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RoneshaYou've seen how people dig at the concrete, the brick debris of a major earthquake with their bare hands? Desperately digging, their fingers bloody, frenzied by the knowledge that fellow human beings are trapped beneath?
Wesley sitting with a staff person looking at his new painting. Quietly he says , "You like it?" Before they can answer, he breathes out, very quietly, "I like it." The most common phrase we hear from staff who witness the A.R.T. studio workshop is, "I am blown away." When Roz and I arrive in the room, the people we will be working with are quiet, muted. When we pack our A.R.T. gear to go? The room, the people, the artists, the staff are buzzing with talk, all sorts of sounds, laughter, celebratory shouts. 
A.R.T. has removed the debris and the people are free. Where there was total passivity there is now powerful, original, ground-breaking creative production. Real work that can leave the artists exhausted. And how good this must feel. Ronesha worked herself into a sweat, jamming with Roz through three new paintings, Ronesha staying, working, till the moment we had to pack up. We knew an admin bigwig was going to drop in that last afternoon, so made sure Ronesha and Roz were in place to wow them with the exacting directives, the exacting control of the A.R.T. Point System. Before the bigwig arrived Ronesha had been going with the laser. Wanting to demonstrate the laser at one work station, the point system at the other, seeing how deeply Wesley was into painting with the laser, Roz asked Ronesha if she was willing to work with us, to help us out with the demo by using the point system. Good to go Ronesha created sets of curves, drawing them all first before choosing color, application tools, and applying the paint. It was a great session. The bigwig was there to see Ronesha directing the X Y axis stick, just this little more up, or down. Just this little bit, to locate the point just right. "This right?" Roz asks. Nice approving sound from Ronesha. "Exactly right?" Roz asks. Ronesha let's out a melodious peal, then hunkers back down to work. When the bigwig was gone and we were starting to pack up at the end of the day, Roz sat for a minute with Ronesha, letting her know how great it was Ronesha had been willing to leave the laser to demo the point system. "Which one did you like better?" Roz asks. "Laser or point system? Laser" YES signal! Roz, seeing the light in Ronesha's eyes asks, "Or the point system?" "Yes! Both young women crack up laughing. What had been holding Ronesha back had been removed, so now she sat with us, the creative vistas of true self-expression, limitless. 
What's hard to take is how many disabilities organizations take a pass on A.R.T. Even when it has been underwritten by one of our funders and can be offered free of charge. They take a pass on it. “No thanks. We're not interested." Wow. This is pretty hard to figure out. Or to put it more honestly: it's not very pleasant to figure out. Take a moment to ask yourself, "Why would a big disabilities organization take a pass on removing the rubble from the earthquake victims? Why is it they would choose to walk by the fallen wall, knowing these humans are pinned, yet fully alive. Maybe they don't believe our claims. But this doesn't make much sense when the list of our funders, those who have thoroughly vetted us, include such prestigious foundations as The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, The Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation, The Kessler Foundation, and the New York Community Trust. That our home studio is with Princeton University. That our feature media coverage includes the New York Times, PBS, CNN, American Profiles magazine along with over 100 other feature articles including pieces in all the major disabilities magazines. And all our national awards. The list of directors of the 23 A.R.T. programs we've started around the country. These names and phone numbers they could call? Hmm. This makes it pretty hard to think A.R.T.’s not for real. Maybe they like how easy it is to work with clients who are perfectly passive? What is a big group like Misericordia in Chicago thinking when they take a pass on getting A.R.T. at no charge? Where are their heads? What are they thinking? "It must be considered that there is nothing more difficult to carry out, nor more doubtful of success, nor more dangerous to handle, than to initiate a new order of things. For the reformer has enemies in all those who profit from the old order, and only luke warm defenders in those who would profit by the new order, this luke-warmness arriving partially from fear of their adversaries, who have the laws in their favor, and partly from the incredulity of mankind who do not believe in anything new until they have had actual experience of it." –Machiavelli ‘The Prince’ 1505. |
The individuals A.R.T. works with are trapped like this, unable to move, most unable to speak. Yet no one is tearing at the debris that buries them. Instead of using approaches like A.R.T. to fully extricate them, they manage to get food down to them, where they will be kept alive. But what kind of a life is this? Well intentioned staff can't yet see the debris can be removed in a few minutes, and the trapped person freed. A.R.T. knows the smothering weight can be removed, because this is what we do. This is our expertise. This is our breakthrough. We have the answer. We have the way. Tracker Rosalind Engle accompanying me all around the country, we throw ourselves into helping 'disabilities' groups raise their own A.R.T. studio programs. Every month for the last six months Roz and I have raised a new program. We have gotten close to so many new artists. Over and over we've seen the bouquet of joy blossom from those we work with, once they get A.R.T. Ronesha arches up from her wheelchair, loosing a beautiful peel of happiness, Parris SHOUTING TO ALL WHO CAN HEAR HIM, "I love it! I love it!"