Community Access to the Arts: redefining disability

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 25, 2010
Contact: Liana Toscanini
(413) 528-5485
Digital images available

The Board of Directors of Community Access to the Arts (CATA) has elected John J. Whalan of West Stockbridge to serve as its new president. CATA provides visual and performing arts opportunities for 600 area residents with disabilities.

Whalan is the founder and president of Black Ice Entertainment, a Great Barrington-based media development and production company. He has served on CATA’s board for 10 years.

Whalan said, “CATA is one of the finest organizations in Berkshire County. Under the leadership of Sandy Newman, a team of generous professional staff and artists nurture and celebrate the idea that everyone should be recognized for their unique talents. I hope to build on the successes of my predecessors, Janet Elsbach and Ben Silberstein, to further strengthen the support that has allowed CATA, its participants and clients to continue to flourish.”

CATA also announces the appointment of Adrienne Brown to a newly created position of program coordinator for Berkshire County. An educator with a background in art and experience working with people with disabilities, Adrienne will oversee day-to-day operation of CATA’s arts workshops. In addition, Katie Clarke has been promoted to administrative director. Maria Mazzocco, formerly a North County staff member, now holds the countywide post of assistant program coordinator.

Founder and executive director, Sandra Newman, said, “I am very grateful that John Whalan will continue the strong leadership that CATA has been fortunate to have throughout our 18 years of programs in the Berkshires. His deep understanding of our work has helped us to enhance our wonderful staff to meet our current growth.”

CATA is headquartered on Railroad Street in Great Barrington and has an operating budget of $600,000. The organization collaborates with 29 different health and human service organizations to offer 1,000 individual workshops annually in the visual and performing arts. For more information, images, videos, and shopping opportunities, visit www.communityaccesstotheARTS.org.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 16, 2010
Contact: Liana Toscanini
(413) 528-5485
Digital images available

Community Access to the Arts (CATA) will be exhibiting at the New Marlborough Meeting House Gallery on Saturday, November 13 with a reception from 4pm-6pm.

Paintings and drawings from CATA’s “Sticks & Stones” themed year will be on display featuring artists with disabilities who participate in CATA’s visual arts workshops throughout the year. Pieces from CATA’s set design workshop led by New Marlborough resident and CATA faculty artist, Susie Hardcastle, will be exhibited as well. All paintings are for sale with participant artists earning 50% commission. Products from CATA’s crafts cooperative will also be available for sale.

The historic New Marlborough Meeting House is located on Route 57 in the center of New Marlborough next to The Old Inn on the Green. The gallery is wheelchair accessible. This event is free and open to the public and is sponsored by Rhee Kasky, Bill Cohn, and a grant from the New Marlborough Cultural Council, a local agency supported by the Massachusetts Cultural Council, a state agency. For more information call (413) 528-5485.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 13, 2010
Contact: Liana Toscanini
(413) 528-5485
Digital images available

Community Access to the Arts (CATA) will be exhibiting at the Sandisfield Arts Center from October 16 through mid December. An opening reception will be held Saturday, October 16 from 3pm-5pm.

Paintings and drawings from CATA’s “Sticks & Stones” themed year will be on display featuring artists with disabilities who participate in CATA’s visual arts workshops throughout the year. CATA faculty artist, Pat Hogan, curated and the show and will be present at the reception for those who want to learn more about CATA’s visual arts programs. All paintings are for sale with participant artists earning 50% commission. Products from CATA’s crafts collection will also be available for sale.

The Sandisfield Arts Center is housed in a National Register historic building on Hammertown Road off Route 57 in Sandisfield. For directions, visit www.sandisfieldartscenter.org.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 10, 2010
Contact: Liana Toscanini
(413) 528-5485
Digital images available

Sandy Newman and Dawn Lane of Community Access to the Arts (CATA) both received high honors this month. CATA is a Great Barrington non-profit that provides arts programs for people with disabilities in Berkshire County.

Newman was honored at the Rotary Club of Great Barrington as “Citizen of the Year” for her founding vision and 18 years of dedication to CATA’s mission to nurture and celebrate the creativity of people with disabilities through shared experiences in the visual and performing arts.

Lane received a $7,500 fellowship grant from the Massachusetts Cultural Council in recognition of and in support of her exceptional choreography. She is CATA’s Program and Artistic Director as well as the founder of The Moving Co., a group of mixed-ability dancers recently invited to perform in Washington, D.C. as part of the VSA International Arts Festival.

