Partners in Arts Participation
ACHF Arts Access
Partnerships are developed between social service organizations and arts organizations to better serve underserved communities. More Minnesotans are able to participate in the arts. Social or human service organizations use arts to help achieve their service goals. Perceived or real barriers to participation are addressed. The group was measured as a whole, and each participant had a specific stated goal area, that was also measured for improvement. This data was compiled into a data tracking spreadsheet and used to determine the data provided. Data: Session 1/Session 2: Scores stayed the same or improved 79% 80%, Improved Score in stated goal area 80% 73%, Scores did not improve in stated goal area 20% 7%, Lower Post-Test Score/No Answer 7% 3%.
We addressed barriers to participation by bringing Upstream Arts artists to people with disabilities for interactive workshops in which the participants interacted with artists to improve social and "soft" work skills. The barriers to arts programming occur because the people we serve lack the financial, transportation, support personnel, and other means necessary to attend programming in the community. They also lack the opportunities to hone their social and work skills within the community. This interactive arts workshop brought artists, trained to work with people with disabilities, to Opportunity Partners to lead arts activities that nurture self-expression, communication, group participation and other "soft" skills that are critical for community participation and employment. A specific goal of our organization is to provide persons with help to develop and maintain life skills and participate in community life. This program helped us achieve that goal at the same time as it mitigated barriers to participation in arts programming. It is unknown at this time if these barriers have been permanently or temporarily mitigated, as the program has just recently ended.