Panel discussion honors an advocate for the rights of people with disabilities Published on Monday, October 02, 2023 Providence, R.I.— For October’s Arts and Humanities month, the Rhode Island State Council on the Arts, RISD Museum and Arts Equity (formerly VSA Arts Rhode Island) announced today a timely panel discussion on the continuation of the work of the late Jeannine Chartier, a Pawtucket native and a tireless and outspoken advocate for the visibility, rights and inclusion of people with disabilities. The event is at the Rhode Island School of a Design Museum, Thursday, Oct. 12, 5 p.m. – 7:30 p.m. At 5 p.m., a panel of experts and advocates will discuss the intersection of disabilities and arts and culture. The conversation will examine how people with disabilities have and have not been included in the arts, and how Chartier’s work will continue in Rhode Island. Panelists Charles G. Baldwin, Program Officer, Cultural Equity and Access Initiatives, Mass Cultural Council. Conor Moynihan, Assistant Curator of Prints, Drawings, and Photographs, RISD Museum. Dominic Quagliozzi, Multimedia Artist with a focus on drawing, painting and performance. Casey Weibust, Art Director at Out of the Box Studio & Gallery. Tribute Details Celebrating the Life and Work of Jeannine Chartier Oct. 12, 5 p.m.-7:30 p.m. Panel starts at 5 p.m., Metcalf Auditorium, 20 North Main St., Providence, followed by a creative celebration in the Grand Gallery, 5th floor of the RISD Museum. RSVP and additional information. More details The late Jeannine Chartier, Executive Director of Arts Equity (formerly VSA Arts Rhode Island), exemplified the value of collective responsibility, and was a tireless lifelong advocate for the visibility, rights and inclusion of people with disabilities in American society. She partnered with RISCA in various capacities for more than three decades to ensure a voice for people with disabilities in the Rhode Island arts and culture community broadly. The event is co-hosted by Arts Equity, the RISD Museum and RISCA. Panelists Official Bios Charles G. Baldwin is the Program Officer for Cultural Equity and Access Initiatives at the Mass Cultural Council. Since 2016 he has led the agency’s Universal Participation (UP) Initiative which provides training and funding for organizations developing accessible policies, programs, and practices. Charles is a founding member of CANE (Cultural Access New England), TAMA (Theater Artists Marketing Alliance), and the Z Collective. He serves on the Advisory Board of the Brickbottom Artist Association and the Wicked Queer Film Festival. Charles is an educator, illustrator, theater designer, and puppeteer. Conor Moynihan is the Assistant Curator of Prints, Drawings, and Photographs at the RISD Museum, where he specializes in modern and contemporary art. He is interested in identity-based practices, especially art related the LGBTQ+ and disability communities. His recent exhibitions at the RISD Museum include, Perception and Presence in Contemporary Drawing, Variance: Making, Unmaking, and Remaking Disability, and The Performative Self-Portrait, which is on view now through November 12, 2023. Through various media, with a focus on drawing, painting and performance, Dominic Quagliozzi's (he/him) work deconstructs his lived experience with chronic illness and disability to explore social relationships and the domestication of illness. His work aims to highlight the interdependence needed for healing and notions of longevity within personal and shared experience. Quagliozzi received an MFA in Studio Arts from Cal State University, Los Angeles and a BA in Sociology from Providence College. His work is in the permanent collection at the Rhode Island School of Design Museum, and he has exhibited work in Los Angeles, New York, Boston, Providence, Denmark and Sydney, Australia. In 2018, he was on the Keynote patient panel at the Nexus Summit for interprofessional care and education at the University of Minnesota. He is on the Arts Council for Creative Healing for Youth in Pain and has given workshops and lectures at the UCLA Geffen School of Medicine, USC Keck School of Medicine, Chapman University, Cal State Los Angeles and Cal State Long Beach. Casey Weibust is an art director, educator and artist in the Rhode Island community. She received a BFA in Printmaking from Massachusetts College of Art & Design in 2010 and has taught art to all experience levels at South County Art Association, the RISD Young Artist Program and currently the Jamestown Arts Center. Casey is the Vice President of the Conanicut Island Art Association and previously worked at the East Bay Met School as an Art Advisor Assistant. She is currently the Art Director at Out of the Box Studio & Gallery in Jamestown and has worked supporting artists with developmental disabilities for 8 years. Her passion is sharing her love and knowledge of art and advocating for inclusion and collaboration within the community. She believes strongly in the mission of Out of the Box, which is to cultivate an inclusive creative environment that welcomes all artists and art enthusiasts to work freely, experiment and share ideas as a community. National Arts and Humanities Month (NAHM) is a nationwide collective recognition of the importance of arts and culture in America. NAHM was launched more than 30 years ago by Americans for the Arts (AFTA) to raise public awareness about the critical role arts and humanities play in our communities. For Rhode Island, this year’s theme is Collective Responsibility. More information on the Month’s activities in Rhode Island.
