Arthur Frank is professor emeritus at the University of Calgary, Canada. Since his retirement in 2013, he has been Professor II at VID Specialized University in Oslo, visiting professor in the Program in Narrative Medicine at Columbia University, and Francqui Fellow at the University of Ghent. His books on illness experience, ethics, clinical care, and narrative include At the Will of the Body, The Wounded Storyteller, The Renewal of Generosity, Letting Stories Breathe, and most recently King Lear: Shakespeare’s Dark Consolations as part of Oxford’s “My Reading” series. He is an elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and winner of the Society’s medal in bioethics. He has also been recognized with a lifetime achievement award from the Canadian Bioethics Society.

Cosponsored by the Boston College Center for Psychological Humanities & Ethics.

Over the past thirty years, we’ve collectively seen a push for greater accessibility options in the arts such as (but not limited to) ASL interpreters, open captioning, audio descriptions, autism and sensory friendly performances, and veterans’ theater going programs.

Likewise, artists breaking the mold are getting their overdue spotlight. Not only have companies like Deaf West taken mainstream theater by storm and become household names, but last year’s Broadway shows showcased a more inclusive slate of talent: The Cost of Living starred Katy Sullivan, Paralympic athlete and amputee, and Gregg Mozgala, who is diagnosed with Cerebral Palsy; Camelot featured Anthony Michael Lopez, who wears a prosthetic leg and Marilee Talkington who is legally blind; In A Doll's House, Michael Patrick Thornton, a wheelchair user, played Dr. Rank.

How do we continue to move the needle to ensure that everyone can access the show and that the material we enjoy reflects humanity as whole - with a wide variety of abilities and differences? In this conversation, we’ll explore both the content and function of representation and accessibility. What does inclusive performance look like, and how do we get there?

Join Director of Artistic Programming Ronee Penoi, noted bassist and host of the podcast, “Blind? So What?” Ciara Moser, audio describer, performer, and leader in the Spina Bifida community Cori Couture, groundbreaking founder and Executive Director of Abilities Dance Ellice Patterson, and managing director of Open Door Arts, Nicole Agois Hurel for this timely panel discussion.

Nicole Agois Hurel is a musician, educator, arts administrator, and disability advocate whose work centers at the intersection of arts, education and disability. She is the Managing Director of Open Door Arts, an organization that works to increase access, participation, and representation in arts and culture by people with disabilities. She directed Open Door Arts’ education programs for 13 years before assuming the Managing Director role in 2017.

In-show Audio Describer Cori Couture (she/her) has provided audio description (AD) for more than 125 productions in the Boston area at about a dozen different theatres. In addition, she has described TV, film, and projects for the Commonwealth of MA, Paramount, NASA, and Disney Parks. She has coordinated AD for many theatres and maintains a comprehensive calendar of local AD productions. Cori proudly identifies as a person with a disability and her one-woman show explored how the arts buoyed her through growing up with spina bifida. She reminds us that people with disabilities have all kinds of fulfilling jobs and lives.

Ellice Patterson is the founder/ executive and artistic director of Abilities Dance, a Boston-based dance company that welcomes artists with and without disabilities. She currently serves on the board of Massachusetts Cultural Council. She was an artist in residence with the City of Boston’s transportation department, using dance as a way to promote more accessibility on the streets and sidewalks of the city 2022 - 2023.

Ciara Moser, originally from Dublin but raised in Austria, currently calls Boston her home base. As a blind bassist of Austrian-Irish descent, she showcases her versatility across various musical styles and genres, seamlessly blending into band, orchestra, film, and ensemble projects, both in live performances and studio sessions.

Why have so many Americans turned against democracy? How did we get to the point where an organized political movement within the U.S. is working to bring down its own democratic system? These are the questions that journalist Katherine Stewart grapples with, in her new NYT bestselling book, 'Money, Lies and God'.

Stewart’s latest investigation exposes the inner workings of the “engine of unreason” roiling American culture and politics, dissembling the roots of the problem. Along with her in-depth research into this “new style of religion”, she demonstrates that the movement relies on several distinct constituencies, with very different and often conflicting agendas. Stewart provides a compelling analysis of the authoritarian reaction in the U.S. Her reporting and political expertise helps reframe the conversation about the moral collapse of conservatism in America and points a practical way forward toward a democratic future.

This is Stewart’s third book about the rise of the religious right in America; Rob Reiner’s 2024 documentary, 'God and Country' is based on Stewart’s previous award-winning book, 'The Power Worshippers'.

Katherine Stewart has covered the intersection of faith and politics for over 15 years; her work appears in the New York Times, The Washington Post, the New Republic, the Guardian, and Religion News Service and she has been featured on broadcast media outlets such as MSNBC, CNN, and NPR. Her 2012 book, 'The Good News Club', covered the religious right’s effort to infiltrate and undermine public education.

ArtsEmerson is the professional presenting and producing organization at Emerson College, and its mission is to bring people together to experience powerful performances that delight, provoke, and inspire, celebrating both our differences and common humanity. Founded in 2010 by Robert J. Orchard — the year the U.S. Census confirmed there was no single cultural majority in Boston — ArtsEmerson is committed to building a cultural institution that reflects the diversity of our city. Our imaginative and globe-spanning live and virtual performances, films, and conversations invites each of us to be part of a Boston that is more creative, equitable, and connected. ArtsEmerson is led by Interim Executive Director of the Office of the Arts & ArtsEmerson Director of Artistic Programming, Ronee Penoi. For more information, visit artsemerson.org.

Join the Boston Public Library for this Revolutionary Art talk with Guerrilla Girls member Frida Kahlo. Frida will present on the topic of gender and racial inequality in the art world as well as discuss the current and past work of the Guerrilla Girls.

Later during the program, journalist and 'The Culture Show' producer Kate Dellis will interview Frida Kahlo and then open the floor up to audience questions. The program will conclude with a meet and greet with Frida after the talk.

“Frida Kahlo” is a member of the Guerrilla Girls. The Guerrilla Girls are anonymous artist activists who use disruptive headlines, outrageous visuals and killer statistics to expose gender and ethnic bias and corruption in art, film, politics, and pop culture. They believe in an intersectional feminism that fights for human rights for all people. They undermine the idea of a mainstream narrative by revealing the understory, the subtext, the overlooked, and the downright unfair. They have done hundreds of unforgettable projects (street posters, banners, actions, books, and videos) all over the world. Their retrospectives and traveling exhibitions have attracted thousands. Currently their work is on display at Tate Modern, where 17,000 people came to meet them in person on January 31, 2024! Their latest book, Guerrilla Girls: The Art of Behaving Badly collects hundreds of our projects from 1985 to today, and was named one of the best art books of 2020 by the New York Times and the Los Angeles Times.

Other exhibitions include the São Paulo Museum of Art; the Venice Biennale; Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam; Museum of Military History, Dresden; Art Basel Hong Kong; Minneapolis Institute of Art; The Centre Pompidou, Paris; Toi o Tāmaki Museum, New Zealand; National Museum of World Writing, Korea; and hundreds more. The Getty Research Center, Los Angeles, is preparing an exhibition of their 40-year history for Fall 2025.