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. Evaluation forms were completed by all staff present at performances. These evaluations asked the staff to rate Actor-Educators on their ability to engage the clients, the appropriateness of their energy levels, anti the appropriateness of the activities, among other things. Overall, these evaluations reflect high quality of work that CLIMB Theater prides itself on. When asked to rate the session overall, staff rated this residency an average of 4.87 out of 5.
The customized performances delivered by CLIMB Theatre, on location at our five program centers effectively engaged individuals with significant disabilities in a meaningful and interactive theatrical experience. The key to their success was the care taken to develop props, scripts and performance techniques that effectively bridged the most challenging intellectual and emotional barriers as well as the extremely wide range of cognitive abilities of our clients. The population at Midwest Special Services is distinctive in the severity of their disabilities. While some may have higher levels of function, the majority are vastly more compromised by both physical and developmental disabilities and the additional challenge of serious and persistent mental health concerns and medically fragile conditions. Physical barriers are typically the easiest to mitigate. However, the challenge of meeting the needs of such a broad range of intellectual disabilities required a good deal of creative thinking. The CLIMB Theatre team established a profile of our clients that enabled them to tailor each performance to the differing abilities at each center. Intellectual barriers were mitigated for the duration of the program. 2: This partnership brought a live, customized theatrical experience to over 300 individuals for whom a typical theater going opportunity is not an appropriate option. Due to high level personal care needs, impulse control issues and other medical concerns, the potential for many of our clients to negatively impact the enjoyment of other patrons in a public setting makes it necessary for us to find ways to bring the experience to them. The impact of this partnership has been profound.