August 19, 2024 • 35 mins
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No matter what kind of abilities or disabilities we were born with, creativity lies within all of us. Over time, some are able to unlock their creativity to become true artists. You'll hear from Damon McLeese how the awesome Access Gallery is making that happen every day.
Learn how Access Gallery creates opportunities for artists, from summer programs to public art commissions, and the innovative ways they support their community. Discover how they bridge the gap between creativity and artistry, and the transformative power of art in the lives of people with disabilities.
To learn more about Access Gallery, their schedule of shows, and how you can support their efforts, visit accessgallery.org.
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Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
No matter what kind of abilities or disabilities we were born with,
creativity lies within all of us.
Over time, some are able to unlock their creativity to become true artists.
You'll hear from Damon McLeese how the awesome Access Gallery is making that
happen every day on this episode of Making Our World Better.
(00:23):
Welcome to the Making Our World Better podcast, where you will find motivation
and encouragement through lively conversations with inspirational people who
every day are making our world a better place.
Now, here's your host, Jay Clark.
Welcome to the podcast. I am Jay Clark, and I am excited to host a conversation with Damon McLeese,
(00:44):
Executive Director of Access Gallery and an awesome nonprofit advocacy and education
organization that is a cultural institution in Denver and a national model for
working at the intersection of art, ability, and disability.
Damon is a speaker, trainer, activist, and community artist who specializes
in unlocking the creative power of people regardless of their background,
(01:07):
belief, or experience in creativity.
The executive director of Access Gallery for 25 years, Damon creates projects
that force us to look at creativity, ability, and disability in very different
ways. Can't wait to get into it.
He was the recipient of the 2019 Bonfi Stan Arts and Society Award,
the 2017 Governor's Award for Leadership in the Arts, and the 2014 Mayor's Award
(01:32):
for Innovation in the Arts.
A TEDx speaker, Damon takes great joy in helping people discover or rediscover
the creative genius that resides in us all.
Damon, I'm so excited to talk and thanks for being with me today.
Oh, thank you for having me. I'm excited.
Yeah, I would love for you to just kind of start off basic and introduce us
to Access Gallery and your mission.
(01:55):
Sure. So Access Gallery is, the way I describe it is, it's a social enterprise
that works to increase access and economic opportunity through the arts for
artists with disabilities.
You know, if you think about it, that sounds very simple on paper.
It sounds like a very simple mission, but it's really, really not.
There's a lot of moving pieces whenever you're talking about economics and disability,
(02:19):
there's a lot of moving pieces with it.
The very fact that the art world is still thinking in terms of.
Sort of disabled and non-disabled artists. And there's just a whole lot of complexity
to what we do, even though on, you know, first glance, it looks pretty simple.
It's really not. There's a lot of moving pieces to it.
(02:42):
And you could say disabled artists, it's artists, right?
Yeah, it's artists. Yeah. First and foremost, I always sort of jokingly say,
I feel like I've done my job or we as a staff have
done our job when the people that come
to us start referring to themselves as artists and we work
primarily with people with intellectual
(03:03):
and developmental disabilities who are coming right out of high school so
they're very much in that transition we all
know transitions are hard they're trying to find which
way they want to go very often our summer
program is their first working real job that
that they're getting paid an hourly rate there's a lot of
opportunity for people to sort of find their voice through
(03:25):
the work that we do that's very very exciting for
me that's very cool i'd love to to take
a step back and you know tell me a little bit
about the history of the organization and kind
of how it's evolved yeah well so the organization was actually founded in 1978
as pike's peak arts for the handicap and so clearly we don't use the word handicap
(03:49):
anymore the organization has morphed and changed several Several times.
It's interesting having such a long tenure at the organization.
I've seen us sort of reinvent and revamp our mission and things a couple different times.
Most recently, a few years ago when we added the economic opportunity piece.
(04:09):
But we were actually born down in the Springs. We moved up into Denver in the early 80s.
We associated with the Kennedy Center, so we're still very much in the...
