Community Access to the Arts: redefining disability

Dear Friend,

If you love CATA’s work then tell the world! GreatNonprofits — a site like Amazon Book Reviews — is conducting a campaign to identify the top-rated arts nonprofits in the country.

Won’t you help us participate in the campaign by posting a review of your experience with us? Perhaps you’ve seen our annual performance or witnessed a workshop. Maybe you’ve seen a CATA exhibit and purchased a piece of artwork. Or maybe you know someone who participates in our programs. All reviews will be visible to potential donors and volunteers. It’s easy and only takes 3 minutes! Go to: www.greatnonprofits.org/reviews/write/community-access-to-the-arts-inc

Be sure to choose “Arts 2011” from the drop-down list of campaigns when posting your review.

Thank you for helping CATA gain national attention!

Susie Hardcastle became part of the CATA family in 1996; teaching at many of our settings in Berkshire County including BCARC, Redfield House, AD-LIB, and Riverbrook.  Her ability to impart her artistry while being open to the artistry of people with disabilities always produced something extraordinary!  In 2001, she began overseeing the design and execution of the sets for CATA’s annual performance at Shakespeare & Company.  She had a knack and reverence for coming up with all kinds of materials to produce desired effects.  CATA participants were always excited to encounter her ideas AND in her wonderful Susie way, she was always equally excited by their interpretations and variations.  We look forward to honoring Susie in this year’s show…we will miss her overalls and her fabulous guffaw!  

Please visit our Facebook photo album to view some of Susie’s remarkable contributions to CATA over the years.

In anticipation of our A.R.T exhibit, we want to share with you a video to show you the process behind this truly unique program! Be sure to stop by the Lichtenstein Center for the Arts in Pittsfield October 12-15 to see all of the wonderful artwork!

To watch the video, click the link above or go to www.Vimeo.com/21735847!

We’re excited to be in the Berkshire Botanical Garden’s Harvest Festival this year on October 1 and 2. Stop by to see our beautiful jewelry, handbags, note cards, and other handcrafted items. Each week, ten participants with disabilities and eight community volunteers meet in CATA’s studio to create unique items, mostly of recycled and donated materials. Current best sellers include our paper mache necklaces made from recycled Berkshire Eagle newspapers (!), and colorful luggage tags featuring CATA artwork and whimsical ribbons sure to be easily spotted in baggage claim.

While our programming takes a brief break in the summer, we’re still plugging away here at the office with the help of a hard working air conditioning system and plenty of ice coffee (and a summer intern – thank you Raphaella!). What for? Our summer Art Show of course! The opening reception is August 7th at the Welles Gallery in Lenox, and our faculty artist Pat Hogan is framing up a storm in anticipation.

We’re very much hoping to see all of our CATA friends at the opening reception, but if you can’t make it to the opening – you can stop by the Welles Library until August 20th to see some of the incredible art work created by our CATA folks this year. We asked our visual arts faculty and participants to “go places”, and go they did! Come and see their impressions of faraway places like Paris and Hawaii, alongside images of our beautiful home in the Berkshires. In some cases, our artists traveled to the depths of the art making process itself and emerged with magnificent, abstract images of dynamic shapes and vibrant colors.

Hope to see you all there! As always, many thanks for supporting CATA.

— Adrienne Brown, Program Coordinator

Many thanks to State Representative Smitty Pignatelli for facilitating CATA’s exhibit at the State House July 11-15.  The exhibit will hang in the beautiful Doric Hall Monday through Friday from 9am-5pm and and features the artwork of 29 CATA participants from 9 different Berkshire County settings.  CATA’s executive director, Sandy Newman, will be on hand on Monday morning to greet visitors along with Pat Hogan, CATA’s curator and visual faculty artist.  The exhibit is FREE to the public.

Marketplace has come up with an exciting menu for our Saturday evening post-performance buffet reception. Check out this mouth-watering spread!

