura Christensen, Susie Hardcastle, Pat Hogan, Leslie Klein, Marlene Marshall, Maria Mazzocco, Senta Reis, Janice Shields, and Michael Wolski. All artwork is for sale and CATA participants receive 50% commission.

The Lichtenstein Center for the Arts is a city-owned arts center in downtown Pittsfield that offers year round classes and features a gallery and performance space with changing exhibitions, a ceramics studio, darkroom and nine working artist studios. The Lichtenstein Center for the Arts gallery is located at 28 Renne Avenue in downtown Pittsfield, and is free to the public and open Wednesday through Saturday, 12 noon to 5pm. For more information call 413-499-9348 or visit www.culturalpittsfield.com.

CATA to Exhibit at Lenox Library

November 18, 2008

During the month of December, the Lenox Library will host an exhibit of artwork created in Community Access to the Arts’ workshops for people with disabilities. CATA’s colorful art will be on display in the Welles Gallery. The library is open from Tuesday through Saturday, 10 am to 5 pm.

The exhibit is part of CATA Art on Tour, a program funded by Berkshire Life Charitable Foundation and gifts from Carol & George Minkoff, Leslie & Steve Shatz, Elaine & Ben Silberstein, and Marjorie & Sherwood Sumner.

Sandra Newman, CATA’s founder and executive director, created the organization sixteen years ago to nurture and celebrate the creativity of people with disabilities through shared experiences in the visual and performing arts. Said Newman, “Art on Tour really speaks to the mission of sharing our art with the community at large in different towns and in varied settings.”

All artwork is for sale and the artist receives a 50% commission for each piece sold.

Community Access to the Arts Announces Holiday Sale

November 17, 2008

Community Access to the Arts (CATA) has announced plans for a holiday sale on Sunday, December 7th in their gallery at 70 Railroad Street in Great Barrington.

CATA produces handcrafted jewelry, accessories and note cards in its creative employment program called CATAdirect. Employees with disabilities collaborate with community volunteers to create unique gift items out of mostly recycled materials. Products for this holiday season include necklaces and bracelets crafted of donated buttons, scarves woven from recycled cashmere sweaters, and a variety of holiday cards.

Proceeds from the sale of CATA products fund the organization’s employment program. Additionally, each artist with a disability receives a design fee if his or her artwork is used to produce a printed card.

For more information, call 413-528-5485, or stop by the CATA boutique on the second floor of 40 Railroad Street in Great Barrington.

Button Baubles to Give or Get

October 31, 2008

Belt-tightening is a fact of life this holiday season. One non-profit organization, Community Access to the Arts (CATA), hopes to profit from this trend by offering an affordable line of jewelry made from recycled buttons. Since the proceeds from the sale of button jewelry fund the organization’s arts programs for people with disabilities, buyers can feel doubly good about their purchase.

The button jewelry collection includes a short double-strand necklace for $45, a longer single-strand necklace for $20, and a bracelet for $15. Colorful plastic, metal, rhinestone and vintage buttons are hand-strung in CATA’s creative employment program for people with disabilities. Employees and community volunteers work together in a collaborative setting to create beautiful accessories out of mostly recycled materials. No two pieces are exactly the same.

“The jewelry has a really festive look,” says Sandra Newman, CATA’s Executive Director. Newman hopes people will purchase a piece for themselves to wear to holiday parties, and one or two additional pieces as gifts.

Community Access to the Arts (CATA) provides visual and performing arts workshops to over 600 people with disabilities in Berkshire County, Massachusetts.

Art for Awareness

October 20, 2008

Community Access to the Arts (CATA), a non-profit organization providing arts workshops to people with disabilities in Berkshire County, has announced two new initiatives aimed at engaging local businesses in growing awareness for CATA and its work in the community.

The first venture offers local businesses and individuals three types of holiday cards featuring images created by CATA’s artists with disabilities. Choices include printed cards in packs of 20, handmade collage cards, and a 2009 calendar card. All cards come with envelopes and can be customized with seasonal messages. CATA artists receive a design fee for artwork used and get paid by the hour to produce handmade cards in CATAdirect, a creative employment program.

