Thank you for your interest in what we are doing to make our programs and services more accessible. Any comments listed below were provided during the public comment period prior to the publication of the initial final Five-Year Accessibility Plan. Each year we will be posting a Progress Report, so check back.
17 Responses
My name is Kevin Gotkin. I am the Co-Founder of Disability/Arts/NYC, an organization that worked with the DCLA for several years and helped craft the platform for disability artistry in CreateNYC. I have also served as a panelist in the Cultural Development Fund review process for the past 2 years.
I submit the following 5 suggestions for changes to the draft Accessibility Plan:
1. Cultivate an ecology of NYC disability arts organizing.
This means making regular public meetings with disability communities and paying disabled facilitators and access workers to lead these meetings. It means developing specific initiatives to uplift disabled artists and organizers as integral parts of sustainable and measurable expansion of access.
2. Make disability-affirmative employment real.
This is much more than gesturing toward an undefined sense of an accessible workplace. It means offering solid evidence that the agency leads the design of job accommodations, like working remotely or part-time. It means offering access to a “hold harmless fund” for disabled workers experiencing a benefits cliff when they start working for the City. It means hiring more disabled DCLA staff members who work directly on disability and access.
3. Be transparent about your bandwidth.
If the DCLA staff is exhausted, let us know. If new access work falls on the same people for no additional pay, tell us. Embrace a lesson from disability organizing to reflect how many spoons you’ve got. If we don’t know anything about the agency’s capacity, we can’t offer strategic support for making the access initiatives happen.
4. Prepare the next administration.
Don’t allow leadership changes to leave good organizing behind. Require new leadership to review the work from previous disability arts organizing and meet with organizers as early as possible.
5. Strengthen the Cultural Development Fund review process.
Recent reforms to the CDF process are a good start. But the access information that organizations submit in their applications is insufficient, very often reinforcing compliance as the single source of access work. In addition to ensuring that every CDF panel includes an access expert, the DCLA should also offer targeted support for access initiatives and, when appropriate, render organizations ineligible for funding if they don’t demonstrate a their commitment to access.
1. Support disabled people to lead.
This means making regular public meetings with disability communities and paying disabled facilitators and access workers to lead these meetings. It means developing specific initiatives to uplift disabled artists and organizers as integral parts of sustainable and measurable expansion of access.
For example, update us on the progress made in the CreateNYC Action Plan before we ask. Let disabled artists choose the the access priorities from 2026 – 2029, since the current draft is missing any detail about the plans in the latter half of the 5-year period.
2. Make disability-affirmative employment real.
This is much more than gesturing toward an undefined sense of an accessible workplace. It means offering solid evidence that the agency leads the design of job accommodations, like working remotely or part-time. It means offering access to a “hold harmless fund” for disabled workers experiencing a benefits cliff when they start working for the City. It means hiring more disabled DCLA staff members who work directly on disability and access.
3. Be transparent about your capacity.
If the DCLA staff is exhausted, let us know. If new access work falls on the same people for no additional pay, tell us. Embrace a lesson from disability organizing to reflect how many spoons you’ve got. If we don’t know anything about the agency’s capacity, we can’t offer strategic support for making the access initiatives happen.
4. Prepare the next administration.
Don’t allow leadership changes to leave good organizing behind. Require new leadership to review the work from previous disability arts organizing and meet with organizers as early as possible.
5. Strengthen the Cultural Development Fund review process.
Recent reforms to the CDF process are a good start. But the access information that organizations submit in their applications is insufficient, very often reinforcing compliance as the single source of access work. In addition to ensuring that every CDF panel includes an access expert and that disability is a clear part of all diversity work for CDF panel recruitment, the DCLA should also offer targeted support for applicants’ access initiatives and, when appropriate, render organizations ineligible for funding if they don’t demonstrate a their commitment to access.
Thank you.
Hello,
My name is Lily and I’m an artist, patron, and access worker. Thank you for your work on this plan, below are some comments to further specify and strengthen this plan. Please let me know if you have any questions.
