Matheny’s Arts Access Program will be participating in two important arts events in March in New Jersey. Arts Access is joining several other organizations to be part of the ReelAbilities New Jersey Disabilities Film Festival, and Arts Access artists will have their work shown and heard at a special presentation at the MONDO Summit building in Summit, NJ.
The ReelAbilities Film Festival is the largest festival in the country dedicated to promoting awareness and appreciation of the lives, stories and artistic expressions of people with different disabilities. At 5:30 p.m. on Friday, March 15, the gallery in the Robert Schonhorn Arts Center at Matheny will be open for viewing of visual art created by Arts Access artists. At 6 p.m., a New Jersey edition of the ReelAbilities Festival will open with a short film about Arts Access, followed by Wampler’s Ascent, a feature film about Steve Wampler, who has cerebral palsy and needs to do 20,000 pull-ups in order to climb the El Capitan Mountain in Yosemite National Park. In 2002, Wampler founded a camp for children with disabilities, and his climb will be dedicated to the idea that kids with disabilities can do anything they set their minds to. After the film, there will be a 30-minute discussion with the Wampler family and other panelists.
Admission is $10; all proceeds will benefit Matheny. For more information, call (908) 234-0011, ext. 765, or email haeree@artsaccessprogram.org.
On Sunday, March 17, from 2-4 p.m., Arts Access visual art and written works will be on display and presented at the MONDO Summit building, a 94-year-old reconstructed brick building which is dedicated to all kinds of art: craftsmanship, culinary arts, visual arts, performing arts and literary arts. Mondo is located at 426 Springfield Ave. in Summit, and admission is free.