Community Update

The innovative arts access network Uarts will officially
launch with the Inspire Conference on March 22nd at 9:30 a.m. to
3:00 p.m. The conference will be held at the Carol Autorino Center for the Arts
and Humanities on the University of Saint Joseph campus located at 1678 Asylum
Avenue West Hartford, CT.

”Inspire” is a unique conference on creative abilities that
will develop a new network for the state’s creative work force and
programs.  The Gengras Center, National
Theatre of the Deaf, Second Step Players, several dance organizations, the
university’s Art Gallery, and Unified Arts and the State of Makers are among
several participants that will offer workshops in teaching and performing. 

The conference was developed by Dr. Robert Smith, director
of the arts center at Saint Joseph, and Eileen Carpinella, Executive Director
of Arts for Learning Connecticut in Hamden. 
Carpinella noted that Arts for Learning Connecticut uses a roster of
professional artists to engage participants of all ages and abilities in
learning creatively through the arts. 
The Bruyette Athenaeum has featured artists with disabilities in annual
programming, and is an accessible facility that supports audiences with
disabilities. 

According to Smith, the conference will address “not only
using the arts to support learning and rehabilitation, but also persons with
disabilities as participants in dance, theatre, music, and visual arts as a
life choice.”  Carpinella added that
”inquiry into multiple arts disciplines stimulates lifelong learning and
creativity.”

Margaret Bodell, CVO of CreateHereNow,  a program promoting placemaking throughout
Connecticut with a grant from the ArtPlace Foundation, regards the conference
as “a launch pad for UArts,” a new initiative of her program, the Bruyette
Athenaeum, and Arts for Learning.  UArts
is funded by the National Artists with Disabilities Center, National Endowment
for the Arts, and Connecticut Office of the Arts.

Tickets for this event are $20 and can be purchased through
the box office by calling 860-231-5555 or online at USJ.edu. Tickets will also
be available at the door.