1. Support disabled people to lead.
This means making regular public meetings with disability communities and paying disabled facilitators and access workers to lead these meetings. It means developing specific initiatives to uplift disabled artists and organizers as integral parts of sustainable and measurable expansion of access.
For example, update us on the progress made in the CreateNYC Action Plan before we ask. Let disabled artists choose the the access priorities from 2026 – 2029, since the current draft is missing any detail about the plans in the latter half of the 5-year period.
2. Make disability-affirmative employment real.
This is much more than gesturing toward an undefined sense of an accessible workplace. It means offering solid evidence that the agency leads the design of job accommodations, like working remotely or part-time. It means offering access to a “hold harmless fund” for disabled workers experiencing a benefits cliff when they start working for the City. It means hiring more disabled DCLA staff members who work directly on disability and access.
3. Be transparent about your capacity.
If the DCLA staff is exhausted, let us know. If new access work falls on the same people for no additional pay, tell us. Embrace a lesson from disability organizing to reflect how many spoons you’ve got. If we don’t know anything about the agency’s capacity, we can’t offer strategic support for making the access initiatives happen.
4. Prepare the next administration.
Don’t allow leadership changes to leave good organizing behind. Require new leadership to review the work from previous disability arts organizing and meet with organizers as early as possible.
5. Strengthen the Cultural Development Fund review process.
Recent reforms to the CDF process are a good start. But the access information that organizations submit in their applications is insufficient, very often reinforcing compliance as the single source of access work. In addition to ensuring that every CDF panel includes an access expert and that disability is a clear part of all diversity work for CDF panel recruitment, the DCLA should also offer targeted support for applicants’ access initiatives and, when appropriate, render organizations ineligible for funding if they don’t demonstrate a their commitment to access.
Hello,
I’m an arts facilitator, access support worker, and a board member for an organization that receives DCLA funding.
I would like to add my voice to those calling for these 5 specific actions:
1. Support disabled people to lead.
2. Make disability-affirmative employment real.
3. Be transparent about your capacity.
4. Prepare the next administration.
5. Strengthen the Cultural Development Fund review process.
Thank you,
Emily
Hello, my name is Cameron French. I work at a nonprofit looking to bring equitable access to wealth, opportunity, and other resources.
1. Support disabled people to lead.
This means making regular public meetings with disability communities and paying disabled facilitators and access workers to lead these meetings. It means developing specific initiatives to uplift disabled artists and organizers as integral parts of sustainable and measurable expansion of access.
For example, update us on the progress made in the CreateNYC Action Plan before we ask. Let disabled artists choose the the access priorities from 2026 – 2029, since the current draft is missing any detail about the plans in the latter half of the 5-year period.
2. Make disability-affirmative employment real.
This is much more than gesturing toward an undefined sense of an accessible workplace. It means offering solid evidence that the agency leads the design of job accommodations, like working remotely or part-time. It means offering access to a “hold harmless fund” for disabled workers experiencing a benefits cliff when they start working for the City. It means hiring more disabled DCLA staff members who work directly on disability and access.
3. Be transparent about your capacity.
If the DCLA staff is exhausted, let us know. If new access work falls on the same people for no additional pay, tell us. Embrace a lesson from disability organizing to reflect how many spoons you’ve got. If we don’t know anything about the agency’s capacity, we can’t offer strategic support for making the access initiatives happen.
4. Prepare the next administration.
Don’t allow leadership changes to leave good organizing behind. Require new leadership to review the work from previous disability arts organizing and meet with organizers as early as possible.
5. Strengthen the Cultural Development Fund review process.
Recent reforms to the CDF process are a good start. But the access information that organizations submit in their applications is insufficient, very often reinforcing compliance as the single source of access work. In addition to ensuring that every CDF panel includes an access expert and that disability is a clear part of all diversity work for CDF panel recruitment, the DCLA should also offer targeted support for applicants’ access initiatives and, when appropriate, render organizations ineligible for funding if they don’t demonstrate a their commitment to access.
I’m Alexa Dexa, a Disabled composer-performer and access worker working with an organization that receives DCLA funding.
Below are 5 suggestions for changes to the draft Accessibility Plan. These suggestions will serve to strengthen and increase the impact of the Accessibility Plan.
