Event Description: What opportunities exist (or could be created) for artists with disabilities to showcase our work, highlight what we do, share our perspective, and find connections and communities? What makes a cultural space more effective and inclusive when working with disabled artists? Join us for a conversation-driven Lunch & Learn where artists and cultural administrators share experiences and hopes for inclusive curation practices, accessible spaces, artist support, and sustainability through small breakout groups. Audience participation is highly encouraged as we share ideas and innovate on breaking down barriers!
Event Date: Wednesday, March 20, 2024
Event Time: 11:30 AM to 1 PM Central Time
Who Should Attend: Artists and cultural administrators who want to connect and converse.
Location: Zoom. Once you register, you will have the option to add this event to your calendar. You will then receive a Zoom Meeting link from info@culturalaccesscollab.org no later than 24 hours before the event, as well as 1 hour prior to start time. Please be sure to check your Spam/Junk Mail filter for the email.
Program Accessibility: ASL interpretation and Real-Time captioning (with a streaming link option) will be provided for the webinar portion of the program. Breakout rooms will have live Zoom captioning with ASL interpreters available on an as needed basis. Please clearly indicate access needs via the event registration form so we can properly support your participation! You can also call or text 773-203-5039 to discuss specific requests.
Suggested Donation: While our programs are free, a $5 suggested donation helps to cover programming costs to ensure Cultural Access Collaborative’s mission is achievable and accessible to all. You may donate online at any time! Donations to the Collaborative are tax deductible.
Registration: Join us by completing this event registration form! Note that registrations will close on March 19 at 12 o’clock noon. In case of technical difficulties, please email info@CulturalAccessCollab.org for assistance.
Event Description: A cultural institution’s website is often the first point of contact for guests with disabilities. Are the bathrooms accessible? Where are the elevators? Can services like sign language interpretation be requested, and if so, how? Join Cultural Access Collaborative as we examine how to offer practical and sustainable information to guests about your organization’s accessibility.
Event Date: Wednesday, November 8
Event Time: 12:00 noon to 1:00 PM Central Time
Who Should Attend: Audience facing staff at your organization, or anyone interested or involved in guest relations.
Location: Zoom. Registered participants will receive a Zoom Meeting Link via email 24 hours prior to the event. Please be sure to check your Spam/Junk Mail filter for the email.
Program Accessibility: Real-Time Captioning and Sign Language Interpretation will be provided. Please complete the accommodation request field found in the event registration form or call 773-203-5039 to request other access services.
Cost: FREE. While this program is free, a $5 suggested donation helps to cover programming costs to ensure Cultural Access Collaborative’s mission is achievable and accessible to all. You may make a tax deductible online donation to the Collab at any time.
Registration: Join us by completing this event registration form! Note that registrations will close on November 7 at 11:55 PM. In case of technical difficulties, please email info@CulturalAccessCollab.org for assistance.
Cultural Access Collaborative is a volunteer-run 501(c)(3) nonprofit supported by Gaylord & Dorothy Donnelley Foundation, PERT Foundation, The MacArthur Funds for Culture, Equity, and the Arts at the Richard H. Driehaus Foundation, The Michael and Mona Heath Fund, and individual donors like you. In addition, this program is partially supported by a CityArts Grant from the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs & Special Events with funds provided by the National Endowment for the Arts as part of the American Rescue Plan as well as a grant from the Illinois Arts Council Agency through federal funds provided by the National Endowment for the Arts.
Spend an hour with Bojana Coklyat discussing what Alt Text is, tips for writing it, and the artistry involved. Capturing the important elements of an image can be challenging, especially when describing people in photos and identifying the “purpose” of the picture. Bring your questions and join us for some Alt Text practice to put our skills to the test!
Date and Time: Thursday, November 3 from 12:30 PM to 1:30 PM Central Time
Program Accessibility: CART and ASL Interpretation will be provided.
Cost: FREE, $5 suggested donation
Platform: Zoom (link will be shared with registrants)
Bojana Coklyat is a disabled artist, 2019-2020 J. William Fulbright alumni and previous project leader at the NYC Museum Arts and Culture Access Consortium (MAC). In 2019, she curated “Crip Imponderabilia”, the first gallery exhibit at NYU centering all disabled artists and disability culture. Around this time, she began collaborating with Shannon Finnegan on the Alt-Text as Poetry project. Recently, Coklyat has taken on the position of associate producer on a film funded by the American Foundation for the Blind, featuring a variety of different people in the blind community.
