Issues and Actions

More than 70% of people with disabilities are not in the labor force, and those who wish to pursue a career in the arts face difficult challenges.  On July 22-24, 2009, the National Endowment for the Arts and the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts presented a National Summit on Careers in the Arts for People with Disabilities.  The first such gathering since 1998, this National Summit was initiated to review progress over the past decade concerning education, arts training, and job opportunities for people with disabilities who are pursuing arts careers; and develop recommendations and best practices for advancing arts careers for people with disabilities.  Other federal agencies participating included the Social Security Administration (SSA) and the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education.

ACTA’s Executive Director Amy Kitchener was invited to participate at the National Summit, to make a presentation about her experiences in working with traditional artists who are unintentionally prevented from participating as grantees and recipients of cash awards due to their government assistance requirements limiting income.

In February 2009, an ad hoc volunteer task force, spearheaded by the Alliance for California Traditional Arts (ACTA), the Fund for Folk Culture (FFC), and the National Council for the Traditional Arts, was formed to develop a survey for the folk and traditional arts field about the impact of the recession.  Staff from the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress, the Washington State Commission on the Arts Folk & Traditional Arts Program, the Western Folklife Center and independent folklorist Pat Jasper offered additional input as the survey developed.  Surale Phillips (Decision Support Partners) and Jerry Yoshitomi (MeaningMatters, LLC) assisted the group in survey design, data processing, tabulation and interpretation of results.  The survey was distributed online for a time limited time in early-2009.  The survey represents the experiences of a broad cross-section of people and organizations involved in the folk and traditional arts at a challenging moment in time.  It provides a view of how people and organizations are faring and how they are impacted by the current economic recession.