Accessibility and the Arts

ADA Information - Includes ADA Statement, Compliance and Grievance Procedure.

EGOR Applicants and Accessibility - Accessibility guidelines for Grant Applicants.

Accessibility Services - Includes facility and program accessibility, accessibility services available from the Commission. Accessibility Tips.

Accessibility Links - Including ARTability. Websites and online resources to help make arts events and facilities more accessible.

Accessibility News

NASAA's "Design for Accessibility: A Cultural Administrator's Handbook."  See ad at left. Available at http://www.nasaa-arts.org/publications/design_access.shtml

ADA Information

ADA Statement

The Arizona Commission on the Arts does not discriminate on the basis of disability in admission to, access to, or operations of its programs, services, or activities. The Arizona Commission on the Arts does not discriminate on the basis of disability in its hiring or employment practices.

This notice is provided as required by Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990.

Questions, concerns, complaints or requests for additional information regarding the ADA may be forwarded to the Arizona Commission on the Arts’ designated ADA Compliance Coordinator: Mollie Lakin-Hayes, Assistant Director, Arizona Commission on the Arts, 417 West Roosevelt Street, Phoenix, Arizona 85003, (602) 229-8220.

Individuals who need auxiliary aids for effective communication in programs and services of the Arizona Commission on the Arts are invited to make their needs and preferences known to the ADA Compliance Coordinator. This notice is available in large print, on audio tape, and in Braille, from the ADA Compliance Coordinator.

ADA Compliance

Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act states, in part, that “no otherwise qualified person with a disability … shall solely by reason of their disability be excluded from the participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any program or activity receiving federal financial assistance.”

Persons with disabilities have the right to access ACA programs. All programs and facilities of applicants should be accessible to everyone. Listed below are some of the standards applicants must meet to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Each facility and activity must be carefully evaluated for compliance with this checklist. If your facilities do not meet any one of the standards of the ADA, you are not in compliance and may be ineligible for ACA funding. If you are not in compliance, the Commission will work with you on a plan to move to compliance, and may require the submission of this plan as a grant condition.

In addition, applicants should conduct sensitivity training on accessibility for all staff and complete a self-evaluation survey.

The Commission provides technical assistance and consultancies for organizations that need to improve their accessibility, and a self-evaluation survey you can use to assess your current accessibility and identify areas that need to be addressed. In addition, ARTability-Accessing Arizona’s Arts, a statewide consortium to connect people with disabilities to the arts, provides information and resources.

ADA Grievance Procedure

If you believe an event or facility funded by the Arizona Commission on the Arts is inaccessible to you, you are encouraged to

1. Contact the Commission’s Accessibility Coordinator:
   Arizona Commission on the Arts
   417 W. Roosevelt St.
   Phoenix, AZ 85003-1326
   602/255-5882 (voice), for TTY/TDD use the Arizona Relay Service, (1-800-842-4681 for English speakers, 1-800-842-2088 for Espanol)

2. If your grievance is not satisfied, contact:
   Arizona Office for Americans with Disabilities
   100 N. 15th Ave., Suite 361
   Phoenix, AZ 85007
   602/542-6276 (voice); 602/542-6686 (TTY)

EGOR Applicants and Accessibility

EGOR APPLICANTS: Please read through the three items below before checking off your accessibility status in your EGOR Organization Profile. The ADA Statement and ADA Compliance give you the overall view of the importance and opportunities of making arts programs and arts spaces accessible to everyone. Then, review the Facility and Program Accessibility listing. The results of your review will guide you in answering the accessibility status question in your Organization Profile. If you have any questions about this information, call (602) 255-5882.

• ADA Statement – The Commission’s commitment to accessibility.

• ADA Compliance – Responsibilities of Commission grantees.

• Facility and Program Accessibility – To determine if your organization meets accessibility requirements, look over this list. Review of these is a required part of submitting a grant application to the Commission.

Accessibility Services

Facility and Program Accessibility

Determine if your organization currently meets these requirements before completing your Organization Profile in EGOR. If not, you may still submit your application, but development and implementation of a plan to reach these levels of accessibility will be required as a condition of your grant, if awarded.