[Image description. Event graphic reads: “Lunch and Learn: Ask About Alt Text with Bojana Coklyat, 11.3.2022.” Bojana, a white woman with blond hair pulled back into a ponytail gives off casual and cheerful vibes. She looks directly at the camera, holding a large cup of coffee. She is in a cute little lunch spot, wearing a white T-shirt and long chain necklace.]
Zoom Meeting Notes
Registered participants will receive a Zoom Meeting Link via email from this email account the day prior to the event. Please ensure that Info@ChicagoCulturalAccess.org is an approved sender to your email account, or be sure to check your Spam/Junk Mail filter for the email.
Accessibility
ASL Interpretation and Real-Time Captioning (with a streaming link option) will be provided. Please complete the accommodation request field found in the event registration path or call 773-203-5039 to request other access services, or to learn more about event accessibility.
FREE, $5 suggested donation
Suggested Donation
While CCAC programs are free, the $5 suggested donation helps to cover programming costs to ensure CCAC’s mission is achievable and accessible to all. You may donate online anytime! Donations to CCAC are tax deductible.
CCAC is a volunteer-run 501(c)(3) nonprofit supported by Gaylord & Dorothy Donnelley Foundation, PERT Foundation, The MacArthur Funds for Culture, Equity, and the Arts at the Richard H. Driehaus Foundation, The Michael and Mona Heath Fund, and individual donors like you. In addition, this program is partially supported by grants from the Illinois Arts Council Agency through federal funds provided by the National Endowment for the Arts.
February 18, 12- 1 pm CST
Let’s talk about the friction between aesthetics and accessibility and how cultural presenters, producers, and artists can engage to create work with accessibility baked into the aesthetic from the start.
CCAC Lunch & Learns are informal discussion forums open to the community. Sessions are facilitated by CCAC Steering Committee members and attendees are encouraged to participate in open dialogue.
Zoom Meeting Notes
Registered participants will receive a Zoom Meeting Link via email from this email account the day prior to the event. Please ensure that Info@ChicagoCulturalAccess.org is an approved sender to your email account, or be sure to check your Spam/Junk Mail filter for the email.
FREE, $5 suggested donation
Accessibility
Real-Time Captioning and Sign Language Interpretation will be provided. Please complete the accommodation request field found in the event registration path or call 419-262-1886 to request other access services, or to learn more about event accessibility.
Suggested Donation
While CCAC programs are free, the $5 suggested donation helps to cover programming costs to ensure CCAC’s mission is achievable and accessible to all. You may donate online anytime! Donations to CCAC are tax deductible.
CCAC is a volunteer-run 501(c)(3) nonprofit supported by Gaylord & Dorothy Donnelley Foundation, PERT Foundation, 21st Century Fox Social Impact, The Michael and Mona Heath Fund, and individual donors like you. In addition, this program is partially supported by a grant from the Illinois Arts Council Agency through federal funds provided by the National Endowment for the Arts.
Curious about CCAC’s Equipment Loan Program and how it works? Join Steering Committee members past and present as we share the goals of the program, updates on how to access resources, as well as how the program has helped shape accessibility initiatives for our users. This program will also explore some “how-to’s” and goals of our Access Calendar.
CCAC Lunch & Learns are informal discussion forums open to the community. Sessions are facilitated by CCAC Steering Committee members and attendees are encouraged to participate in open dialogue.
About our featured presenter, Brittany Pyle
Brittany Pyle (she/her) is the Director, Production and Audience Experience at the Chicago Humanities Festival. Her goal is to make the festival enjoyable and inclusive in all its stages, from ticket buying to the presentation of an event. She oversees the Audience Services and Production teams and serves as a primary liaison with the Festival’s 40+ cultural and community venue partners. From 2016-2021, Brittany was a steering committee member of the Chicago Cultural Accessibility Consortium, working to make the city’s cultural institutions accessible to people with disabilities and older adults. She holds a BFA in Photography from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Zoom Meeting Notes
Registered participants will receive a Zoom Meeting Link via email from this email account the day prior to the event. Please ensure that Info@
FREE, $5 suggested donation
Accessibility
Real-Time Captioning and Sign Language Interpretation will be provided. Please complete the accommodation request field found in the event registration path or call 419-262-1886 to request other access services, or to learn more about event accessibility.
