ABOUT US

WE'RE GLAD YOU'RE HERE!

Welcome! We invite you to learn more about Open Door Arts: who we are, what we do, and most importantly, why we do it. We hope you'll join us in working to increase access, participation, and representation in the arts by people with disabilities.

our work

We believe our shared cultural community is strengthened when it represents, includes, and engages all people.

Open Door Arts increases access, participation, and representation of people with disabilities in arts and culture. The next generation of employees, leaders, and artists with disabilities explore creative careers while learning artistic skills in our school programs. Disabled artists share their work with the community through our Open Door Gallery. Cultural organizations become more accessible to patrons and employees with disabilities by engaging with our resources, training, and research.

Child's artwork showing four children over a colorful background with the words "Education for All"

Access to and participation in the arts are fundamental human rights that should be available to everyone. Engaging in the arts allows us to express our most profound thoughts and emotions,
share our stories, and explore the common humanity that unites us all."

- Nicole Agois Hurel, Managing Director

Print made by a child, showing the outline of a person with a heart around them, over a rainbow-colored background

Student artwork, Henderson Inclusion School

our promise

Open Door Arts believes our diverse perspectives, experiences, backgrounds, and identities strengthen us and our organization. We are committed to ensuring that all of our staff, students, artists, and constituents feel welcomed, actively included, valued, and encouraged to be their authentic selves.

our history

Open Door Arts has been learning, growing, and building alongside the disability community through some of its most significant and transformative decades. As we celebrate our accomplishments over the past 40 years, we invite you to join us in imagining and designing our collective future.

1970s

OUR FOUNDATION

In 1974 President Kennedy’s sister, Ambassador Jean Kennedy Smith, founded the National Committee Arts for the Handicapped as part of the Kennedy Center to honor her brother’s commitment to the arts and to people with disabilities. This organization would continue to grow into an international network of affiliates working to promote access in the arts for people with disabilities.

1980s

OUR BEGINNING

Our organization was incorporated in 1980, when Maida S. Abrams founded the Massachusetts Committee Arts for the Handicapped, the local affiliate of the National Committee Arts for the Handicapped located in Washington, D.C. The National Committee and its affiliates (including us) later changed our names to Very Special Arts, and eventually VSA.

1990s

CHANGING THE FIELD

With the passing of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) in 1990, a new area of advocacy and access emerged. VSA MA brought visibility to the arts and disability by hosting an International Festival of Wheelchair Dance in collaboration with Dance Umbrella. We also shared knowledge and best practices by training teams in 26 states to survey arts organizations about accessibility to compile a national database, and by publishing the Multi-Arts Resource Guide, an arts-integrated curriculum guide for educators. In recognition of our programs, we were awarded the Mass Cultural Council Commonwealth Award in 1997.

2000s

LEADING THE WAY

With funding from Mass Cultural Council, we ran the Cultural Access Mini-Grant program, which awarded seed funds to arts and culture organizations, leading the way to some of the most innovative access programs in the state. In 2004 we hosted the International Deaf Theater Festival in Boston, and in 2009, we increased visibility to our work and artists with disabilities by moving into the NonProfit Center and opening the Open Door Gallery, Boston. We also continued to contribute to research and publications on Universal Design for Learning and the arts.

2010s

NEW VENTURES

We launched a more robust and integrated model for our school programs, and called it COOL Schools (Creative Outlook on Learning). In 2014, VSA MA became an affiliate of Seven Hills Foundation. Our affiliation created opportunities for individuals served by Seven Hills to participate in the arts and provided us with new ways to expand our work, which included opening the Open Door Gallery @ WAM (Worcester Art Museum) and hosting the Arts and the Brain Symposium.

2020s

OUR FUTURE

We entered a new decade with a new name: Open Door Arts and celebrated 40 years of advancing inclusion in the arts! The Mass Cultural Council presented us with the Universal Participation Community Asset Award in 2020 to recognize our history of impact in the field.

our team

Our staff and advisors bring a depth of perspectives, lived experiences, and expertise in the areas of arts, education, and disability - which are united through a common passion and commitment to this important work.

a head shot of Nicole Agois, a light skinned Latina woman with shoulder length brown hair smiling at the camera

Nicole Agois, Ed.M.

Managing Director

a head shot of Portia Brown, a fair skinned white woman with long blonde hair smiling at the camera

Portia Brown, Ed.M., M.A.

Director of Operations

a head shot of Mehdi Raoufi, a man with curly brown hair, a mustache and goatee wearing black rim glasses and smiling looking away from the camera

Mehdi Raoufi, M.A.

Director of School Programs

MEGAN BENT

Gallery and Communications Manager

DANI ROSE

Director of Cultural Access

Board of Advisors

Jeremy Alliger Alliger Arts
Moe Finnerty Consultant and Trainer
Elaine Fallon Educational Consultant
Robin Foley Retired
Thomas Keane Concord Carlisle School District
Ruth Mercado-Zizzo EdVestors
Carl Richardson Massachusetts State House
Heather Watkins Writer and Advocate

location

Open Door Arts is located inside the Cultural Equity Incubator at

15 Channel Center Street, Suite 103
Boston, MA 02210

Closest T-Stop: CEI is located .5 miles from the Broadway T-Stop on the red line

Parking Options: Check out nearby options here

ACCESS

The Cultural Equity Incubator is on the first floor of the Midway Artist Studio Building.

Please enter the building through the front door where there is a lift (dimensions: 36" by 54"). Once you reach the main floor take a left down the hallway, Studio 103 is right past the media lab, with the Incubator door on the right.

There are two gender neutral and accessible bathrooms on the first floor, nearby the Cultural Equity Incubator entrance.

Please note: there are push buttons on the doors to the bathroom but not to the Incubator itself. Incubator community members are happy to support with the door, please knock, or call, for our attention.

We care about your experience! Please contact if you have access-related questions or requests.

Access information for the Open Door Gallery in Worcester.