November 19, 2016

Seabury Great Room

Seesaw’s first annual Inclusive Theatre Festival was held Saturday, November 19th from in the Seabury Great Room. This event was a culmination of our research and work in inclusive practices in the arts. Northwestern students, educators, and professionals in the Chicagoland community joined us in a our discussion of arts administration and facilitation in inclusive theatre. We kicked off the day with a panel discussion of professionals working in the field of inclusive arts, including arts administrators and educators working in inclusion work in early childhood classrooms, youth theatre, production/performance devised with individuals with disabilities as the target audience, and museum accessibility for developmental disabilities within the landscape of all around best practices in accessibility. Our panel included representatives from Arts of Life, Blue Laces, Red Kite, CACC (Chicago Cultural Accessibility Consortium), Lifeline Theatre, and the University of Northern Iowa. Other scheduled activities for the day included a sensory workshop led by Seesaw’s cohort of teaching artists, and a group art project led by Arts of Life.

our Panelists

Jason Harrington, Chicago Shakespeare Education Outreach Manager and Steering Committee member with CACC (Chicago Cultural Accessibility Consortium) 

Gretta Berghammer, Theatre Director at UNI

Julia deBettencourt, Snow City Arts

Erica Foster, Accessibility Programmer at Lifeline Theatre

Hilary Marshall, Arts of Life Studio Manager

Claire Huntington, Bluelaces Founder

Alex Mauney, Access and Inclusion Manager at Chicago Children’s Theatre

Ira Kriston, Keynote Speaker