International Speaker Betty Siegel - Tour of Australia
International Speaker Betty Siegel
Betty Siegel is the Director of Accessibility at the Kennedy Centre for Performing Arts in Washington DC, United States. Betty also coordinates the Leadership Exchange for Arts and Disability (LEAD) Conference each year. Betty has over 20 years experience in the arts and disability field and is bound to initiate momentum for improved access to the arts.
Where & When
Betty will be delivering a series of keynote addresses, presentations, meetings and workshops between 2 and 11 September 2008. The National Tour will be launched in Sydney and will continue with engagements in Melbourne and Adelaide at the Australian Performing Arts Centres Association (APACA) Conference. For more information about events, check this web-page in July.
Biography
Ms. Siegel has specialized in arts and disability issues for over twenty years. Starting in 1983 she coordinated programs for people with disabilities at Arena Stage in Washington, DC. In Austin, TX, from 1992 until 1999, she co-founded and was the director for Access Arts Austin which focused on a city-wide effort to make the cultural arts community more accessible to people with disabilities; served on the Texas Commission for the Arts Access Advisory Board; certified as a sign language interpreter; and trained as an arts mediator. In 1999, Ms. Siegel returned to Washington D.C. and is currently Director of Accessibility at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. She oversees compliance and accessibility for the Center’s programs, performances, events, and renovations. She also manages national programs such as the Careers in the Arts Initiative for emerging and professional artists with disabilities; Experiential Education Initiative Internship for individuals with Intellectual Disabilities and the HSC Foundation internship for individuals with disabilities or chronic illnesses; “Opening Stages” newsletter for people with disabilities pursuing careers in the arts, and the Leadership Exchange in Arts and Disability (LEAD) conference and network for ADA/504 Coordinators and Administrators in the Cultural Arts. Ms. Siegel is currently in her third of four years in law school at the Columbus School of Law at Catholic University.
Financial Supporters of Betty Siegel’s National Tour of Australia
This project has been assisted by the Australian Government through the Australia Council for the Arts, its arts funding and advisory body.
Other supporters include
Arts Victoria
Media Access Australia
Arts Access Australia
