Crip News v.129

New works, honors, other news, calls, and events. Thanks for being here.

NEWS

New Works

• The video and transcript are out from the Longmore Institute on Disability’s annual lecture celebrating Dr. Keisha N. Blain’s book Wake Up America: Black Women On the Future of Democracy, featuring Dr. Blain, Andraéa LaVant, Vilissa Thompson, and moderated by Keah Brown.

• Scholar Georgia van Toorn recently published “United Against Algorithms: A primer on disability-led struggles against algorithmic injustice.”

• In a long-form critique published in American Theatre, Alexandra Pierson writes that the new Broadway revival of iconic rock musical Tommy "misses opportunities to engage with, and subvert, harmful tropes around Deafness and disability.”

Crip Arte Spazio – Damn in Venice, 2024, exhibition view. Courtesy: CREA. Photograph: Andy Barker Photography.

• Jamila Prowse reports for Frieze on the disability-focused pavilion, Crip Arte Spazio, organized by Shape Arts at this year’s Venice Biennale.

• The 135 entries in the 2024 Easterseals Disability Film Challenge are now available to watch on Youtube. This year, the challenge asked teams to consider the “buddy comedy” in a weekend-long production sprint.

• Oh Me Oh My is a new monograph accompanying Christine Sun Kim’s 2023 exhibition at the Tang Gallery at Skidmore College, featuring essays, short texts and reflections, an interview, and abundant large-scale images of that artist’s work. Featuring contributions by Aileen Burns, CFGNY, Daisy Desrosiers, Malik Gaines, David Horvitz, Matthew Hyland, Maia Ruth Lee, Johan Lundh, Thomas Mader, Mara Mills, Sara Nović, Matana Roberts, Lanka Tattersall, Niels Van Tomme, and Emily Watlington.

New Honors

• The announcement of the 2024 Guggenheim Fellows names “disability activism” as one category of work among the new 188 honorees, which include disabled artists and scholars Jessica Blinkhorn, Park McArthur, and Jonathan Sterne, among others.

• BlackStar Projects announced a $1 million grant from the Mellon Foundation for the organization’s work to bring light to Black and Brown creatives, including “expanding its commitment to disability justice and maintaining a care-centered work environment for its 21 full-time employees.”

In Other News…

• Pope Francis recently met with the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences to discuss “Disability and the Human Condition.” A “culture of discard,” he said, “leads one to consider one’s existence a burden to oneself and one’s loved ones” and that the Christian faith requires care for those living with disability and sickness.

• The Disability Innovation Fund from U.S. Department of Education’s Rehabilitation Services Administration is making its largest investment ever - $236 million - to establish innovative approaches to transition young people with disabilities into competitive integrated employment.

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CALLS

• A Disability Justice Organizer based in the East Bay (California) is seeking a Personal Assistant. More here.

• The Delfina Foundation is accepting applications for its science_technology_society Residency from artists, curators, researchers, technologists, activists, writers, and thinkers who seek to explore how emergent technologies effect our understanding of “mental wellbeing.” Apply by May 19. More here.

• The Neurodiversity in the Arts Symposium invites proposals for its remote and in-person event in November 2024 at the University of the Arts Helsinki. Apply by June 15. More here.

• Borealis Philanthropy is accepting applications for its Disability Inclusion Fund grants and the DIF x Tech Fund. Apply by May 29. More here.

• Survey respondents are needed for a Theatre Accessibility User Research study to be presented at this year's North American Theatre Engineering and Architecture Conference. More here.

• The University of Maryland is hiring a full-time Coordinator of the Disability Cultural Center. Apply by May 29. More here.

• Dancing Wheels is hiring a salaried Rehearsal Director. More here.

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EVENTS

Leonardo Criptech & the Art of Access Special Issue Launch Event

Friday, April 26, 1:30pm ET, on Zoom

This event celebrates the launch of the Leonardo special issue, “Criptech and the art of access.” Moderated by special issue editors Lindsey D. Felt and Vanessa Chang, this roundtable discussion gathers contributors Laura Forlano, Marina Tsaplina, Ysolde Stienon, Aminder Virdee, Erika Jean Lincoln and Darrin Martin to explore these questions. 

Ignite: Burden Re-Telling

Friday, April 26, 1 - 3pm ET, online

This event is celebration for all things Burden. A project created by Anusha in 2023, Ignite features poetry and music performances from disabled artists who are exploring the different realities of what is to be sick in 2024.

Touching the Stars: Designing Tactile Symbols for Space Flight and Beyond

Saturday, April 27, 2 - 4pm ET, at the Cooper Hewitt Museum (NYC)

Cooper Hewitt’s Give Me A Sign exhibition explores the history of graphic symbols as documented by industrial designer Henry Dreyfuss in his Symbol Sourcebook: An Authoritative Guide to International Graphic Symbols (1972). This program expands upon the symbol lexicon covered in the Symbol Sourcebook to include tactile symbols, used by people who are blind or have low vision, as well as people with other complex disabilities. Like their 2D counterparts, these symbols quickly convey important information, and they are often developed through collaborative and iterative design processes. Join Dr. Sheri Wells-Jensen, linguist and participant in AstroAccess, and Steve Landau, founder of Touch Graphics, in conversation with blind tech educator and activist Chancey Fleet to learn more about the design process for this project and for tactile symbol systems in general. After the panel discussion, stick around for a hands-on workshop where you will have the opportunity to design your own tactile symbols! 

Writing Club: David Gissen on What a Body Needs

Monday, Apr 29, 6 – 7:30pm ET, in-person at MoMA (NYC)

This month’s Writing Club welcomes author, designer, and educator David Gissen to facilitate a writing workshop on what a body needs in para- and post-COVID New York City. In response to the installation Body Constructs, Gissen invites participants to fantasize through discussion and writing prompts on ways that buildings, interiors, and landscapes might better represent our physical capacities, incapacities, and weaknesses. This workshop takes place in person at MoMA in Gallery 417: Body Constructs.

Reading from Essay What are the Accommodations of Your Dreams?

Tuesday, April 30, 7pm ET, on Zoom

Admission to an online reading of What are the Accommodations of Your Dreams? an essay by Alison Bergblom Johnson about her emotional support balloon Walter. "What are the Accommodations of Your Dreams?" was published in Walker Reader, as part of Mn Artists Presents Alison Bergblom Johnson in November 2020. Mn Artists is a platform featuring arts writing by and about Minnesota artists, and is a program of the Walker Art Center.