CATA Art on Tour features framed artwork for exhibit in offices and public spaces. The business community can support CATA by purchasing artwork (artists receive 50% commission on art sales) and by displaying the artwork so that more people become aware of CATA and its mission to nurture and celebrate the creativity of people with disabilities through shared experiences in the arts. CATA Art on Tour is managed by CATA faculty artist, Pat Hogan, and sponsored in part by Berkshire Life Charitable Foundation and gifts from CATA supporters.

“Both of these initiatives further our mission by sharing the joyful artwork of our participants with the community, and allowing people to see the talents of our artists rather than their disabilities,” explained Sandra Newman, Executive Director of Community Access to the Arts.

For more information, call CATA at 413-528-5485.

Community Access to the Arts Receives Multiple Grants

September 25, 2008

Community Access to the Arts (CATA), a non-profit organization that nurtures and celebrates the creativity of people with disabilities through shared experiences in the visual and performing arts, has announced it has received a total of $35,100 in grants:

A $5,000 grant from VSA arts of Massachusetts and a $3,000 grant from Berkshire Bank Foundation for CATA Transitions, a collaborative project between CATA and area public school systems to provide teenagers and young adults with disabilities with the skills, motivation, and support necessary to access artistic and cultural resources in their communities.

$5,000 from the Berkshire Life Charitable Foundation for CATA Art on Tour, a traveling exhibit of artwork created in CATA’s many visual arts workshops for adults with disabilities.

$10,000 from the Joseph P. and Carol F. Reich Fund, $250 from the Great Barrington Rotary and $750 from Tri-Town Rotary Club of Lee, Lenox and Stockbridge for CATAdirect, a creative employment program for people with disabilities who, along with community volunteers, craft decorative accessories out of mostly recycled materials. These products are sold at local fairs, in CATA’s boutique at 40 Railroad Street (2nd Floor), and on the organization’s web site.

$2,000 from the James and Robert Hardman Fund for North Adams for scholarships for residents of North Adams. CATA has expanded significantly into Northern Berkshire County over the last year, adding over 150 workshops, 4 faculty and 9 settings.

$7,600 from the Massachusetts Cultural Council and $1,500 from the Alpern Foundation for general organizational support and programs.

Community Access to the Arts has a number of initiatives for the 2008-2009 program year including a film project and summer workshop.

Community Access to the Arts Hosts Annual Art Show and Poetry Reading

June 12, 2008

On Wednesday, July 30 from 5pm-7pm Community Access to the Arts (CATA) will present “I Am a Part of Art,” an annual art show and poetry reading to take place in the 70 Railroad Street gallery (behind the Triplex).

Community Access to the Arts provides visual and performing arts workshops for 600 people with disabilities throughout Berkshire County. Paintings, collages, and three-dimensional works were selected from art created in hundreds of individual workshops taught by eleven CATA faculty artists including: Karen Arp-Sandel, Barbara Beach, Laura Christensen, Susie Hardcastle, Pat Hogan, Leslie Klein, Marlene Marshall, Sarah McNair, Senta Reis, Janice Shields, and Michael Wolski. All artwork is for sale and will be on display through August 31. Gallery hours are Monday through Friday from 9am to 5pm and weekends by appointment.

The poetry reading features works written by CATA participants in a yearlong class led by Carol Stroll. Guest readers include CATA participants and the Hampshire College Poetry Team, which recently received special honors at the National College Competition and will compete in the National Poetry Slam in Madison, Wisconsin in August.

Community Access to the Arts nurtures and celebrates the creativity of people with disabilities through shared experiences in the visual and performing arts. The annual art show and poetry reading is made possible in part by grants from the Massachusetts Cultural Council and the National Endowment for the Arts. For more information, call 413-528-5485.

I Am A Part of Art: CATA at Gallery 51

June 3, 2008

On Thursday, June 12th from 6-8pm, Community Access to the Arts (CATA) will host a free community event at Gallery 51 on Main Street in North Adams. The “I Am a Part of Art” evening features an acting workshop, a screening of a short CATA documentary, and a sale of decorative objects made in CATA workshops.

Community Access to the Arts nurtures and celebrates the creativity of people with disabilities through shared experiences in the visual and performing arts. Through this event, CATA will showcase artists with disabilities and celebrate the art and life of Jessica Park, a renowned artist with autism from Williamstown.