And we have a relationship with the Kennedy Center out of D.C.
They funded a group called Very Special Arts.
And for years, we were known as Very Special Arts.
(04:30):
And then people with disabilities didn't really like to be referred to as special.
So the brilliant marketing minds in D.C.
Started using the initials VSA and just really confused everybody.
So we were VSA for a while. And then about 15 years ago, they said,
yeah, we're going to keep the VSA moniker, but you as organizations in the field
(04:53):
can call yourselves whatever you want.
So we officially changed the name to Access Gallery because that's what we were most known for.
But during that transition, we went from an organization that really served primarily adults.
Then we went to primarily serving children and school-age kids.
Kids now we've come full cycle back again really
(05:14):
working primarily with adults and i used
to say young adults but a lot of our artists we don't have
an upper age limit we don't have oh you know
you've been here for eight weeks or eight years you have
to leave we don't have any of that a lot of artists will
stay with us and they're they're in high school and then all of a sudden they're
in their 30s and it's like oh okay we have you know
(05:34):
intergenerational co-generational model we work
a lot at making sure that you know
we don't really we try and include everybody irregardless
of who they are and where they come from so well and
i think that the fantastic part about that that i would love to for you to talk
about a little bit is and you know i've got a little bit of background working
(05:56):
with a special needs community yeah so talk about and i love you kind of touched
on it when you said people refer to them to artists but But there's something magical,
I think, when you focus on what people can do instead of what they can't do.
Yeah, and I think that that's underlying pretty much everything that we believe.
(06:18):
I believe that the idea of disability is hopefully something that we as a culture
are sort of moving away from.
This idea that there's a separate class of people that have a disability.
If you think about it, if you live long enough, you're going to have a disabling condition.
You know, most people who are disabled, less than 10% of the people in this
(06:39):
country who have a disability were born with their disability.
So you're either going to acquire a disability or you're going to age into it.
So I do some work in the creative aging realm, too.
But I really do believe that art, singularly, I believe that art is the way
that people with disabilities can express themselves.
Themselves there's i worked for special olympics for a few years and it was
(07:01):
a wonderful wonderful experience wonderful organization early in my career and
i i like the arts because there's.
You don't have to have that competitive thing. We really work to find,
one, what is this person interested in?
Two, how can we make this medium available to them?
We have a young man right now that he's just blossoming because we were able to get him an airbrush.
(07:26):
He was fascinated by airbrush. He was painting, and his paintings were nice.
But now that he has the airbrush, we're seeing a whole different quality.
We found people that have really found their way through the arts by trying
a lot of different things.
And there really is a certain level of joy in everything we do when we find people.
And again, going back to this idea, we're not an eight-week program.
(07:48):
You can learn something in eight weeks, but you're not going to develop a body
of work and really become an artist in your own right over the course of eight weeks.
So we have people that have been with us for 15, 16 years.
That's awesome. They're getting
shows outside our gallery. They're doing a lot of different things.
And I should mention our gallery. When I talked earlier about us sort of morphing
(08:12):
and changing, we moved into the Santa Fe Arts District 20 years ago.
Next year, we'll be 20 years in our gallery location.
And it's, you know, first of all, for a nonprofit to survive 20 years through
the pandemic and several different presidential administrations. That is a win.
Yeah, yeah. It's a big win. And then we really do love the neighborhood.
(08:33):
We've expanded a lot. So we have our gallery, our studio, which we let people
experiment and make things.
So we make the stuff in the studio. We sell it in the gallery.
And then we also have a digital art component where we do a lot of our career services.
So people might be interested in graphic design or something.
So we have a whole computer lab that we're a function. So we're very much a
(08:56):
part of our neighborhood.
I think we really have found our stride with.
That economic opportunity piece is really huge for us.
Well, and you really are in the epicenter of the arts world in the metro area, which is awesome.
And, you know, I'd love to touch on that a little bit. I mean,
I know your organization relies a lot on fundraising, but also generates a lot
(09:20):
of its own revenue through the social enterprise. price.