1. Support disabled people to lead.
This means making regular public meetings with disability communities and paying disabled facilitators and access workers to lead these meetings. It means developing specific initiatives to uplift disabled artists and organizers as integral parts of sustainable and measurable expansion of access.
For example, update us on the progress made in the CreateNYC Action Plan before we ask. Let disabled artists choose the the access priorities from 2026 – 2029, since the current draft is missing any detail about the plans in the latter half of the 5-year period.
2. Make disability-affirmative employment real.
This is much more than gesturing toward an undefined sense of an accessible workplace. It means offering solid evidence that the agency leads the design of job accommodations, like working remotely or part-time. It means offering access to a “hold harmless fund” for disabled workers experiencing a benefits cliff when they start working for the City. It means hiring more disabled DCLA staff members who work directly on disability and access.
3. Be transparent about your capacity.
If the DCLA staff is exhausted, let us know. If new access work falls on the same people for no additional pay, tell us. Embrace a lesson from disability organizing to reflect how many spoons you’ve got. If we don’t know anything about the agency’s capacity, we can’t offer strategic support for making the access initiatives happen.
4. Prepare the next administration.
Don’t allow leadership changes to leave good organizing behind. Require new leadership to review the work from previous disability arts organizing and meet with organizers as early as possible.
5. Strengthen the Cultural Development Fund review process.
Recent reforms to the CDF process are a good start. But the access information that organizations submit in their applications is insufficient, very often reinforcing compliance as the single source of access work. In addition to ensuring that every CDF panel includes an access expert and that disability is a clear part of all diversity work for CDF panel recruitment, the DCLA should also offer targeted support for applicants’ access initiatives and, when appropriate, render organizations ineligible for funding if they don’t demonstrate a their commitment to access.
Thank you for your time and consideration.
Capital Projects Unit funding for access infrastructure (like building ramps and elevators) should have clear and transparent protocols.
Simi Linton: Project Director, Proclaiming Disability Arts
Below are 5 suggestions for changes to the draft Accessibility Plan. These suggestions will serve to strengthen and increase the impact of the Accessibility Plan.
1. Support disabled people to lead.
This means making regular public meetings with disability communities and paying disabled facilitators and access workers to lead these meetings. It means developing specific initiatives to uplift disabled artists and organizers as integral parts of sustainable and measurable expansion of access.
For example, update us on the progress made in the CreateNYC Action Plan before we ask. Let disabled artists choose the the access priorities from 2026 – 2029, since the current draft is missing any detail about the plans in the latter half of the 5-year period.
2. Make disability-affirmative employment real.
This is much more than gesturing toward an undefined sense of an accessible workplace. It means offering solid evidence that the agency leads the design of job accommodations, like working remotely or part-time. It means offering access to a “hold harmless fund” for disabled workers experiencing a benefits cliff when they start working for the City. It means hiring more disabled DCLA staff members who work directly on disability and access.
3. Be transparent about your capacity.
If the DCLA staff is exhausted, let us know. If new access work falls on the same people for no additional pay, tell us. Embrace a lesson from disability organizing to reflect how many spoons you’ve got. If we don’t know anything about the agency’s capacity, we can’t offer strategic support for making the access initiatives happen.
4. Prepare the next administration.
Don’t allow leadership changes to leave good organizing behind. Require new leadership to review the work from previous disability arts organizing and meet with organizers as early as possible.
5. Strengthen the Cultural Development Fund review process.
Recent reforms to the CDF process are a good start. But the access information that organizations submit in their applications is insufficient, very often reinforcing compliance as the single source of access work. In addition to ensuring that every CDF panel includes an access expert and that disability is a clear part of all diversity work for CDF panel recruitment, the DCLA should also offer targeted support for applicants’ access initiatives and, when appropriate, render organizations ineligible for funding if they don’t demonstrate a their commitment to access.
I am an artist, a photographer, and Associate Project Director for Proclaiming Disability Arts.
Below are 5 suggestions for changes to the draft Accessibility Plan. These suggestions will serve to strengthen and increase the impact of the Accessibility Plan.
