In 2021, the NaAC launched our first programs dedicated to audio and music creation. We knew it was time to create opportunities for musicians with developmental disabilities to be represented as cultural creators and musical innovators.
What sets us apart is that we encourage our artists to embrace music and audio as a creative endeavour. Rather than viewing music through a traditional lens, we test all assumptions of sound, audio, and music in ways that are meaningful in the advancement of our participants’ practice.
We ask, listen, and learn.
Our programs are co-designed with participants and project partners, and we are always learning how each program can be more in line with their creative interests and more accessible ways. This approach, bolstered by their creative efforts, has yielded extraordinary results.
We are tremendously proud of our artist community at the NaAC for their willingness to experiment, problem-solve, and push boundaries as they step into the world of creative music-making.
The Building Blocks
We build our music programming on the following principles:
1
Individualized and adapted approaches to music creation that move beyond traditional Western conventions or norms.
2
Peer-to-peer co-designed programs that embrace an integrated approach to supporting new projects, building new skills, and buttressing confidence.
3
Removing cultural barriers to music creation.
4
Positioning participants as musicians first and providing opportunities for recognition and representation in our music and sound art culture.
The Goal
Each program is co-designed to provide learning opportunities through activity-based creative projects, collaborations, and experimentation. We hypothesize that most issues facing musicians with disabilities do not stem from the disability but the broader context that places unnecessary barriers to access and appreciation. We’re planning to change that.
Vision
Communities across Canada recognize, celebrate, and proactively include the talents and skills of artists with disabilities.
Mission
Providing artistic training, creation, exhibition, and presenting opportunities for artists with disabilities, and sharing the power of their creativity through local and global partnerships and advocacy that opens doors for their inclusion in our arts and culture ecosystem.
Our Artists
The NaAC represents a growing community of artists living with physical and/or developmental disabilities through our artistic training, creation, and exhibition/presentation platforms. With our multidisciplinary mandate, many of our artists train and present works across the visual and performing arts disciplines.
The National Access Arts Centre
The NaAC is Canada’s oldest and largest disability arts organization, and the country’s first multidisciplinary disability arts organization with programs in visual arts, literary arts, digital media, theatre, music, and dance. Currently supporting more than 350 artists living with developmental and/or physical disabilities, the NaAC positions its participants as artists first – and connects its community to artistic & professional development, exhibition, presenting, and commissioning opportunities.