The Art-Reach Consulting Team centers community feedback, and inclusive design in our accessibility work.
We have a goal of setting a new standard for accessibility in the region, and to accomplish this The Art-Reach team is providing world class accessibility planning to dozens of organizations in the area. A project made possible by the William Penn Foundation, Art-Reach’s accessibility planning is a robust assessment of an organization’s accessibility, ADA compliance, and disability inclusive practices. Each plan is crafted for organizations to transform their spaces and programming over three years.
Our team of ADA coordinators and arts professionals visit each site and thoroughly investigate strengths and weaknesses in each organization’s accessibility. Our staff prides itself on expertise in ADA guidelines, as well as ticketing practices, inclusive costumer service, accessible visual branding, wayfinding, and more. Above all, the Art-Reach team provides lived disability experience alongside years of arts, and accessibility knowledge.
Each arts organization’s access needs are different. So, we have developed our strategic accessibility plans to guide organizations to become ADA-compliant, and disability- inclusive through four core areas of focus: mobility, vision, hearing, and neurodivergence. These accessibility plans split accessibility recommendations into types of disability experience, allowing for organizations to understand what our recommendations are set to achieve.
Through our network of human service organizations and our very own ACCESS program, we survey visitors and community members with disabilities to give their feedback on your organization. They provide invaluable information on site experience, customer service, accommodation practices, and articulate areas improvement that might otherwise go unnoticed.
As part of the information we collect for each organization, Art-Reach hosts Disability Forum Discussions to learn directly from the disabled community what equitable access truly means. Anyone is allowed to offer feedback, share experience, and participate. The discussions are facilitated by Project Director, Nae Vallejo, and the Art-Reach Consulting Team, and is a primary part of our larger goals of developing new accessibility standards for the larger Philadelphia area.
We compile information from costumers, our own site visits, staff, as well as contextual disability information around each organization to put together our strategic access recommendations. All recommendations exist in tiers meant to allow for each organization to prioritize the most urgent of access issues first and plan long-term changes.
To be a part of project 76 an organization needs to be an active participating ACCESS Card site, be located within Art-Reach’s operating area, and commit to a 4-month evaluation process.