CATA Gala Menu:

• Chickpea and feta fritter with tzatziki
• Tiny Maine crab cake with remoulade
• Charred beef with baby arugula & Stilton on brioche crouton
• Chickpea and feta fritter with tzatziki
• Tiny Maine crab cake with remoulade
• Charred beef with baby arugula & Stilton on brioche crouton
• Shrimp ceviche with tomato, red onion, lime and extra virgin olive oil
• Blue corn tortilla chips
• Mesclun salad with jicama and orange vinaigrette
• Flaked Moroccan salmon with five spice couscous salad (tossed to order)
• Coconut infused jasmine rice with grilled miso chicken breast and Napa cabbage
• Assortment of petit cookies, fresh fruit tartlets and chocolate brownies

What if Community Access to the Arts earned a donation every time you searched the Internet? Or how about if a percentage of every purchase you made online went to support our cause? Well, now it can!

GoodSearch.com is a Yahoo-powered search engine that donates half its advertising revenue, about a penny per search, to the charities its users designate. Use it just as you would any search engine, get quality search results from Yahoo, and watch the donations add up!

GoodShop.com is an online shopping mall which donates up to 30 percent of each purchase to your favorite cause! Hundreds of great stores including Amazon, Target, and eBay have teamed up with GoodShop and every time you place an order, you’ll be supporting your favorite cause.

And if you download the GoodSearch toolbar, our cause will earn money every time you shop and search online – even if you forget to go to GoodShop or GoodSearch first! Add the Community Access to the Arts – CATA (Great Barrington) toolbar.

P.S. CATA’s web site has been updated with a new look, a blog feature, and more video clips. If you like our site, check out our web designers, Chelsea DeSantis and Andrew Liebchen of Deelux!

Dear Friends,

Community Access to the Arts’ 18th program year has begun! The 2010-2011 theme, “Going Places,” is an invitation to explore the unexpected as we travel with our participants, our faculty artists, and you, our celebrators and supporters. It’s as much about the journey as the destination this year.

We are grateful for all of the ways you show your support for CATA, and especially appreciate all of you who have continued to support CATA even in leaner times. As the headlines challenge us more intensely, our unique model for creative social change, uniting people across all boundaries and celebrating every individual for their abilities and for what they contribute grows more relevant.

Together we’ve drawn an extensive artistic map for CATA over these 17 years, and thanks to your support we have proudly welcomed any interested participant, regardless of their financial capacity. As programs and services to people with disabilities suffer deeper and deeper cuts, our work becomes more essential to their quality of life. If you have witnessed our work, then you know how deeply connected the joy of creative expression is to all of us.

Your gift of any amount keeps our mission open to all. We invite your renewed support, and if you are new to CATA, welcome you to become part of this joyful journey.

With deep appreciation,

Sandy Newman, Executive Director
John J. Whalan, Board President

Download the PDF of our printed appeal and newsletter filled with color photographs, CATA news and important dates.

How to make a donation: Donate through PayPal, or download our donation form and send along with check or credit card information to: Community Access to the Arts, 40 Railroad Street, Suite 6, Great Barrington, MA 01230.

Excerpt from an article by Amanda Rae Busch for Berkshire Living:

Clichés, smeeshays. Sticks & Stones mirrors, crafted by creative people with disabilities at Great Barrington’s Community Access to the Arts under the guidance of faculty artist and Cut It Out twig furnishings founder Janice Shields, are guaranteed to elicit double-takes. Made of sticks collected in Stockbridge, Mass., and polished river stones, the organic adornments send a mighty message.

16- by 18-inch frames about $125 at the Berkshire Botanical Garden Shop, Routes 102 & 183, Stockbridge, Mass., 413.298.3926; Campo de’ Fiori, 1815 N. Main St./Route 7, Sheffield, Mass., 413. 413.528.1857; Evergreen Fine American Crafts, 291 Main St., Great Barrington, Mass., 413.528.0511; Community Access to the Arts, 40 Railroad St., Great Barrington, Mass., 413.528.5485; Cut It Out by Janice Shields, 413.298.0677.