Newman and Lane, both of Stockbridge, have worked together for over 15 years to grow Community Access to the Arts into a model for social change, employing 21 local artists as faculty, and serving over 500 people with disabilities throughout Berkshire County.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 10, 2010
Contact: Liana Toscanini
(413) 528-5485
Digital images available

On Thursday, July 29 from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. Community Access to the Arts (CATA) will present “I Am a Part of Art,” the annual art show and poetry reading at 70 Railroad Street gallery (behind the Triplex). The event is free and open to the public.

Community Access to the Arts provides visual and performing arts workshops for over 500 people with disabilities throughout Berkshire County. Paintings, pastels, collages, and drawings were selected from artwork created in CATA’s Arts In/Arts Out workshops taught by CATA faculty artists: Susie Hardcastle, Pat Hogan, Leslie Klein, Marlene Marshall, Senta Reis, and Janice Shields. Created under the artistic umbrella of CATA’s 2010 theme, “Sticks & Stones,” all artwork is for sale and will be on display through August 31. Gallery hours are Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and weekends by appointment.

The twenty-minute long poetry reading starts promptly at 5 p.m. and features works written by CATA participants in a year long class led by Carol Stroll. This year’s guest reader is Donald Platt, an award-winning author and poet, and the brother of one of CATA’s participants. A professor of English at Purdue University, Platt is a recipient of a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts. His poems have appeared in The New Republic, The Paris Review, and Best American Poetry 2000 and 2006.

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, Berkshire Life Charitable Foundation, and the Alford/Egremont, Monterey, and Otis Cultural Councils. For more information, call (413) 528-5485.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 27, 2010
Contact: Liana Toscanini
(413) 528-5485
Digital images available

Community Access to the Arts (CATA) will be one of the first arts organizations to exhibit in Topia Arts Center’s raw theatre space at 27 Park Street in Adams. Curated by CATA faculty artist, Pat Hogan, the exhibit will feature large paintings by artists with disabilities. The opening reception is Thursday, June 17 from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. and is free to the public. CATA artwork will hang through June 30.

Community Access to the Arts nurtures and celebrates the creativity of people with disabilities through shared experiences in the visual and performing arts. Based in Great Barrington, the organization has expanded its services dramatically in central and northern Berkshire County. “We are thrilled to partner with Topia Arts Center to exhibit in Adams for the first time,” said CATA Executive Director, Sandra Newman.

“This is a great opportunity for people to discover CATA and Topia at the same time,” said Caryn Heilman, Artistic Director of Topia Arts Center. Heilman and partner, Nana Simopoulos, are cofounders of this green arts and education center currently in development. While in various stages of renovation, Topia continues to present many community events, including the upcoming “Symphony of 100 Carpenters” on June 12. To learn more about the two non-profit arts organizations, visit www.topiaarts.org.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 17, 2010
Contact: Liana Toscanini
(413) 528-5485
Digital images available

Community Access to the Arts, the Great Barrington non-profit organization that provides arts programs for people with disabilities in Berkshire County, has been chosen by VSA arts International to perform at the Harmon Center for the Arts in Washington, D.C. on June 7, 2010. VSA arts, an affiliate of The Kennedy Center, is an international nonprofit organization founded 35 years ago by Ambassador Jean Kennedy Smith that showcases the accomplishments of artists with disabilities and promotes increased access to the arts for all people.

CATA’s Moving Company will perform “common ground,” choreographed and directed by Dawn Lane, featuring a cast of 14 dancers of diverse abilities and 14 assorted chairs. A metaphor for noticing similarities and accepting differences, the dancers perform a variation of musical chairs that establishes the stage as a place for humor, poignancy and democracy. The Moving Company recently performed at the She’s Got Moxie Awards and Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival.

From June 6-12, 2010, VSA arts will bring together over 2,000 artists, 28 companies, educators, researchers, and policy makers with disabilities from around the world for a multicultural celebration of the arts and arts education. Highlights of the festival’s artistic programming will include an installation by Dale Chihuly, the innovative glass sculptor, legends Patti LaBelle & Diane Schuur, and famed actors Claire Danes and Marlee Matlin. The Moving Company is the only performing arts group from Massachusetts selected by a panel of distinguished jurors from the performing arts community from over 100 international applicants.