1. Support disabled people to lead. This means making regular public meetings with disability communities and paying disabled facilitators and access workers to lead these meetings. It means developing specific initiatives to uplift disabled artists and organizers as integral parts of sustainable and measurable expansion of access. For example, update us on the progress made in the CreateNYC Action Plan before we ask. Let disabled artists choose the the access priorities from 2026 – 2029, since the current draft is missing any detail about the plans in the latter half of the 5-year period.
2. Make disability-affirmative employment real. This is much more than gesturing toward an undefined sense of an accessible workplace. It means offering solid evidence that the agency leads the design of job accommodations, like working remotely or part-time. It means offering access to a “hold harmless fund” for disabled workers experiencing a benefits cliff when they start working for the City. It means hiring more disabled DCLA staff members who work directly on disability and access.
3. Be transparent about your capacity. If the DCLA staff is exhausted, let us know. If new access work falls on the same people for no additional pay, tell us. Embrace a lesson from disability organizing to reflect how many spoons you’ve got. If we don’t know anything about the agency’s capacity, we can’t offer strategic support for making the access initiatives happen.
4. Prepare the next administration. Don’t allow leadership changes to leave good organizing behind. Require new leadership to review the work from previous disability arts organizing and meet with organizers as early as possible.
5. Strengthen the Cultural Development Fund review process. Recent reforms to the CDF process are a good start. But the access information that organizations submit in their applications is insufficient, very often reinforcing compliance as the single source of access work. In addition to ensuring that every CDF panel includes an access expert and that disability is a clear part of all diversity work for CDF panel recruitment, the DCLA should also offer targeted support for applicants’ access initiatives and, when appropriate, render organizations ineligible for funding if they don’t demonstrate a their commitment to access.
Hello, my name is Dani and I am a disabled artist. Here are 5 suggestions for changes to the draft Accessibility Plan that I believe are very important.
1. Support disabled people to lead.
This means making regular public meetings with disability communities and paying disabled facilitators and access workers to lead these meetings. It means developing specific initiatives to uplift disabled artists and organizers as integral parts of sustainable and measurable expansion of access.
For example, update us on the progress made in the CreateNYC Action Plan before we ask. Let disabled artists choose the the access priorities from 2026 – 2029, since the current draft is missing any detail about the plans in the latter half of the 5-year period.
2. Make disability-affirmative employment real.
This is much more than gesturing toward an undefined sense of an accessible workplace. It means offering solid evidence that the agency leads the design of job accommodations, like working remotely or part-time. It means offering access to a “hold harmless fund” for disabled workers experiencing a benefits cliff when they start working for the City. It means hiring more disabled DCLA staff members who work directly on disability and access.
3. Be transparent about your capacity.
If the DCLA staff is exhausted, let us know. If new access work falls on the same people for no additional pay, tell us. Embrace a lesson from disability organizing to reflect how many spoons you’ve got. If we don’t know anything about the agency’s capacity, we can’t offer strategic support for making the access initiatives happen.
4. Prepare the next administration.
Don’t allow leadership changes to leave good organizing behind. Require new leadership to review the work from previous disability arts organizing and meet with organizers as early as possible.
5. Strengthen the Cultural Development Fund review process.
Recent reforms to the CDF process are a good start. But the access information that organizations submit in their applications is insufficient, very often reinforcing compliance as the single source of access work. In addition to ensuring that every CDF panel includes an access expert and that disability is a clear part of all diversity work for CDF panel recruitment, the DCLA should also offer targeted support for applicants’ access initiatives and, when appropriate, render organizations ineligible for funding if they don’t demonstrate a their commitment to access.
Thank you.
My name is Michelle, and I am a disabled artist living in Brooklyn. I have a background as an access worker in cultural institutions and continue to work as an accessibility consultant, while pursuing a career in user experience research and maintaining my artistic practice.
Below are five comments that I stand by:
1. Support disabled people to lead.
This means making regular public meetings with disability communities and paying disabled facilitators and access workers to lead these meetings. It means developing specific initiatives to uplift disabled artists and organizers as integral parts of sustainable and measurable expansion of access.
