Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts announced today the lineup for the Big Umbrella Festival, an international endeavor that brings together arts professionals and thought leaders, and offers performances across New York City for children on the autism spectrum. Kicking off in April 2018, during Autism Awareness Month, the festival is the first of its kind dedicated to arts programs for young people on the autism spectrum and their families.
"Lincoln Center is not only dedicated to providing the best of the performing arts, but also to ensuring diverse and inclusive accessibility to that art," said Debora L. Spar, President of Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. "Since we commissioned our first theater work specifically for those on the spectrum in 2013, we have had the privilege of offering sensory-friendly performances to students and families here at Lincoln Center. The Big Umbrella Festival expands our commitment to these audiences, offering performances throughout the city, special presentations by resident organizations across our campus, and a symposium to reinforce and develop the network of leaders dedicated to serving these audiences."
The Big Umbrella Festival's core objective is an outgrowth of the work Lincoln Center
Education undertakes every season. The festival aims to enrich the lives of children on the autism spectrum through inclusive art that engages, educates, and inspires. Spanning April 10 to May 6, 2018, the festival will present a wide range of performances, including three original interactive theater works on the Lincoln Center campus and performances at the Queens Theatre for school groups from around the city.
Special presentations will be offered by Lincoln Center's resident organizations throughout the festival, including film screenings, concerts, and interactive music and dance workshops by The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Film Society of Lincoln Center, Jazz at Lincoln Center, New York City Ballet, New York Philharmonic, and The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts . Professional development for artists and administrators will span five days and bring together participants from across seven countries and 13 U.S. states and territories. A day-long symposium will provide a platform to expand the learning community around neurodiversity and the arts, bringing together leaders in the field and participants to explore best practices, analyze successes, and identify challenges related to artistic work that impacts the autism community at large.
"We have been presenting theater for young audiences on the spectrum for five years," said Russell Granet, Executive Vice President of Lincoln Center Education. "We hear from children, parents, teachers, and artists that these experiences have a profound impact on audiences and their families. But we alone cannot fulfill the need for sensory-friendly performances here in New York or beyond. The Big Umbrella Festival will expand our performance offerings, engage partners across our campus and throughout New York City, and support other art-makers to create their own offerings for audiences on the spectrum."
In 2013 Lincoln Center became the first major cultural institution to commission an original work for children on the autism spectrum, titled Up and Away. While some institutions have offered sensory-friendly programming or adapted versions of existing works, Up and Away's model was groundbreaking because it was created specifically for an audience on the autism spectrum across all production aspects: script, design, and experience. Featuring an immersive installation design, the experience includes pre-show preparation materials, one-to-one interaction with actors, and an adjacent quiet room, among other features. In the years following, Lincoln Center continued this trailblazing model with a second original commission, Campfire , also from New York City's Trusty
Sidekick Theater Company-one of three theater companies that will participate in 2018's Big Umbrella Festival. Joining Trusty
Sidekick will be U.K.-based Oily Cart (Light Show) and AustralianSensorium Theatre (Oddysea), whose collaborative methodologies and international reach reflect the synergic mission of the Big Umbrella Festival.
The festival's symposium will feature architect Sean Ahlquist, who leads
Social Sensory Architectures, an ongoing research project at the University of Michigan that designs technology-embedded multisensory environments for children on the autism spectrum;
Cynthia Barron of Sesame Workshop, the nonprofit educational organization behind Sesame Street, which recently debuted Julia, a Muppet with autism; Mickey Rowe, the first actor on the spectrum to play the lead role in The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time; and Tim Webb, Artistic Director of Oily Cart, whose company has been a leader in developing theater for children with complex disabilities.
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