Arts & Access: Celebrating Cultural Accessibility

On November 10, 2014, the Lehigh Valley Arts Council and the Lehigh Valley Partnership for a Disability-Friendly Community will co-host an exposition, Arts & Access: Celebrating Cultural Accessibility, at the Lehigh Valley Health Network, 2100 Mack Boulevard, Allentown, from 3:00 – 6:00 p.m.

The November 10th expo heralds the twenty-fifth anniversary of the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act which occurs on July 26, 2015. The Lehigh Valley Arts Council and the Partnership for a Disability Friendly Community are planning a yearlong celebration next year to unite the entire community around creating a more inclusive region and expanding access to the arts for all people.

“Let’s remove barriers and open our doors to persons with disabilities,” says Randall Forte, Lehigh Valley Arts Council Executive Director. “It’s easier than you might think, and this event will give arts groups the help they need.”

Additionally, the 2012 U.S. Census data estimates indicate the number of non-institutionalized people with disabilities living in the Lehigh Valley is 81,000, or 12.7%, a figure that represents a significant number of potential new audience members for the cultural community.

Partnership member Jan Schwoyer sums it up best: “From my vantage point, the disability community is made up of people who have to do things differently. The arts community is a group of people who love to do things differently. These two groups were made for each other!”

Sponsored by the Lehigh Valley Health Network and Just Born, Inc., the November expo is free and open to the public. Featured guest, writer Shane Burcaw, will speak about his upcoming memoir, Laughing at My Nightmare, due out this October, and the importance of accessibility in the community. He writes an occasional column about life and disability in the Lehigh Valley in the Morning Call.

Exhibitors from local social service agencies and cultural organizations will be on hand to promote the consumer services and the specialized training they provide, including:

Empathy not Sympathy: Interacting Respectfully with People with Disabilities;

About Hidden Disabilities: Legal, Practical, and Human Considerations;

Audio-Described and Open-Captioned Performances.

Panel presentations will showcase recent collaborations between the cultural and disability communities that have extended access to the vision-impaired and to children with autism. Among the presenters are representatives from:

Center for Vision Loss

Muhlenberg Summer Music Theatre

Arch of the Lehigh Valley

Act One, DeSales University Theatre

Lehigh University Art Galleries and Museum

If you are interested in getting involved, the Arts & Access planning committee meets on the first Monday of the month from 3:30 to 5:00 p.m. Please R.S.V.P. to info@lvartscouncil.org.

What: Arts & Access Expo
When: November 10, 2014 / 3:00 – 6:00 p.m.
Where: Lehigh Valley Health Network, 2100 Mack Boulevard, Allentown

Randall Forte, Executive Director
Lehigh Valley Arts Council
Phone: 610-437-5915.
Email: info@LVArtsCouncil.org
Web: www.lvartscouncil.org/access

Pottstown Resident Miffed By Lack Of ‘Mercury’ Front Page Coverage For Pottstown High School Football Team’s Win

Pottstown Borough Hall

Editor’s Note:  We saw this on Facebook and feel it needs to be shared with the wider community.  We understand and share this parent’s concern about the promotion of Pottstown and the Pottstown School District.  In our humble opinion, Pottstown and Pottstown School District news should always take priority in the local paper.  Far more disturbing is the son’s comment that “nobody cares about Pottstown”.  How sad is this and what does it say about the prevailing attitude of Pottstonians if this despair has crept all the way down the ladder to school age children?  At times this appears to be the prevailing attitude of the leadership, both paid and elected.  This issue needs some serious discussion by the “powers that be” and this cycle of “nobody cares” needs to end.  How will Pottstown ever recover with a defeatist attitude! Apparently, this attitude has been picked up on by “the rest of the world” and might be why articles like the recent one in the Philadelphia Inquirer get published.

I found myself very annoyed this morning.  I went and bought my local HOMETOWN newspaper which is operated and ran in Pottstown.  I looked on the front page and to my surprise and anger there is nothing about the Pottstown High School football team winning yesterday, but yet we put the Perk Valley vs. Methacton score on the front page.  Now please don’t think that I am putting down the other schools, but to not have the school that resides where your paper is published on the front page was to be quite frank, appalling.  My son, who happens to play for the Trojans, told me “what is the big deal Dad, no one cares about Pottstown”.  News Alert: I care and there are people out there that do care.  I’m sure there are people that agree with him but I am not one of them.  I am a former grad who still supports his local team.  How do we expect to move forward in this school district when our students have the mentality of no one cares about us, no big deal?  Our town needs help and I just think that a putting some good news about the LOCAL KIDS would go a long way in changing people ‘s attitude.   Rob Bertoti

Ohio State Marching Band “TV Land” – Halftime vs. Virginia Tech: 9-6-14

Editor’s note:  Take the time to watch this.  Phenomenal!!

 

Pittsburgh To Display City’s Progress, Potential At Major Bike Conference Downtown

Pittsburgh is already America’s most livable city, and a conference here this week might help it become even more so.