The acting workshop starts at 6pm, led by Barby Cardillo, CATA faculty artist and member of The Royal Berkshire Improv Troupe. The screening of “Rhythm and Hues,” a documentary that chronicles CATA’s participants with disabilities as they prepare for their annual performance at Shakespeare and Company, starts at 7pm.

Visitors can shop for handcrafted items from CATAdirect, a creative employment program for artists with disabilities. CATAdirect products for adorning the home and person are produced under lively conditions from mostly recycled materials. Also for sale, “Exploring Nirvana: The Art of Jessica Park”, a 96-page, fully illustrated volume including essays and commentary on Park’s journey as an artist with autism.

For more information, call 413-528-5485.

CATA Performance Marks Fifteenth Anniversary

April 15, 2008

Community Access to the Arts will present its fifteenth anniversary performance at the Founders’ Theatre in Lenox on Saturday, May 3rd at 6 p.m. and Sunday, May 4th at 1 p.m. The Saturday evening performance is followed by a gala dinner at Berkshire Country Day School. The annual performance weekend is the organization’s largest fundraiser attended by 600 people.

Community Access to the Arts (CATA) provides arts workshops for 550 people with disabilities throughout Berkshire County. This year’s show, CATA’s Greatest Hits, features reconstructions of popular past works and new material developed by CATA faculty artists. Executive Director, Sandra Newman, commented, “We’re so lucky to be doing this work in the Berkshires! This beautiful community has embraced CATA’s exemplary model for creative social change.”

The show includes excerpts from “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” performed by CATA’s Shakespeare’s Players under the direction of Barby Cardillo and Diane Prusha, a medley of songs written by Vikki True and Bobby Sweet performed by the CATA Serenaders, and a recreation of “Common Ground,” a dance directed by Dawn Lane featuring a cast of dancers with mixed abilities and guest artist, Liz Thompson.

Community Access to the Arts’ mission is to nurture and celebrate the creativity of people with disabilities through shared experiences in the visual and performing arts. This year’s performance is supported in part by grants from fourteen Berkshire County Cultural Councils and The Boschen Fund for Artists at the Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation.

Tickets for the Saturday evening show are $95, $175 with dinner and reservations are required. Suggested donation for the Sunday matinee is $30 with reservations recommended. For more information, call 413-528-5485.

Unlocking Hidden Talent

February 14, 2008

Community Access to the Arts (CATA), through grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and VSA Massachusetts, is hosting a two-day residency with artist, Tim Lefens. Lefens is the founder of Artistic Realization Technologies (A.R.T.), an innovative technique that gives people with severe physical disabilities the freedom to create paintings using a head mounted laser pointer and a human “tracker.” The residency takes place on March 17 and 18 at Williams College in Williamstown.

During the residency, six individuals will be trained as trackers, becoming the hands of the artist working with them through an infinite and sophisticated series of yes or no questions designed to offer the artist complete control. Trackers must be very patient, learning to act only upon receiving affirmation from the artist. The result sometimes blows the art world away. A writer for Arbus Magazine asks, “How is it that an individual thought to be unable to communicate, is able to create pieces with such grace and power?” The answer, it is suggested, is that they put more into it. One of Lefens’ artists said, “Even Tim [Lefens] doesn’t know how we live in the paint.”

While A.R.T. has won several prestigious awards, been featured in the New York Times and the CBS Evening News, and boasts such famous people on its board of directors as actor Wilhelm Dafoe and musician, Neil Young, the program is still struggling financially. It costs about $5,400 a year to support one artist. Community Access to the Arts’ grant makes it possible to introduce A.R.T. to ten local students with disabilities, train six trackers, and professionally document the work. CATA is still looking for funding to provide ongoing A.R.T. workshops throughout the year.

Rebecca Tucker-Smith, CATA’s program director for North Berkshire County, explains, “People who have viewed the art have been impressed and deeply moved by the quality of the images and by the tremendous power A.R.T. has to unlock otherwise hidden talent and vision. CATA is thrilled to be able to bring this revolutionary program to Berkshire County for the community to witness.” For more information on A.R.T., visit www.artrealization.org. For more information on CATA, call 413-528-5485.