Community Access to the arts nurtures and celebrates the creativity of people with disabilities through shared experiences in the visual and performing arts. For more information visit www.communityaccesstotheARTS.org or www.vsarts.org.

Made possible by Peter Pan Bus, Berkshire Life Insurance Co. Corporate Contributions Committee, Berkshire Mountain Distillers, Iredale Mineral Cosmetics, Ltd, New England Foundation for the Arts and the following individuals:

Ella Baff & John Badanes, Michael & Marcia Beck, Berkshire South Regional Community Center, Blue Point Design, Willard & Millicent Booth, Ellen & Peter Brewer, Linda Day, Kathleen Favaloro, Gussie & Peter Greer, Ira & Jami Grossman, Karen C. Hyland, Joseph & Jane Kavanau, Kathleen King & Ned Macksoud, Dawn Kramer & Stephen Buck, Joan & David Lane, Eleanor Lord & Margaret Wheeler, John MacClaren & Christopher Sink, Sandy Newman, Elaine Radiss & Rich Petrino, Emily Rechnitz & John Paladino, Karen & Tom Robards, Steve & Leslie Shatz, Margaret N. Tracy, Tyler & Chris Weld, Joe Wheaton & Dick Lipez, Dr. Jay Wise, Christine Wojnar, Wonderful Things.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 16, 2010
Contact: Liana Toscanini
(413) 528-5485
Digital images available

Ferrin Gallery has invited Community Access to the Arts (CATA) to present “Branching Out,” a unique exhibition featuring the theatrical set from CATA’s upcoming annual performance. The opening reception for “Branching Out” takes place on May 6 at 6pm and is the first time in CATA’s 17-year history that a stage set will be dismantled, exhibited and sold.

CATA’s 2010 theme, “Sticks and Stones,” invites CATA faculty and participants with disabilities to explore the simplicity of these materials in art-making as well as the meaning of the old schoolyard taunt — “Sticks and stones may break my bones but names will never hurt me.”  The annual performance weekend takes place at the Founders’ Theatre in Lenox on May 1 and 2.

The Artists’ Resource Trust funded a series of set-design and construction workshops led by CATA faculty, Susie Hardcastle, a visual artist from New Marlborough, and Janice Shields, a rustic artist from Stockbridge. Fifteen adults with disabilities are working with Hardcastle and Shields, using materials donated from Dresser Hull and Caligari & Sons, to create the set. The installation will include tree-like structures, paper maché rocks, hand-stenciled panels, and a rustic grid made of sticks and twigs.

Funded by the Pittsfield Cultural Council, the “Branching Out” exhibit at Ferrin Gallery runs from May 6 through May 9, 2010. Proceeds from the sale of the set will help fund CATA’s arts programs for over 500 people with disabilities in Berkshire County.  Ferrin Gallery is one of the nation’s premier ceramic art and sculpture galleries. For more information visit www.ferringallery.com.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 7, 2010
Contact: Liana Toscanini
(413) 528-5485
Digital images available

Community Access to the Arts presents “Sticks & Stones” at The Founders’ Theatre in Lenox on Saturday, May 1 at 6 p.m. and Sunday, May 2 at 1 p.m. CATA’s 2010 theme, “Sticks and Stones,” invites CATA faculty artists and participants with disabilities to explore the simplicity of these materials in art-making and reflect on the old schoolyard taunt: “Sticks and stones may break my bones but names will never hurt me.”

CATA is pleased to announce a collaboration this year with lyricist Randy Courts, who recently worked with writer/lyricist Will Osborne on MAGIC TREE HOUSE: THE MUSICAL, a nationally-touring show based on the best-selling series by Mary Pope Osbourne. Of his experience, Courts said, “…CATA builds bridges. So when I enthusiastically agreed to write a song for CATA’s annual gala, I crossed a bridge and entered into this really extraordinary place where I’m being schooled in the basics of living a full, giving and loving life by a wonderful team of experts. You can pay good money for this kind of therapy, you can go to a monastery, stay silent and eat bulgur wheat for a month…. or you can just go hang out at CATA.”

Courts, Vikki True, and twenty CATA participants will premier “The People Chain,” a song he composed especially for the gala performance. They will be joined by special guest, Broadway, film and television actor, Donna Bullock. Other premiers include works by Shakespeare’s Players directed by Barby Cardillo and Diane Prusha; The Moving Company directed by Dawn Lane and Olivia Wilber; the Tap Murmurs directed by Stefanie Weber; and The Juggling Connection directed by Michael Wolski.

