WATER MILL, NY — The Parrish Museum of Art has received a $198,000 grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Service to help make art more accessible to all.
The funds, museum officials said, will help staff evaluate, improve and expand “Access Parrish,” an existing gallery experience and art-making program that serves people with special needs, including cognitively diverse people with intellectual and developmental disabilities , people on the autism spectrum, people with physical disabilities and people who have experienced serious trauma.
Access Parrish empowers people through experiential learning opportunities that make the Parrish accessible to “the most underserved, underserved, vulnerable, marginalized and isolated populations,” Museum representatives said.
The program has reached more than 500 people to date and has expanded over time to include partnerships with incarcerated women and victims of domestic violence — both “highly overlooked populations,” according to the Museum.
“We are thrilled to receive an IMLS grant,” said Monica Ramirez-Montagut, director of the Parrish Art Museum. “To date, we have not offered Access Parrish directly to the general public, as program participants currently come almost exclusively from our partner organizations. As the Museum continues to successfully emerge from three years of pandemic disruption, the timing is right to supercharge Access Parrish and serve a wider audience.”
Parrish will work with an outside evaluator to develop a plan, as well as a community advisory committee with members from the program's target audience and working with Parrish educator Wendy Gottlieb in the galleries with participants from Cancer Program services Stony Brook Southampton Hospital Wellness. for guiding the project. Evaluation of the program will support the development and expansion of future community-informed museum programming to serve a broader audience and will leverage lessons learned to improve the museum's overall service to specific audiences.
“As pillars of our communities, libraries and museums bring people together by providing important programs, services and collections. These institutions are trusted places where people can learn, explore and grow,” said IMLS Director Crosby Kemper. “IMLS is proud to support their initiatives through our grants as they educate and empower their communities.”
