Throughout the Fall of 2019, I volunteered weekly in the performing arts department at the Interact Center for the Visual and Performing Arts in St. Paul, Minnesota. Interact provides a space for artists with disabilities to create and engage in art in a professional and formal space. Interact’s mission is “to create art that challenges perceptions of disability… [and to] push the boundaries of traditional art forms by including the unique perceptions of our artists” (Interact Center for the Visual and Performing Arts, 2020). Artists in the visual arts department regularly sell and show their art in galleries and museums, and artists in the performing arts department produce two full-length productions a year.

Interact fills a necessary, but often overlooked void. In 2019, only 19.3% of people with a disability were employed in the United States (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2020). Interact is unique in that it focuses on art as a profession, rather than a form of therapy, and creates a space for artists to be paid for their performance work and make commissions from their visual/studio work (Explore Minnesota, 2020). Interact allows for artists to develop and grow in their chosen field. Artists do not have to come in as trained professionals, but rather simply be “motivated to grow their artistic skills in a creative environment” (Interact Center for the Visual and Performing Arts, 2020).

I volunteered in the performing arts department at Interact. As a volunteer, I mainly participated in drama activities and had conversations with the artists, but I also helped to set up for certain events and activities. I usually came on the same day every week, so I was able to get to know some of the artists a bit more and get to hear about their ideas and artistic goals. I participated in exercises that examined different forms of theater and dance, such as improvisation, break dancing, tragedy, absurdist theater, and more.

In literature that discusses art done by people with disabilities, two contrasting themes emerge: Art as healing and art as valid art (Evans, 2016). In the art as healing approach, theater is “regarded as an effective arts approach to address social isolation of people with disabilities because the making and presentation of theater is inherently social” (Evans, 2016, p. 1). However, this view assumes that people with disabilities are inherently isolated and antisocial. In contrast, the art as valid art theme “asserts that art created by people with disabilities is valuable as art, and does not need to stake its value in non-art-related outcomes” (Evans, 2016, p. 2).

Interact operates with the latter theme at its core. The artists are challenged to pursue art in ways that are meaningful to them, and to take ownership of what they create. Staff members help out and participate, but do so in ways that create a strong community without condescension. The staff members at Interact are not trained in therapy, but rather in specific art forms, which reflects back on the art as valid art theme. If the staff members were instead trained therapists, I believe that the arts training that Interact offers would have an inauthentic feel, which could easily create an environment that intends to be helpful but becomes patronizing. However, having the staff as trained artists helps to challenge, rather than patronize, the artists.

Interact exemplifies “the idea of community integration by supporting artists with and without disabilities [and having them work] side by side every day” (Interact Center for the Visual and Performing Arts, 2020). While there is certainly merit in pursuing art therapeutically, focusing on art as a profession allows for artists to take pride in and ownership of their work.

I was able to watch several rehearsals for a performance at a fundraiser, and both artists and staff rehearse and act as professionally as those in any other theater company. It is evident that Interact empowers and challenges people to do their best work as professional artists. During my time at Interact, I was able to see the importance of inclusivity, accessibility, and community in the art world.