For example, update us on the progress made in the CreateNYC Action Plan before we ask. Let disabled artists choose the the access priorities from 2026 – 2029, since the current draft is missing any detail about the plans in the latter half of the 5-year period.
2. Make disability-affirmative employment real.
This is much more than gesturing toward an undefined sense of an accessible workplace. It means offering solid evidence that the agency leads the design of job accommodations, like working remotely or part-time. It means offering access to a “hold harmless fund” for disabled workers experiencing a benefits cliff when they start working for the City. It means hiring more disabled DCLA staff members who work directly on disability and access.
3. Be transparent about your capacity.
If the DCLA staff is exhausted, let us know. If new access work falls on the same people for no additional pay, tell us. Embrace a lesson from disability organizing to reflect how many spoons you’ve got. If we don’t know anything about the agency’s capacity, we can’t offer strategic support for making the access initiatives happen.
4. Prepare the next administration.
Don’t allow leadership changes to leave good organizing behind. Require new leadership to review the work from previous disability arts organizing and meet with organizers as early as possible.
5. Strengthen the Cultural Development Fund review process.
Recent reforms to the CDF process are a good start. But the access information that organizations submit in their applications is insufficient, very often reinforcing compliance as the single source of access work. In addition to ensuring that every CDF panel includes an access expert and that disability is a clear part of all diversity work for CDF panel recruitment, the DCLA should also offer targeted support for applicants’ access initiatives and, when appropriate, render organizations ineligible for funding if they don’t demonstrate a their commitment to access.
Thank you.
Thank you for this opportunity to provide feedback on the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs Proposed 5-Year Accessibility Plan.
Educational Alliance is an organization with a long and ongoing commitment to inclusive and community-based arts programming, and we have a deep understanding of challenges to accessibility. Each of our neighborhood-based community centers provides unique arts programming through a combination of classes, workshops, and performances, and all are low-cost and accessible to a wide variety of audiences. As a community-centered organization that provides cultural programming to a diverse audience, we offer the following comments based on our experience and perspective:
1. Increase funding for the CreateNYC Disability Forward Fund or other funding mechanisms that provide programmatic support for accessibility in performances. This includes several accessibility enhancements that address common barriers that prevent people from participating in cultural programming including open captioning, ASL interpretation, childcare for artists and audiences, and neurodiverse /relaxed performances. Smaller, community-based venues often need to make programmatic adjustments to reach diverse audiences but operate on a limited budget that makes even low-cost changes a challenge.
Pooled funding or microgrants through DCLA for accessibility programmatic support would strengthen the performing arts for more New Yorkers. For example, such funding could support a temporary staff role dedicated to addressing and implementing accessibility needs for the duration of a production or art installation.
2. Consider adjustments to DCLA’s structure to increase its ability to support accessibility among the City’s many smaller cultural providers.
The creative sector in New York City is an economic engine, attracting world class artists and creative workers, as well as a thriving cultural tourism industry that attracts visitors from around the world and provides employment to tens of thousands of New Yorkers. Small non-profit cultural organizations create cultural content and make it widely available through free programming or extremely affordable ticket sales. These programs add vibrancy to neighborhoods, yet most non-profit cultural organizations depend on limited private fundraising for revenue and operate on an extremely limited budget. To bridge this revenue gap and support the programs that add so much value to neighborhoods, government resources are needed. We urge the New York City leaders to expand DCLA’s ability to support smaller, community-based arts organizations through funding and promotional support.
Thank you for the opportunity to offer feedback.
EdAlliance comments_DCLA Accessibility plans
In response to the release of the Proposed 5-Year Accessibility Plan by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs (DCLA), we submit these comments on behalf of Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, based on learning from, working with, and serving the disability community through programming and accessible design in our venues.
In New York City there are about 900,000 New Yorkers living with disabilities which is about 10.6% of the total population, according to data released by the Mayor’s Office of People with Disabilities (MOPD), representing all races/ethnicities and boroughs. Additionally, as we discuss the economic impact of the arts serving as a node to attract tourism, there are millions of visitors with disabilities that visit annually.