Suggested Donation
While CCAC programs are free, the $5 suggested donation helps to cover programming costs to ensure CCAC’s mission is achievable and accessible to all. We’ll accept cash and check the day-of, or you may donate online anytime! Donations to CCAC are tax deductible.
CCAC is a volunteer-run 501(c)(3) nonprofit supported by Gaylord & Dorothy Donnelley Foundation, PERT Foundation, 21st Century Fox Social Impact, The Michael and Mona Heath Fund, and individual donors like you. In addition, this program is partially supported by a grant from the Illinois Arts Council Agency through federal funds provided by the National Endowment for the Arts.
From Twitter to TikTok, social media is where a massive number of people find their news, seek entertainment, and socialize. But just how accessible are each of the big social networks? How do you navigate them with a disability, and how do you make the content you host on them accessible to others? Come to an informal Lunch & Learn where we share our experience with social networks, the resources on using them that we’ve found helpful, and discuss the pros and cons of what each platform offers us.
CCAC Lunch & Learns are informal discussion forums open to the community. Sessions are facilitated by CCAC Steering Committee members and attendees are encouraged to participate in open dialogue. To ensure a safe and intimate space, Lunch & Learn events are limited to a small group size and are typically not recorded.
Zoom Meeting Notes
Registered participants will receive a Zoom Meeting Link via email from this email account the day prior to the event. Please ensure that Info@
FREE, $5 suggested donation
Accessibility
Real-Time Captioning and Sign Language Interpretation will be provided. Please complete the accommodation request field found in the event registration path or call 708-212-5190 to request other access services, or to learn more about event accessibility.
Suggested Donation
While CCAC programs are free, the $5 suggested donation helps to cover programming costs to ensure CCAC’s mission is achievable and accessible to all. We’ll accept cash and check the day-of, or you may donate online anytime! Donations to CCAC are tax deductible.
Children’s literature is a critical tool in helping children to understand the world around them. One perspective often not captured in children’s literature, or captured ineffectively, is that of the disability experience. “As students look to the shelves in their classrooms and school libraries, they seek representations of themselves—characters who look, feel, and experience the world in similar ways.” (M. Kleekamp, 2019). Although diverse representation in children’s literature is an ongoing challenge to be addressed, we as consumers can take responsive action through a more mindful assessment of the books we choose to integrate into our professional work.
Join us for informal group discussion as we recap the ‘4 Guiding Questions’ presented in Monica Kleekamp’s piece: How To Critically Select Children’s Books With Representations of Disability Experiences (2019). We ask that all participants take a few minutes to read through Monica’s post in advance, and come with your thoughts!
Zoom Meeting Notes
Registered participants will receive a Zoom Meeting Link via email from this email account the day prior to the event. Please ensure that Info@ChicagoCulturalAccess.org is an approved sender to your email account, or be sure to check your Spam/Junk Mail filter for the email.
Accessibility
Real-Time Captioning and ASL interpretation will be provided. Please complete the accommodation request field found in the event registration path with what service(s) you will want to access, or for any additional requests. You may also reach us at 715-212-9140 to request services. Thank you!
Suggested Donation
While CCAC programs are free, donations help to cover programming costs to ensure CCAC’s mission is achievable and accessible to all. You may donate online anytime! Donations to CCAC are tax deductible.
In this “Ask Me Anything” Lunch and Learn, join current members of the CCAC Steering Committee to delve into the responsibilities of the Consortium. The Steering Committee for CCAC is made up of volunteers from all walks of experience in cultural spaces, focused on the varying aspects of CCAC’s mission. Learn more about the Steering Committee’s application process, professional development planning, equipment loan program management, the access calendar, and other opportunities to engage!
If you or someone you know in the Chicagoland area is interested in being involved on a leadership level with CCAC, then this is a great opportunity to ask questions and learn more about what the expectations are. 2021 is a recruitment year for the Steering Committee, and we look forward to getting to know more passionate allies and advocates for cultural accessibility. Come with your thoughts, questions, and your lunch. We look forward to connecting!