The city is hosting the Pro Walk/​Pro Bike/​Pro Place conference today through Thursday, welcoming more than 1,000 planners, architects, public health professionals, real estate professionals, educators and advocates from around the globe.

The conference could benefit Pittsburgh and the visitors.

“To have them learn from us and have us learn from them and all of their years of experience changing their cities into walkable, bikeable places is really really important for Pittsburghers but also for the people visiting Pittsburgh,” said Scott Bricker, executive director of Bike Pittsburgh.

Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/local/2014/09/08/Pittsburgh-will-display-progress-potential-at-major-bike-conference/stories/201409080015#ixzz3CkHIYKhK

Thrival Festival To Showcase Pittsburgh’s Music, Tech Scenes

Locator map with the East Liberty neighborhood in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania highlighted. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Pass through East Liberty and Larimer this week, and you might hear some music and see some gadgets made right here in Pittsburgh.

The Thrival Festival starts Monday, featuring a week’s worth of novel computer products and people brainstorming about how to persuade tech types that Pittsburgh fosters innovation. Plus, there’s music. Talib Kweli will play on Saturday, and Moby will perform on Sunday.

“The goal of this year is to make some noise, to get Pittsburgh on the map more than we already are — to darken the blot,” said Bobby Zappala, CEO of Thrill Mill, an East End tech business incubator sponsoring the festival.

Read more: http://triblive.com/news/allegheny/6735665-74/festival-pittsburgh-products#ixzz3CkFI9PJP
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Downtown York Boutique Owners Look To Offer A Unique Shopping Experience

Map of Pennsylvania highlighting York County (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

When Alex Chiaruttini was looking for the perfect little black dress to take with her on an overseas trip, she found it at Indigo Bleu, a recently opened boutique on York’s West Philadelphia Street.

The 43-year-old environmental attorney and Springettsbury Township resident said she doesn’t shop at malls and prefers shopping at downtown York boutiques because their owners know Chiaruttini’s style and what she might like.

“It’s more fun than shopping online,” Chiaruttini said Wednesday evening while shopping with a friend at Elizabeth & West Fashion House, another downtown York boutique.

Wednesday was the second day of York’s annual Boutique Week. Downtown Inc. and a committee of downtown merchants launched the event in 2012 to give shopkeepers a chance to show off their merchandise and attract new customers. The week includes a fashion show Friday evening at Central Market. Boutique owners like Zarah Brooks, owner of Indigo Bleu, say they offer their customers a more personal experience and different merchandise than can be found at a mall.

Read more: http://www.ydr.com/yorkcity/ci_26462981/downtown-boutique-owners-look-offer-unique-shopping-experience

Diversity Lacking In Scranton, Wilkes-Barre Police

Locator map of the Scranton-Wilkes-Barre Metropolitan Statistical Area in the northeastern part of the of . (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

One.

That’s the number of racial minorities on the 143-officer Scranton police force.

Meanwhile, Scranton has morphed into a fairly diverse city in recent years.

The 2010 census reported the city was more than 5 percent black and 3 percent Asian. More than 80 percent is white. About 10 percent of the population is Latino.

With the mostly white police force in Ferguson, Missouri, making headlines while trying to quell protests from the mostly black town residents after a white officer shot a black teenager last month, the lack of diversity in police departments, and the problems that come with it, have been pulled back into the public eye.

Read more: http://citizensvoice.com/news/diversity-lacking-in-scranton-w-b-police-1.1748937

Allentown Residents Benefiting From Hockey Arena Area Job Growth

English: City of Allentown from east side (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

When Oliver Velasquez arrived for a job fair earlier this summer at the new Allentown hockey arena, he was shocked by the number of attendees.

“I didn’t expect to see that many people; there must have been thousands,” the 26-year-old Allentown resident said. “The line actually wrapped around the block a couple of times.”

Velasquez waited in that line, and it paid off for him. He is now the PPL Center’s new suites and catering manager, providing banquets for catered events and overseeing food in the arena’s private suites.

He is one of more than 300 city residents to find employment as part of an effort by community activists and city officials to ensure people living in Allentown get a fair shot at the jobs being created by downtown redevelopment.

Read more: http://www.lehighvalleylive.com/allentown/index.ssf/2014/09/allentown_residents_benefittin.html

Bethlehem Distillery Gets OK For State’s First New Economic Development Incentive

Map of Pennsylvania highlighting Northampton County (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

A Bethlehem-based distillery to be opened by the owner of Franklin Hill Vineyards received approval today to be the first business in the state to use a new economic development incentive.

The Bethlehem Revitalization and Improvement Authority gave its unanimous approval to grant the distillery — which will be called Social Still — funding through the state’s City Revitalization and Improvement Zone. The designation allows state and local nonproperty taxes from new businesses in the zone to help finance new development within it.

Authority members debated today over how much of those taxes the business should get. The authority’s guidelines say the authority “strives” to give the developer 80 percent of the funding, an amount board member Ann McHale said is too low for such a unique project.

Read more: http://www.lehighvalleylive.com/bethlehem/index.ssf/2014/09/distillery_gets_ok_for_bethleh.html