Eyebeam Wins The Sapolin Award for Accessibility

In July 2021, J. Soto, Eyebeam’s Manager of Programs and Inclusion, accepted the Sapolin Accessibility Award on behalf of the organization. New York City presents this award every year to organizations that actively work toward inclusion and wellness for people with disabilities. Eyebeam is extremely proud and honored to be recognized by the Mayor’s Office for People with Disabilities.

Eyebeam is grateful to its community of disabled practitioners with whom the organization has collaborated. The lessons Eyebeam has learned from their innovations have advanced the shared work of centering the ideas of radical and visionary artists—ideas that can move our society closer to a more just and equitable world. Eyebeam believes the ADA is the baseline, not the finish line, and is more committed than ever to creating an expansively inclusive space for all that it does.

Eyebeam has prioritized accessibility and inclusion for all in-person and digital programs and supported artist-led works like Alt-text as Poetry, a multi-year exploration of the poetic potential of image descriptions by Bojana Coklyat and Shannon Finnegan (Eyebeam Resident ‘19). From 2019-2020, with the help of Eyebeam, Shannon and Bojana held Alt-text as Poetry workshops with more than 15 arts and culture organizations throughout New York City. In 2020, Coklyat and Finnegan published an Alt-text as Poetry workbook in print and digital formats, along with a project website and public launch that Eyebeam hosted. For that same residency year, artist Yo-Yo Lin built a multi-platform journal that includes photography, writing, poetry, and different types of experiential-based events from people who want to share their stories and experiences with illness. As Yo-Yo described, “The goal is to take all this information, understand it ourselves, and have the opportunity to talk from a place of shame or needing help—but, as a way of sharing and [engaging in] group solidarity.” Her Resilience Journal, a collective tool dedicated to visualizing the overlooked soft data in our lives, is available on her website.

In continuing this work, for all programs, artists and audiences may make access requests—including real-time captioning, American Sign Language, large print programs, PDFs, or other means of making the program and participation more accessible.

For access requests or questions, please contact [email protected]