PROPOSALS DUE: MARCH 26 <-- NEW DEADLINE

Chicago Accessibility Consortium (CCAC) and the Museum, Arts and Culture Access Consortium (MAC) in New York are partnering to offer two virtual panel discussions that will explore:

Day 1: will focus on the Present: how organizations that have reopened during the pandemic (either virtually or in-person) have prioritized accessibility for guests with disabilities.
DATE: Thursday April 22, 2021;  3:00pm or 4:00pm Eastern (Virtual panel presented via Zoom)

Day 2 will focus on the Future: with cultural administrators sharing their plans for "building back better."  How the pandemic's impact and lessons learned will impact future planning and programming (e.g., could be planning to incorporate virtual participation or virtual programming more often, allowing work from home to continue).
DATE: Thursday April 29, 2021; 3:00pm or 4:00pm ET  (Virtual panel presented via Zoom)

PRESENTER EXPECTATIONS
CCAC & MAC seek 2-4 cultural administrators per day to participate in a two day virtual panel.  

Each presenter is asked to share a 10-minute presentation outlining your organization’s either current focus on accessibility for in-person or virtual programming during the COVID-19 pandemic or a 10-minute presentation outlining your organization’s preliminary plan or your personal vision of how the “new normal” after COVID-19 will change or better prioritize accessibility for guests with disabilities.

Presenters will also help answer questions during a brief Q&A after the presentation.

Presenters should be cultural administrators or teaching artists, but they need not necessarily represent organizations. We acknowledge many in the arts sector are currently not employed! Presenters can be based anywhere around the world. A silver lining of the pandemic is that we can solicit participation from anywhere around the globe.

Selected presenters will receive a modest honorarium to acknowledge their time and expertise.

QUESTIONS
If you have questions related to submitting this Google Form, please contact Info@ChicagoCulturalAccess.org.

PANEL ACCESSIBILITY
Real-time captioning and American Sign Language (ASL) interpretation will be provided. We will do our best to provide other accommodations you may need! If you require other accommodations to fully participate or present, please indicate in the field below. All presenters are expected to describe their own images and presentations to ensure full accessibility for guests who are blind or have low vision.
A brief training can be provided if you are unfamiliar with this practice.

About MAC:
As MAC is composed of access workers from a variety of cultural institutions, we collectively feel the  impact on our institutions by COVID-19. For the past 30 years, the Museum, Arts and Culture Access Consortium (MAC) has impacted the cultural lives of the disability community through connection, education, advocacy, MAC is an association composed of professionals in the fields of disability, art and culture, who facilitate professional development workshops and offer a network of mutual support to help practitioners engage with disability advocacy and concepts associated with disability. Learn more: MACaccess.org.
 
About CCAC:
Chicago Cultural Accessibility Consortium (CCAC) believes everyone deserves access to culture - whether the experience is in-person or online. Founded in 2013, CCAC facilitates a dynamic community of cultural administrators and people with disabilities to remove barriers in the Chicago region’s cultural organizations. CCAC is a nonprofit entirely run by passionate volunteers whose mission is to empower Chicago’s cultural spaces to become more accessible to visitors with disabilities. Learn more: ChicagoCulturalAccess.org.