In addition, on May 6-9, Ferrin Gallery in Pittsfileld will host “Branching Out,” an exhibit featuring a re-installation of the stage set from the CATA performance. Using materials donated from Dresser Hull and E. Caligari & Sons, the installation will include tree-like structures, paper-mache rocks, hand-stenciled panels, and a rustic grid made of sticks and twigs. The scenery workshop and gallery exhibition are funded by Artists’ Resource Trust and the Pittsfield Cultural Council respectively.

CATA’s gala weekend is the organization’s largest fundraising effort, the proceeds of which are used to provide over 1000 arts workshops throughout Berkshire County. The show celebrates the creativity of people with disabilities, wowing and inspiring the audience with CATA’s message of inclusion. Underwriting support of the “Sticks & Stones” performance weekend include: Emily Rechnitz & John Paladino, Elaine & Bernard Roberts, Anne & Ernest Schnesel, Berkshire Mountain Distillers, Domaney’s Liquors and Fine Wine, Joan & Jim Hunter, Lola Jaffe, Kwik Print, James Marden, Kate & Joel Millonzi, Helice & Steven Picheny, Elaine & Ben Silberstein, Marcia Walsh & Eric Block, and Liz & Mark Williams. For more information, call (413) 528-5485.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ABOUT THE PROGRAM

Power in Numbers, directed by Stefanie Weber, a tap piece that underlines synchronicity as a basic building block. There is safety in numbers, power in counting, repetition and partnering; and we should all be allowed the dignity of learning and the many options of our creativity.

…but they do, directed by Barby Cardillo and Diane Prusha features selected scenes and
speeches from Romeo & Juliet, Richard III, Hamlet and Merchant of Venice showing the power of words. The scenes give voice to misunderstanding and cruelty, beauty and compassion, manipulation and cunning, insight and perception.

Celebrate, performed by JoAnne Spies and written by residents of Fairview Commons, North Adams Commons, Williamstown Commons and Melbourne Place, is a song that joyfully acknowledges the journey and cycle of life’s highs and lows.

The People Chain, directed by Vikki True, written by Randy Courts. Our commonalities are bigger than our differences. The song takes listeners on a train to a common destination; a metaphor for togetherness and connection. Composer/Lyricist Randy Courts likens The People Chain to looking down the aisle of a train to the next car and the next, seeing what looks like a chain of people.

Resilience, directed by Dawn Lane & Olivia Wilber. explores teasing, taunting, forgiveness and acceptance in an abstract playground with a cast of women clothed in cotton slips that symbolize the vulnerability of the taunted.

Magic Moment, directed by Michael Wolski. Everyday props yield a magic moment for a trio of CATA participants.

ABOUT COMMUNITY ACCESS TO THE ARTS
CATA nurtures and celebrates the creativity of people with disabilities through shared experiences in the visual and performing arts. Our programs take place in 29 healthcare, therapeutic, educational, and community settings throughout Berkshire County, serving over 500 people with disabilities and employing 24 local faculty artists. Now in it’s 17th year, CATA offers over 1,000 individual workshops annually.

PEOPLE FIRST LANGUAGE
Please use the term “people with disabilities” instead of disabled people and “artists with disabilities” instead of disabled artists. For more about terminology, visit www.disabilityisnatural.com.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 22, 2010
Contact: Liana Toscanini
(413) 528-5485
Digital images available

Art on Main, the exhibition gallery at Barnbrook Realty on Main Street, Great Barrington, will feature the artists from Community Access to the Arts (CATA) from March 19 through April 30. The opening reception takes place on Saturday, March 27 from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. and is free to the public.

CATA nurtures and celebrates the creativity of people with disabilities through shared experiences in the visual and performing arts. Paintings created in CATA’s many visual arts workshops are framed, exhibited and sold through CATA Art on Tour, a program funded this year by Rita Kasky & Bill Cohn, Susie Crofut & Ben Luxon, Joyce & Lew Scheffey, and the Sandisfield and New Marlborough Cultural Councils. CATA artists receive commission for any artwork sold.

CATA serves over 500 people with disabilities in Berkshire County, employing 24 faculty artists and collaborating with 29 different human service organizations. For more information, call (413) 528-5485.