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Message from Watershed Organizational Development Group
We had the privilege of acting as the lead facilitators of BEGINNING: A National Conversation, designing the program with the NaAC staff, coordinating the agenda, and acting as the hosts at both the Banff and Vancouver venues.
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We have been facilitating gatherings in every imaginable sector for more than 30 years, and we can quite honestly say that this coming-together was one of the richest, and most satisfying, experiences of our professional lives.
It was so clear from the first moment that the participants came together that this was a unique and very much appreciated opportunity. We constantly heard from people in both locations that they were finally able to have conversations that had never happened before—and we heard how many ways these people believed they were going to be able to capitalize on this beginning of a different future.
We saw people sharing stories and experiences, pains and frustrations, and most importantly, solutions to the challenges that artists with disabilities, and their caregivers, experience every day. It was very clear that many people in the room found their kin—and that they might have never crossed paths with them if this gathering hadn’t happened.
In both venues, we also had people who were just starting to be involved in disability arts (as funders, or as mainstream arts organizations) but were just as transparently moved by the experience—changing their perspectives of the possible, saying they wanted to host some of these artists in their galleries, making connections with stories that touched them.
By the last day, it truly felt as if everyone in the room had their eyes, and their hearts, opened.
Geoff Powter
Watershed Organizational Development Group
Kathi Irvine
Watershed Organizational Development Group
