Event Description: Join us and some special guests to learn about what it takes to make sure your programs are truly accessible to educators and students! From a teacher’s first touch point with your institution’s website or registration to facilitating an accessible program and all points in between, and how these steps can be welcoming, inclusive, and efficient for schools and your staff.
This event has concluded. A recording of the event will be posted here at a later date.
| Abby Busser-Accettura |
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| Abby is a long time resident of the Chicagoland area, Abby holds a Bachelors Degree in English and the Humanities from Valparaiso University, where she attended the Christ College honors program, and a Masters of Fine Art in Screenwriting from DePaul. Abby’s career experience lies in both formal and informal education at institutions across Chicago, including Big Brothers Big Sisters of Metro Chicago and the Griffin Museum of Science and Industry. She currently serves as the Senior Learning Specialist for Teen Programs at the John G. Shedd Aquarium, where she sits on the Learning Department’s Accessibility working circle. In her free time, Abby also occasionally works as a photographer specializing in portraiture and event photography, and sings with the Windy City Performing Arts Treble Quire.
Abby joined the Steering Committee in 2025. |
| Alejandra Rodriguez |
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| Alejandra was born and raised in Chicago and has been a lifelong participant in informal arts education programs, fostering a passion for the arts, accessibility, community, and museums. Alejandra currently serves as Associate Director of K-12 Student Experiences at the Art Institute of Chicago, where she has worked to establish a growing bilingual (Spanish/English) program, co-develop virtual and onsite student programs highlighting accessibility, and mentor a cohort of educators leading K-12 student experiences with a focus on serving Chicago Public Schools. Throughout her years of museum education experience, Alejandra has also created accessible and bilingual programming for multigenerational audiences at the Children’s Museum of Denver, Denver Art Museum, and Clyfford Still Museum in Colorado.
Alejandra joined the Steering Committee in 2025. |
| Jessica Alcazar |
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| Jessica is a Senior Educator in the Learning Lab Team at the Art Institute of Chicago. She works on programming for and with out-of-school time youth through paid teen internships, civic partnerships, designing monthly teen studio workshops, and creating accessible interactive gallery experience and hands-on artmaking in partnership with Special Olympics Chicago. Jessica’s background is in community engagement, connecting people to resources, and she brings that approach to her work. |
| Chris Berg |
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| Chris is a Learning Specialist at Shedd Aquarium, where he develops and facilitates learning experiences focused on connecting people with animals. He serves as the lead for Shedd’s Learn with Animals program, which brings animal encounters and conservation learning directly into classrooms across Chicago. His work focuses on learner-centered program design that allows students to meet nature in a way that is unique to them. Chris holds a Master of Arts in Teaching from Miami University’s Project Dragonfly program. |
| Kenton Kiser |
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| Kenton is the School and Camp Program Coordinator at Garfield Park Conservatory Alliance, the non-profit organization that runs public programming at the historic Garfield Park Conservatory in Chicago, Illinois. Before accepting his current role, Kenton studied Plant Science at the University of California Santa Cruz, became a nature educator as a Sustainability Service Corp fellow in Oakland, California, and worked as a facilitator at San Francisco’s Exploratorium, a hands-on physics museum. Currently, he is working on making school programming at Garfield Park Conservatory more interactive, more hands-on, and more involved in the historic collection. |