What is it about?
This essay explores the role of art and storytelling in organizing expressive and vocational opportunities for individuals with developmental disabilities. Passion Works is a non-profit organization that fosters collaborative art-making among people with differing abilities. Guided by an asset-based approach titled the Creative Abundance Model, the studio challenges deficit-based narratives that guide traditional programming in sheltered workshops for individuals with developmental disabilities. The studio functions as an incubator of discovery, a process central to fostering individual well-being and social change.
Featured Image
Photo by Renee Fisher on Unsplash
Why is it important?
People with disabilities are one of the last groups of people who are still having their rights violated. Part of that rights violation is being served in a segregated and isolated setting. It’s time to bring sheltered workshops and people with disabilities out of the shadows. Passion Works is bringing people out of the shadows. The studio is located in a central downtown location with a gallery and store at the front of the studio. Passion Works is a place for the community to come in and see what we’re doing and join us. We are not just doing art. We are offering opportunities for individuals to move beyond stereotypes and encounter human beings on a deeper level. We are offering opportunities for historically marginalized individuals to be integrated in community life. Everyone is enriched in the process.
Perspectives
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Cultivating Passion through Collaborative Art: A Dialogic Exploration of Disability, Storytelling, and Social Change, Health Communication, April 2019, Taylor & Francis,
DOI: 10.1080/10410236.2019.1596868.
You can read the full text:
Resources
Passion Works Website
Passion Works Website
Creative Abundance Consulting Website
Creative Abundance Group Website
Upcycling Sheltered Workshops
Book - Upcyling Sheltered Workshops: A Revolutionary Approach to Transforming Workshops into Creative Spaces Authors: Susan Dlouhy and Patty Mitchell Ohio University Press, Athens, OH
Creative Abundance DVD
DVD - Creative Abundance WOUB Public Media Ohio University Scripps College of Communication Produced by Dr. Lynn Harter, Evan Shaw and Margaret Quinlan
Contributors
The following have contributed to this page