Summary:Diversity & inclusion in the arts is the issue, but does 2018 send us back to the drawing board? Or are there new paradigms & models based on creating, maximizing & revitalizing disabled artists in the arts? A practical presentation & discussion emphasizing real world problem solving, action plans & looking at both artists & disability within not only a changing political landscape, but a rapidly changing world based on digital technology, global projects & drastically different artistic mores & accountability than 20 years ago. In addition, the very definition of disability & what defines marginalized groups continues to shift within both the artistic community & society at large.

Presenter Bio:Stephanie Barton-Farcas, is the Founder & Artistic Director of Nicus Spoon Theater Company (www.spoontheater.org), based in New York City & Hawaii. She is also the co-founder of the Disability in Cinema Coalition & sits on the board of Identity Theater Company. Nicus Spoon has been a WNYCs Salute the Arts (STAR) initiative winner, an OOBR award winner, a multiple New York Innovative Theater Award winner, the Thom Fluellen Award winner for service to New York City as well as Winner of the Snapple/NYC Mayors Office Best People to Work For Award & many more. The company has been spotlighted in Playbill, the New York Times & many others as well as has been the subject of the documentary Two & Twenty Troubles. Stephanie herself is an actress & author of Disability & Theatre: A Practical Manual for Inclusion in the Arts: published by Routledge Press & is at work on a second book, Acting & Auditioning in the 21st Century.