So, you know, Todd, tell us about that and talk about how your programs range
all the way from, you know, education and unlocking creativity all the way to
full-blown, fully commissioned art projects.
Yeah, it's, you know, I, one day I jokingly said this at a staff meeting and it kind of stuck.
(09:41):
We really do three things. We make art in the studio, we sell art at the gallery,
and then we support a community of artists to find their creative voice,
whether that's It's making artwork for, we have an art mat machine.
It's a retired cigarette machine that dispenses art for $5.
Some people come to us and they make little pieces of art. A lot of our artists
(10:01):
can draw or have illustrative backgrounds.
So we can start from selling art for $5 out of a cigarette machine to having
artwork in the gallery at a different group show or independent show.
All the way up to the last few years, we've really branched into doing artwork
for corporations and businesses.
(10:21):
Yeah, we realize that there's a lot of socially minded, a lot of organizations
that share our belief that we should be celebrating what people can do,
like you said, rather than what they can't do.
So we've been doing some corporate art commissions of people.
A corporation may come and say, we want a piece of art for our boardroom and
we can either make the artwork out of their collateral material or we can work with them on a concept.
(10:45):
And then we hire our artists to make the artwork. work i'm extremely
proud of the fact that we're now branching into public art we're getting
some public art commissions from the city of
denver in different places so we are
very fortunate we have staff that have a wide
variety of backgrounds so you know if if you can dream it up we can probably
(11:06):
make it so it's pretty cool and a couple years ago we started taking on paid
graphic design A lot of people were coming to us asking us as an organization
to teach them how to make their websites accessible.
And we're like, what better way than people with disabilities?
Right. So we have a whole graphic design cohort.
So we can design a letterhead, an annual report, a full-blown. We've done a couple.
(11:29):
Awareness campaigns for developmental pathways here in Denver.
During the pandemic, we did a series of billboards around the city to introduce
the idea of, you know, people with disabilities are not so different than anyone else.
And so we kind of hit it from a lot of different angles, but the economic piece,
if there's a way that we can figure out how to get money in someone's pocket,
(11:51):
we're going to be interested in it.
Which again, is so fantastic because it's, if you're the the company,
or if it's a piece of public art, it's just a piece of art. It's not, you know, no labels.
This wasn't done by an artist with a disability. It was done by an artist.
And it's a beautiful piece of art.
And we can tell the story of the corporation or the business,
(12:13):
or we can tell a different story.
And, you know, we all know the statistics, 20% of the population has a disability.
So that's a big chunk of people usually at the table.
And, you know, the last year we've really focused a lot on
getting some of our artists to be on artist selection
panels for public art and whenever we're talking
to a corporation or artists you're right there at the table so it's really
(12:34):
it's very exciting and then of course the gallery itself
being right in the middle of the arts district every
first friday of the month all of the galleries in the
arts district are open so we get we have a sort of
wonderful audience you know any for
for many years we would bring in outside
artists and we would do sort of a slightly different
(12:55):
approach but when we added the economic opportunity piece
now all of the artwork that is shown in our
gallery was made by the artists in our studio program yeah and
we went from 14 artists to 45 artists
so we could use a second we could use
a second gallery but no kidding i don't know that we're quite ready
for that that's fantastic well and you
(13:19):
know i know you've got a serious art background but
and you touched on it a little bit but kind of walk me through what it is when
you when you know i believe i completely believe that we all have creativity
and creative gifts it's just a matter of finding them and unlocking them how
do you guys you guys obviously have found some secret sauce in doing on that?
(13:42):
Yeah, I don't know that it's so much secret. I think for me,
it's been more of a matter of really defining or...
Clarifying the difference between creativity and artistry. I do believe everybody
is creative and I think everyone can learn to have artistic skills.
I really do believe that. But the creativity is that push, that draw.
(14:05):
We have a young woman that has been with us for almost 20 years and her passion
is dragons and dinosaurs.
Nicole loves dragons and dinosaurs. She's going to paint dragons and dinosaurs.