Parking must allow one accessible space for every 25 spaces. Spaces must be marked with the international symbol of accessibility and must be closest to the accessible entrance. Route to the entrance should be clear or clearly marked.

Entrance door must be 32 inches wide to accommodate most wheelchairs and be near accessible parking. Door must be easy to open and not locked.

Restrooms should be fully accessible, with 36 inches of clear width for forward movement of a wheelchair and a 5-foot diameter clear space or a T-shaped space to make turns. Doors and faucets must have accessible handles. Grab bars must be installed in stalls. Sinks should be at least 30 inches high, with room for a wheelchair to roll under. Soap and towel dispensers should be no more than 48 inches from the floor.

Printed materials should be available in alternate formats for individuals who cannot use traditional print. The interpreting symbol should be printed on all announcements for events that are interpreted in sign language or have audio description.

Arts programming must be accessible to persons with disabilities. For example, exhibition display cases should be set up so objects may be viewed comfortably by a seated person. Touch tours may be appropriate for permanent collections. Visual and performing arts groups should provide audio descriptions for persons who are partially sighted or blind and open- or closed-captioning video displays for persons who have hearing impairments.

Gift shops should display merchandise so it is accessible to wheelchair users. If space is tight, staff must be trained to offer appropriate assistance.

Assembly areas should include integrated and dispersed seating for wheelchair users so they have a selection of locations and ticket prices. Companion seating also must be available, preferably in the accessible seating area.

Phone TTY numbers or the Arizona Relay Service number, (1-800-842-4681 for English speakers, 1-800-842-2088 for Espanol), should be listed in all printed materials. Public phones should be lowered for persons in wheelchairs but not placed so they are a hazard for persons with visual impairments.

Marketing and public relations strategies should include advertising of the physical accessibility of a facility, program or meeting and should be targeted to specific groups. Use the universal symbol for a wheelchair only if a facility’s accessibility includes entrance, restrooms and assembly areas. If the entrance is accessible but restrooms are not, use this text: Wheelchair Accessible Entrance—Inaccessible Restrooms. Also remember to advertise other services such as large-print programs, interpretation and audio description services.

For more information on how to make programs accessible, contact the Accessibility Coordinator at the Commission (602) 255-5882 or (602) 229-8232 or jrao@azarts.gov; for TTY/TDD use the Arizona Relay Service, (1-800-842-4681 for English speakers, 1-800-842-2088 for Spanish). A handbook regarding accessibility is available. Applicants can request a detailed analysis of the Americans with Disabilities Act with examples and other materials to help make programs accessible. Design for Accessibility: A Cultural Administrator’s Handbook is an excellent, easy-to-use publication, and is available free to all ACA grantees, call (602)229-8232 or for purchase at http://www.nasaa-arts.org/publications/design_access.shtml.

Accessibility Services

Arts organizations are strongly encouraged to include fees for ASL interpreters, Open Captioners, large print publications, Braille and audio description in their budgets when they apply for ACA funding; costs for these consultants/contractors should be listed in Project budgets (line 2B for Projects, ALTE and 3-Year Budgets; line 2 for Arts Education Projects). These costs will be included in your eligible fees for Commission grants, and will help make their programming accessible to persons with disabilities. (We can’t provide funding for physical improvements or equipment.)

Accessibility Tips

Here's an excerpt on font from the "Smithsonian Guidelines for Accessible Publication Design": The typeface used for main text information is either sans serif (e.g., Arial), slab serif (e.g., Clarendon), or from a limited selection of simple oldstyle, serif faces (e.g., Bookman).

* Serifs change the shapes of words by changing the shapes of letters. They can extend bases and can connect together letters in ligatures. People with limited vision need predictable shapes and can find typefaces have large serifs confusing and illegible.

* Substantial difference in line stroke width within a single typeface can be difficult to read because the thinner strokes may receive insufficient ink and degrade during the printing process, making them break or disappear. When this occurs, those with low vision find that letters appear to change shape and identity. For example, H begins to resemble II and e becomes c. 

