Access is Everything

Last year, during a lecture given by Dr. Amir Whitaker for the Arts Council of Greater Baton Rouge, the arts education activist described access to the arts as a “civil right”.  

Whitaker was speaking about children, and about schools. But Arts Council President and CEO Renee Chatelain believes that the concept can be taken even further. Students should have access to the arts, absolutely. But, if we look at the arts as a civil right, then arises an obligation to also bring the arts to populations that are often overlooked or underserved, such as: the unhoused, the differently-abled, the elderly, and those devastated by natural and human disasters. 

Community of Note, for instance, has for five years now been providing a range of live music performances to the community at the Capital Area Alliance for the Homeless—featuring beloved local musicians and bands the likes of the Michael Foster Project, Andy Cloninger, and the Louisiana Philharmonic Hornsound. The program is sponsored by the Arts Council of Greater Baton Rouge, and according to Chatelain, a visceral example of how local arts can serve vulnerable populations by “providing respite or reducing trauma” through music.  

Another transformational initiative in the realm of accessible arts in Baton Rouge is Dance for All, which was conceived in 2021 as a way to bring opportunities to engage in the art of movement to differently-abled members of our community. Funded by the Irene W. and C.B. Pennington Family Foundation, the Arts Council program thoughtfully brings together professional dancers, teachers, occupational therapists, and physical therapists to present affordable (often free) workshops and multi-week dance courses throughout the year, designed especially for dancers with cognitive, social and/or physical disabilities. 

Enhancing the quality of individuals’ lives through the arts is also at the heart of the Arts Council’s participation in the National Guild for Community Arts Education’s Catalyzing Creative Aging Program. Selected as one of twenty nonprofit organizations to participate in 2019, the Arts Council has used the Program’s research-based framework to cultivate regular professionally-led workshops for older adults, enhancing their quality of life and inspiring creativity over passive entertainment. Most recently, a spring 2023 writing workshop series led by author Rannah Gray centered the art of writing about social change. Chatelain recalls one participant expressing a sudden realization, through the practice, that her voice could still make a difference in the world, and that it still mattered, even in her retirement. “She said she saw that she still had an integral role to play, and a vantage point to advocate from,” said Chatelain. “And I thought that was very powerful.” 

In addition to this vital accessibility-centered work, the Arts Council has also worked to position itself as a resource for individuals and communities suffering from disasters natural and manmade, as well as infectious disease outbreaks—all through the lenses of the arts. Through its Creative Relief emergency preparedness and response program, the Council aims to provide solutions utilizing the creative thinking found within the cultural sector, as well as relief through grants like the Get Ready Grant program, a local expansion of the national CERF+Artist Readiness Program, funded by the Mellon Foundation, that supports local artists through funding business protection, studio safeguards, and more during difficult times. The Arts Council’s work in this field has put the organization in the position to assist other arts nonprofits on a state level along with the Louisiana Partnership for the Arts and on a national level with the National Coalition for Arts Preparedness and Response. In fact, it played an important role in advising officials this past August on developing arts-based relief following the devastating wildfires in Maui. 

Arts are a civil right, partly because of their potential as a mechanism for healing and self-realization, pointed out Chatelain. “It’s the expression of who we are as humans,” she said. “And I think that what we’re so passionate about is that, particularly in accessible arts, you are hopefully giving people the tools to regain their sense of humanity and their dignity as people in a society.” 

For more information, visit artsbr.org.