We appreciate DCLA’s compliance with Local Law 12 and offer a few suggestions that would enhance how the community is served by arts organizations and how the arts ecosystem could better support people living with disabilities:
* Investment in Disabled Artistry and Access Workers – The field has been greatly impacted by the Disability Forward Fund, which allowed artists and cultural organizations to experiment with new work, create more access to arts programming and bring more audiences in. While Lincoln Center was not a recipient, we saw the results of that funding through an expansion in the field. We encourage DCLA to continue to directly support artists and cultural organizations so that their innovative work can continue.
* Best Practices Convener – In the tenet of the Disability Rights Movement, “nothing about us, without us,” Lincoln Center encourages DCLA to use its platform to act as a convener to shine light on exceptional work in disability artistry, access workers and cultural access and build a more direct pipeline of feedback from disabled stakeholders and cultural organizations.
* Workplace Inclusion – Lincoln Center has had great success with the Access Ambassadors program, designed to help combat the high unemployment rate for people with disabilities, provides weekly lessons on job readiness for high school students with disabilities along with onsite experience greeting guests at Lincoln Center performances. Hundreds of students from New York City Public Schools have participated in this program, including several who have been hired as employees at Lincoln Center. These are talented individuals that could go on to careers in the arts. Programs like NYC:AT WORK support recruitment with approaches tailored to the disability community.
* Effective Communication / Assistive Listening – One approach to eliminating barriers to participation is building accessible accommodations into the audience experience whether in-person or online. Accommodations such as assistive listening systems, American Sign Language (ASL) interpretation, captioning, audio descriptions, large print, and braille programs are available for all performances and events across our campus. We encourage DCLA to include these accommodations within spaces for public meetings and events hosted by DCLA.
We look forward to continuing the dialogue with DCLA and invite you to collaborate with us on a convening with members of the disability arts community. Lincoln Center is committed to New York as a place where everyone is welcome and where they belong, and we continue to engage as lifelong learners to do better as an artistic, civic hub.
DCLA Accessibility Plan_LCPA Comment_FINAL
Hello,
To whom it may concern:
As the Museum, Arts and Culture Access Consortium (MAC), we were thrilled to see the release of this plan for comment. We are excited about the commitment to accessibility and would also like to share our feedback as one of the premier resources for cultural accessibility in the city. The NYC Cultural Plan reflected an ambitious vision for moving accessibility forward in the cultural sector, particularly in funding disability artistry. However, this 5 year plan does not offer a commitment to continuing to build upon that momentum. Conversely, the deliverables in this plan focus on elements that are either already required by law, or widely understood to be a baseline expectation. It is disheartening that the city’s agency focused on supporting arts access for all New Yorker does not have more significant goals for engaging over 10% of New Yorkers. We are in agreement of the 5 actions listed by other commenters (Support disabled people to lead, Make disability-affirmative employment real, Be transparent about your capacity, Prepare the next administration, and Strengthen the Cultural Development Fund review process). We would also like to offer additional feedback. Please see some additional feedback below.
Digital Access & Programmatic Access: Striving to meet WCAG 2.1 Level AA standards are understood as a baseline for digital accessibility. While it is key to involve user feedback through surveys and other methods, can DCLA commit to a standard that is more rigorous? For example, is there funding or personnel focused on meeting this standard? Can feedback include focus groups with disabled users who are paid for their feedback? It is surprising that videos are not captioned as a standard. MAC recently completed a project called Mapping Virtual Access in Cultural Institutions where we worked with the disability community to understand best practices in virtual access and are happy to share this work.
Physical Access & Programmatic Access: This section does not commit to making any changes to buildings, beyond “exploring.” It also does not acknowledge physical access beyond wheelchair accessibility. For example, can the workspaces be reviewed for lighting and sensory elements? Are the restrooms designed to accommodate companions? Are there hearing loops installed in spaces where there are public meetings?
Workplace Inclusion & Effective Communication
Policy & Plans: This section does not include any information on how this will be achieved.