* Examples of accessible typefaces: Arial, Arial Black, Bookman Old Style, Clarendon, Gill Sans, Folio, Formata, Franklin Gothic, Futura, Helvetica, Korinna, Memphis, Myriad, New Century Schoolbook, NewsGoth, Optima, Palatino, Syntax, Univers

Using FrontPage to Create Accessible Content - http://www.webaim.org/techniques/frontpage/

Accessibility Links

ARTability - is a consortium of arts organizations and organizations serving disabled communities whose goal is to make Arizona’s arts accessible to all. ARTability can provide training and information about accessibility issues and accessible programming, including cultural awareness, physical accessibility and serving patrons through audio-described and ASL interpreted programs. ARTability also sends out a quarterly newsletter of arts events in the Phoenix and Tucson areas that are accessible (barrier free, audio-described, American Sign Language-Interpreted and "low dough" or low cost, $5 and under.) Contact ARTAbility to list your organizations' events or exhibitions.

Contact ARTability, P.O. Box 25159, Phoenix, AZ 85002, 602-757-8118 (Phoenix); 520-631-6253 (Tucson); email: info@artability.org

Accessibility Links

• Shifting Gears Call for Entries - For the fourth year, VSA arts & Volkswagen of America, Inc. are pleased to launch a call for entries to identify promising young artists with disabilities. Fifteen (15) finalists will be awarded a total of $60,000 in cash awards that is distributed as follows: $20,000 grand prize, $10,000 first award, $6,000 second award, and 12 awards of excellence in the amount of $2,000. Finalists receive their cash awards at a reception on Capitol Hill, and their artwork will be displayed in a nationwide touring exhibit that debuts in Washington, D.C. during the fall. Deadline is July 15, 2005. For more information, go to http://www.vsarts.org/x267.xml
• Betty Siegel of The Kennedy Center shares ideas for making print accessible: The best resource I know of for information on making text legible in print is put out by LightHouse International. It is a small booklet titled "Making Text Legible: Designing for People with Partial Sight" by Aries Arditi, PhD. You can order a hard copy from them or you can down load it from their website at - http://www.lighthouse.org/print_leg.htm. A good companion piece to "Making Text Legible" is " Effective Color Contrast: Designing for People with Partial Sight and Color Deficiencies" which you can also down load at: http://www.lighthouse.org/color_contrast.htm
• Access and Opportunities: A Guide to Disability Awareness is available for FREE online and in printed version, and is a great tool for reaching out to arts professionals and organizations in your community, from VSA Arts.
• Adaptive Environments (text) or http://www.adaptenv.org/indexg.htm (graphical)
• Bobby: Designed by the Center for Applied Special Technology, this tool analyzes a Web page for compatibility with a number of browsers and HTML standards, as well as accessibility criteria of the Web Accessibility Initiative.
• CODI Cornucopia of Disability Information 
• Equal Access to Software and Information - addresses issues of accessible Web page design
• E-Scape, a new software from Drake Music Project, allows musicians with any degree of physical disability to compose and perform music unaided. A trial run is available for download for a small donation and there is a charge for the software.
• Disabilities, Opportunities, Internetworking and Technology - includes a listing of Internet resources for accessible Web design, as well as other information.
• Performing Artists Registry accepts performers with disabilities from all performing arts genres.
• National Arts and Disability Center - the national information dissemination, technical assistance and referral center specializing in the field of arts and disability.
• National Endowment for the Arts Accessibility Resource Center
• National Center for Accessible Media
• Nonprofits need to examine the accessibility of their Web sites - Article from Philanthropy Journal Online
• NYFA Source is an extensive databank of grants, residencies, publications and sources of information and assistance for all artists, and is available to artists, arts organization and the general public for FREE online access from the New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA)
• Texas Cultural and Arts Network (TCA Net): Becoming Accessible An excellent guide to resources.
• Tips for making Web sites accessible - Article from Philanthropy Journal Online
• Trace Center - Research and development center on technology and disability. Designing more usable websites.
• Universal Disability Symbols - An archive of Disability Access Symbols to use in your word processor or website.
• Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) of the World Wide Web Consortium.  Standards for accessible websites.

For assistance, please contact Jaya Rao, Accessibility Coordinator at (602) 229-8232 or email jrao@azarts.gov.