For 28 years, Arts Access, a nonprofit organization
based in Raleigh, NC, has been making the arts accessible to people
with disabilities. We advocate for arts accessibility throughout
the Triangle area of North Carolina; provide audio description for theatre
patrons who are blind or have low vision; refer arts administrators to
sign language interpreters; and provide accessibility training to arts
organizations and arts accessibility information to the public.
Web
This Site
House and Senate FINALLY Pass the Communications Acts!
Late on August 5th, the Senate unanimously passed S 3304, Equal
Access to 21st Century Communications Act, while the House
previously had passed HR 3101, Twenty-first Century Communications
and Video Accessibility Act of 2009. The House must now pass
the Senate version, but the wait to restore the requirement for VIDEO
DESCRIPTION is finally coming to an end!
The following performances will be audio described for people who
are blind or have low vision. There is no charge beyond regular admission
for this service.
New Described DVDs: More than 20 audio described DVDs have been
released so far this year: Death at a Funeral, Repo Men, The Bounty Hunter, Percy Jackson ... Lightning Thief, Green Zone, Alice in Wonderland, The Wolfman,
Legion, Tooth Fairy, Leap Year, It's Complicated, Avatar (Blu-ray only), Alvin and
the Chipmunks: the SqueakQuel, Toy Story, Toy Story 2,
Planet 51, The Fourth Kind,
Disney's The Princess and the Frog, 2012, Cirque du Freak, Couples
Retreat, Love Happens, and Zombieland. You can
order these DVDs
via the Audio Description Project (ADP). GET NOTIFIED of
new releases by becoming a "fan" of the
ADP page on Facebook. (Updated
August 2, '10)
SPOTLIGHT
on Barbara Olson (who became president of Arts Access on July 1): I have lived in the Raleigh area for over 30 years and became interested in
Arts Access because of my background working with children with disabilities.
I was a career music teacher and therefore worked with all kinds of children.
Some of my most rewarding teaching moments were with non-verbal autistic
students! I found the Arts Access mission to be a natural blending of my
love of the arts with my commitment to people with disabilities, so three years
ago I began to devote some of my retirement time to its work. Music has
always been an integral part of my life and it still provides much retirement
relaxation. My educational background includes a BA in music education from Erskine
College and and a masters degree and post graduate work in Educational
Supervision and Leadership from NCSU. I am married with two adult children
and three wonderful grandchildren. My husband and I enjoy the
freedom of retirement and have occupied our time with home renovation
and travel.
Read more Arts Access Bio's!
Support Arts Access by Using GoodSearch and GoodShop
GoodSearch is an Internet search engine powered by Yahoo.
Unlike other search engines (such as Google or AOL), GoodSearch
returns 50% of advertising dollars to charities selected by its users.
GoodShop is a referral service to major online retailers like
Lands End and offers us an even greater benefit. You can help support Arts Access financially at no cost to yourself
by simply using GoodSearch for your Internet searches and clicking
through our GoodShop link to make online purchases. You can
click the logos at the left (or at the bottom of the left navigation
column) or use the search box at the top of this page anytime to make a search, but we urge you to
read about how to implement GoodSearch
first. You can make it your default search engine and help us
out everyday. Thank you!
Install the
GoodSearch/GoodShop toolbar for Internet
Explorer and Firebox, now customized for Arts Access!
AUDIO DESCRIBED AND CAPTIONED MOVIES
AVAILABLE IN THE TRIANGLE! Three Triangle
area movie theaters are offering accessibility for patrons with vision or
hearing impairments for first-run movies such as Frost/Nixon and
Australia. The White Oak Stadium 14 in Garner (919-676-3456) and Beaver
Creek Stadium 12 in Apex (919-362-7342) are offering audio description
and closed captioning on one screen and assistive listening devices
(ALDs) on all screens. Also, the Regal Stadium 14 at North Hills
in Raleigh (919-786-4494) has installed a system for audio description
and open captioning (plus they offer ALDs). Kudos to these
three theaters, the first in the Triangle serving both blind and deaf users!
NOTE: Over 500 first-run films have been captioned!
(See our Movie Theater Accessibility page for
more information.)
Books and DVDs related to the arts and disabilities.
We have compiled a large list of books which address the intersection of
Arts and Disabilities, plus we'll point you to DVDs with
audio description. We have books for adults, parents, teachers, and
children. Have a look now -- they make great GIFTS for the right person.
Click the cover image to the left to learn more about this particular randomly
selected book, or click the Books and DVDs hotlink above or the Books
link in the left column to see the complete list.
We hope that you or someone you know will benefit from the free services
provided by Arts Access this year. TELL A FRIEND !
Arts Access Performing Arts Associates
Arts Access works with the following Triangle area arts organizations.
Clicking on their logos will take you to their web sites.
Arts Access is funded in part by the City of Raleigh based
on recommendations of the
Raleigh Arts Commission, and is supported by
United Arts Council
of Raleigh and Wake County, with funds from the United Arts campaign and the
North Carolina Arts Council,
an agency funded by the State of North Carolina and the
National Endowment for the
Arts. We are also receiving support from
VSA International as we
look to expand the scope of our services across the state of NC.
Site Accessibility: This website conforms to government
Section 508 and W3C WCAG Priority 1 standards for web accessibility. See our
Browser Accessibility page for ways to improve readability
of this and other web sites if you have low vision. This website displays
best at 1024x768 screen resolution using a modern browser with JavaScript enabled.
Comments, suggestions, and corrections for these web pages
are encouraged; please contact the
.
SPOTLIGHT
on Barbara Olson (who became president of Arts Access on July 1): I have lived in the Raleigh area for over 30 years and became interested in
Arts Access because of my background working with children with disabilities.
I was a career music teacher and therefore worked with all kinds of children.
Some of my most rewarding teaching moments were with non-verbal autistic
students! I found the Arts Access mission to be a natural blending of my
love of the arts with my commitment to people with disabilities, so three years
ago I began to devote some of my retirement time to its work. Music has
always been an integral part of my life and it still provides much retirement
relaxation. My educational background includes a BA in music education from Erskine
College and and a masters degree and post graduate work in Educational
Supervision and Leadership from NCSU. I am married with two adult children
and three wonderful grandchildren. My husband and I enjoy the
freedom of retirement and have occupied our time with home renovation
and travel.
Install the
GoodSearch/GoodShop 
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