Inclusive HIring and Recruitment: This section is policy-compliance focused, rather than a strategy toward recruiting and engaging disabled workers. Is NYC: AT WORK, or any job service agency, a partner in recruiting for open roles? Are hiring managers trained in inclusive hiring practices? How are disabled employees supported, once hired? If this is included elsewhere, it would be helpful to make that explicit.
Accommodations Procedures: This mirrors the law and is not a goal that reflects a commitment to inclusive workplaces.
Employee Resource Groups: What agency and power does the ERG have in informing practice? Do they have a budget? How active are they? Have their suggestions resulted in action?
MAC’s Supporting Transitions project focuses on creating cultural opportunities for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities and employment is a key focus of this project. We can share our work in this area and are excited to collaborate with cultural organizations on inclusive and accessible employment.
Effective Communication / Assistive Listening: This section does not set any goals in increasing access to the public through accommodations. For example, is there a policy in practice for the public to request accommodations for events? How are accommodations fulfilled? Does DCLA have a standard practice of having ALDs, accessible seating, captioning, etc, for all events, or only by request (putting the labor on the individual attending, not the agency).
In addition to the desire for more detail in the plans stated above, we also noted that the methodology section did not include reference to engaging the disability community in the creation of this plan. Also, by offering only written format ways to give feedback, a huge swath of disabled New Yorkers are left out of this process. Through this plan, we hope to understand how DCLA supports advancing access for all New Yorkers, including funding disabled artists, convening grantees to advance accessibility in their organizations, and empowering disabled people to become artists, cultural workers and audience members. In conclusion, MAC asks for more from DCLA in regard to their commitment to New York City’s disabled New Yorkers, and offers our work as a partnership in these efforts. MAC is a frequent convener for the cultural community. We offer training and could partner on training efforts including support and training for DCLA. We also have strong ties to the disability community and can offer support in goal setting alongside disabled people involved in the arts as audiences, artists, and cultural workers.
Thank you for your commitment to accessibility and your request for feedback. We are appreciative of the work you do for the cultural field.
Sincerely,
The Advisory Board
Museum, Arts and Culture Access Consortium (MAC)
DCLA Plan Letter
Hi,
I am Lakshmee Lachhman-Persad, an advocate and educator for the positive impact of Arts & Culture on communities, especially marginalized identities. Below are 5 suggestions for changes to the draft Accessibility Plan. These suggestions will serve to strengthen and increase the impact of the Accessibility Plan.
1. Support disabled people to lead.
This means making regular public meetings with disability communities and paying disabled facilitators and access workers to lead these meetings. It means developing specific initiatives to uplift disabled artists and organizers as integral parts of sustainable and measurable expansion of access.
For example, update us on the progress made in the CreateNYC Action Plan before we ask. Let disabled artists choose the the access priorities from 2026 – 2029, since the current draft is missing any detail about the plans in the latter half of the 5-year period.
2. Make disability-affirmative employment real.
This is much more than gesturing toward an undefined sense of an accessible workplace. It means offering solid evidence that the agency leads the design of job accommodations, like working remotely or part-time. It means offering access to a “hold harmless fund” for disabled workers experiencing a benefits cliff when they start working for the City. It means hiring more disabled DCLA staff members who work directly on disability and access.
3. Be transparent about your capacity.
If the DCLA staff is exhausted, let us know. If new access work falls on the same people for no additional pay, tell us. Embrace a lesson from disability organizing to reflect how many spoons you’ve got. If we don’t know anything about the agency’s capacity, we can’t offer strategic support for making the access initiatives happen.
4. Prepare the next administration.
Don’t allow leadership changes to leave good organizing behind. Require new leadership to review the work from previous disability arts organizing and meet with organizers as early as possible.
5. Strengthen the Cultural Development Fund review process.
Recent reforms to the CDF process are a good start. But the access information that organizations submit in their applications is insufficient, very often reinforcing compliance as the single source of access work. In addition to ensuring that every CDF panel includes an access expert and that disability is a clear part of all diversity work for CDF panel recruitment, the DCLA should also offer targeted support for applicants’ access initiatives and, when appropriate, render organizations ineligible for funding if they don’t demonstrate a their commitment to access.
