Polly is working on several community inclusive arts projects – one in Asheville, NC where she lives now, and a couple that have more regional/national implications.
An inclusive visual arts class series, over 3 Saturdays in September in Asheville, is coming together after several previous tries. The workshops will take place at Open Hearts Art Center, and will be taught by artist/educators interested in supporting community arts inclusion. Polly’s vision is for a core group of artists representing the total diversity of the community (artists who live with disability, LGBTQ artists, artists of color) to connect with each other through the arts, and go on to co-create community public art projects.
Next week Polly will attend an exciting artist/activist retreat and conference near Asheville– the annual meeting of Alternate ROOTS, a dynamic organization with a 35-year history of using arts at the community level to combat social injustice and oppression. http://alternateroots.org/ At this year’s gathering, for the first time there will be a critical mass of artists with disabilites attending–many of them members of Interweave Asheville, the inclusive theater group inspired by A New Kind of Listening. We’re aiming to start a movement toward inclusion/accessibility within Alternate ROOTS.