Think Outside the Vox NOVEMBER 2024 Newsletter/Capital Campaign

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November 2024

A white box with a capital letters in black V, a purple and square shaped O, and an X slightly overlapping

Art is a Human Right! Everyone has a right to enjoy and create all forms of art. Think Outside the Vox is prioritizing disability justice and joy by increasing and creating work opportunities and experiences for BIPOC, Deaf, Blind and Disabled access providers, creatives and audiences. Our advocacy, training, mentorship and consulting are designed to uplift these voices and build better quality, more sustainable access and inclusion.

We achieve this by:

1. Capacity building for access providers – free mentorship programs

2. Consulting for arts organizations – going beyond ADA compliance to quality culturally competent accessibility

3. Best accessible practices, models and resources for the arts sector – speaking engagements, conferences and collaboration on arts access programs across the nation

In 2024 we consulted and collaborated with:

8 theaters
3 arts funders/service organizations
2 orchestras
2 museums
2 dance companies to sustainably increase their accessibility

We trained and mentored:

12 Deaf professionals
8 Blind and BIPOC emerging describers
5 female youth access technology engineers
4 new theatrical ASL BIPOC interpreters
3 emerging neurodivergent artists
2 anti-ableist ADA coordinators
served on the NAAC Boston Mentorship & Sponsorship Program 4.0

Our team presented and participated in arts education and professional development spaces:

Kennedy Center’s Leadership and Exchange in Arts and Disability (LEAD) Conference in Seattle
National Arts Strategies “The Project” – undoing, shifting and reframing unjust systems
Reframed the Boston Foundation’s Live Arts Boston (LAB) grant application process
Partnered with ArtsBoston and the Vox team of Deaf/Blind/Neurodiverse/Disabled experts to develop, test and launch a much needed, sector-wide arts all access calendar which can be sorted by accessibility features

“Working with Vox helped catalyze an important shift in which our entire staff is now invested in centering accessibility and disability justice. We have much more to learn and do. We recognize that the work of accessibility requires sustained commitment and iterative improvements. We are so glad to have Think Outside the Vox in our community to be our partners on the work ahead.” – Catherine Peterson, Executive Director of ArtsBoston

Your donation will have a significant impact on the success of our mission:

$50 funds a travel or childcare stipend for an emerging access provider, allowing them to train in the field
$100 funds manually captioning a short rehearsal video for the use of a Deaf professional
$250 funds recording technology for an Audio Describer to record AD pre-show content remotely
$500 funds a Vox webinar on best accessible practices in social media for arts service organizations
$1000 funds a subsidy for a nonprofit organization to obtain a comprehensive accessibility audit
$2500 funds a freesource training module and materials for Best Practices in DeafBlind access
$5000 funds a training class for a cohort of up to 15 audio describers or Deaf Directors of Artistic Sign Language

Group photo of Deaf experienced and emerging DASLs and a couple Vox staff meeting on Zoom for a DASL workshop, some smiling and posing

How can you support us in facilitating more accessible ASL and AD shows created for and by the community? Please consider making a donation to our work in your annual end of year contributions.

Check out the full episode from Reid My Mind Radio’s Flipping the Script on Audio Description series featuring Sam Gould and Christopher Robinson, hosted by Thomas Reid

Join us by supporting our work at the intersection of Arts Access and Disability Justice. It is critical to amplify Deaf, Blind, DeafBlind and Disabled perspectives and people, who have historically been silenced and marginalized, in these creative roles and spaces. Accessibility provided should represent our community, and it will represent the gorgeous mosaic of interdependent humanity. Together, we can move the needle towards equity.

You can make a paypal donation,

or mail a donation to:

Think Outside the Vox, Inc, 311 Great Road, Littleton, MA 01460

Think Outside the Vox is a registered 501(c)(3) Non-profit organization, Tax ID 92-0996835.

Donate to Think Outside the Vox

Thank you for your support,

Sam Gould Kriveshko

Christopher Robinson

Kristin Johnson

Amber Pearcy

David Heard

Cori Couture

Maria Hendricks

Board of Directors, Think Outside the Vox

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Olivia Reinebach (they/she) aka Via

Marketing & Communications Manager, Arts & Accessibility Administrator

Olivia Reinebach thrives at the intersection of production and performance, taking on creative and technical roles in performing arts, education and community spaces in Boston and beyond. They found their niche by combining their skill sets in marketing, PR, social media and event coordination with accessibility consulting, disability advocacy work and arts administration. She has six years of experience in the arts and accessibility scene in Boston and NYC Metro areas. They’ve most recently presented on Accessible Social Media & Marketing for Massachusetts Cultural Council (Access Office Hours), Berklee College of Music (ABLE Assembly) and Mosaic Lowell Arts. Principal access work and arts credits include: pre-show/post-production Audio Description (The Huntington Theatre, American Repertory Theater, Open Door Theater); Access & Communication Lead for Into the Body, Into the Ground (Nelly Kate/The Boston Public Art Triennial); Caption Operator/Editor for Commonwealth Shakespeare Company; CPX ASL Instructor (Madison Park Development Corporation); PR & Social Media Director [and actor] in The Handless Maiden, or Here, All Dwell Free (NYU Steinhardt); ASL Consultant for The Raft of the Medusa, (Juilliard Theatre).
Via is a band geek turned theater kid and finds joy in creating inclusive experiences in arts and entertainment. She regularly presents music shows and live performances at the Museum of Science Planetarium and has produced variety dance showcases for The Dance Complex/Public Displays of Motion. She has freelanced as a choreographer/dance teacher (Sabor Latino BU, Apollinaire Play Lab, Edison K-8), and as an ASM/PA/carpenter (American Repertory Theater, Sanders Theatre, Frost Productions, Isenberg Projects). She earned her Bachelor’s of Science in Public Relations and Bachelor’s of Arts in Linguistics at Boston University. https://www.linkedin.com/in/olivia-reinebach/