Thank you.
Hi,
I am Annie Nishwani Lachhman, a disabled artist and advocate for people with disabilities. Below are 5 suggestions for changes to the draft Accessibility Plan. These suggestions will serve to strengthen and increase the impact of the Accessibility Plan.
1. Support disabled people to lead.
This means making regular public meetings with disability communities and paying disabled facilitators and access workers to lead these meetings. It means developing specific initiatives to uplift disabled artists and organizers as integral parts of sustainable and measurable expansion of access.
For example, update us on the progress made in the CreateNYC Action Plan before we ask. Let disabled artists choose the the access priorities from 2026 – 2029, since the current draft is missing any detail about the plans in the latter half of the 5-year period.
2. Make disability-affirmative employment real.
This is much more than gesturing toward an undefined sense of an accessible workplace. It means offering solid evidence that the agency leads the design of job accommodations, like working remotely or part-time. It means offering access to a “hold harmless fund” for disabled workers experiencing a benefits cliff when they start working for the City. It means hiring more disabled DCLA staff members who work directly on disability and access.
3. Be transparent about your capacity.
If the DCLA staff is exhausted, let us know. If new access work falls on the same people for no additional pay, tell us. Embrace a lesson from disability organizing to reflect how many spoons you’ve got. If we don’t know anything about the agency’s capacity, we can’t offer strategic support for making the access initiatives happen.
4. Prepare the next administration.
Don’t allow leadership changes to leave good organizing behind. Require new leadership to review the work from previous disability arts organizing and meet with organizers as early as possible.
5. Strengthen the Cultural Development Fund review process.
Recent reforms to the CDF process are a good start. But the access information that organizations submit in their applications is insufficient, very often reinforcing compliance as the single source of access work. In addition to ensuring that every CDF panel includes an access expert and that disability is a clear part of all diversity work for CDF panel recruitment, the DCLA should also offer targeted support for applicants’ access initiatives and, when appropriate, render organizations ineligible for funding if they don’t demonstrate a their commitment to access.
Thank you.
Hi,
I’m the general manager at a performing arts center in New York that frequently has work in a variety of locations across New York City, recently including Invisible Dog, Jazz at Lincoln Center, The Armory, and more. I’ve also worked on sensory friendly programming, touch tours, and other accessibility initiatives across multiple regional theaters, and studied accessibility and neurodiversity as part of my undergraduate and graduate education in the arts. Here are some suggestions I want to lift up for the 5 year plan:
1. Support disabled people to lead.
– Regular public meetings with disability communities, and paying disabled facilitators and access workers to lead these meetings.
– Developing specific initiatives to uplift disabled artists and organizers as integral parts of sustainable and measurable expansion of access.
Examples:
– Regular/ongoing updates on progress made in the Create NYC Action Plan
– Disabled artists leading the decision making around access priorities from 2026-2029, as the current draft doesn’t specify any details
2. Make disability-affirmative employment real.
– Offering access to a “hold harmless fund” for disabled workers experiencing a benefits cliff when they start work for the City
– Hiring more disabled DCLA staff members, including some working directly on disability and access
– Showing how the agency leads the design of job accommodations, e.g. working remotely or part-time
3. Be transparent about your capacity.
Commit to sharing honest/transparent updates about how staff is doing with the workload and if it’s manageable/appropriately distributed so that those who are able can offer strategic support to make access initiatives happen.
4. Prepare the next administration.
– On/offboard!! Don’t allow leadership changes to leave good organizing behind.
– Require new leadership to review the work from previous disability arts organizing and meet with organizers as early as possible.
5. Strengthen the Cultural Development Fund review process.
Recent reforms are a good start, but not enough.
– Access info submitted in applications is insufficient, and often centers only compliance – the requirements should be reevaluated.
– Every CDF panel must have an access expert, and disability must be a clear part of all diversity work for CDF panel recruitment.
– The DCLA should offer targeted support for applicants’ access initiatives, and render organizations ineligible for funding if they don’t demonstrate their commitment to access.
Thank you,
Shannon