And for a long time, she would paint dragons and dinosaurs in
front of castles or you know in meadows and
they're they're lovely paintings they kind of have that outsider art
(14:26):
feel they're really very stylized for
her but they weren't you know there's not a huge market for dragon and dinosaur
paintings i mean we were selling a few of them but then we asked her to start
painting them in front of denver landmarks and all of a sudden we were able
to make that shift so she really didn't care about the background but now Now
she can paint beautiful buildings. She can paint the state house. She's done.
(14:48):
And in her, in her own creative voice, she started researching interesting buildings around the world.
And she would, she's painted dragons in front of the Taj Mahal.
She's painted dragons in front of the Sydney Opera House. But that was her interest.
She's like, oh, let's go see where else the dragons might be.
So really, it's a matter of not just finding one thing that people are interested in,
(15:11):
but giving people lots of options that they
can explore printmaking or they
can explore sculpture or they can explore photography so
we really do ask the artist community what they're interested in and then you
know some of the other work i mentioned i really sort of zeroed in on this difference
between creativity and artistry yeah when i started doing some work in the creative
(15:34):
aging realm because a lot of the people you know if you think about it when you're a child you know
you're creative and somewhere along the line a lot of
us forget or have that beaten out
of us and then when you hit a certain age you come back into your creativity
so we've done things like we've taught people with alzheimer's and dementia
how to do graffiti oh my gosh really about you know i mentioned that our third
(15:58):
the third leg of our stool is community so whenever we're doing Doing artwork,
it's not an isolating experience.
We're really doing it in communities. So the studio is wide open.
We don't have independent or isolated studios. Everyone's working together.
So they're always learning from each other.
So I'm a big believer whenever you can make artwork, a lot of the corporate
(16:20):
art is made in a collaborative setting, which a lot of people believe creativity
and artistry are sort of singular pursuits, but they're really not.
Yeah, that's a great point. Yeah.
Yeah. So I believe that we confuse artistry and creativity, and we really try
and get the creative spark going. Because in the artistry, you can learn.
Over time, you can learn. You refine. It's practice.
(16:40):
But really, giving people voice when they haven't had a voice is sort of the magic spot.
Spot well and you know in developing craftsmanship
and skills and abilities so i've got
this vision of what i want to see how do i make it happen that's a
whole nother yeah and letting people understand that it takes time it does take
(17:01):
time to really and we're in no hurry we're not going to ask you to leave at
the end of eight weeks we're i love that yeah so you've been doing this for
a minute now, 25 years. Salud.
You know, what really keeps you energized and excited about the future?
I think really it's the artist. You know, my favorite days are the days that
(17:23):
I can go be in the studio and just hang out with the artists and see all the creativity.
I really do believe that there's lots of ways that our artists can make money
above and beyond through us.
One of the things we're really going to focus on in 2025 is working with different
arts organizations, like the Denver Art Museum or the Denver Theater or different
(17:43):
groups to say, okay, you know what?
Let's work with you to get ready to hire people. You don't, you know, we're...
People with disabilities are unemployed at a rate of about 70 to 90%.
It's astonishing, isn't it?
And that's just, that's crazy.
And again, we're a small nonprofit organization. There's only so much we can
do. But I believe that the arts are flexible.
(18:06):
I believe the arts are a place where people are generally accepted.
I think the arts are a perfect place for people with disabilities to be employed.
So bridging that gap from being paid. If you sell a painting, you get a commission.
If you work on a public art commission with us you get
paid for that we really want to bridge the gap and
(18:26):
really look at how can we help people gain employment without screwing up their
benefits going back to that idea of the complexity that we were dealing with
because all of our artists are on some sort of ssi ssdi some sort of government
program and each one of them has a very different,
stipulation about what they can and cannot earn and so we want to get people
(18:50):
job jobs and we We want to get people, a case manager, to help us navigate that.
So that's sort of my big goal for 2025.
But really, to go back to the original questions, it's being around creative
people, seeing what we can do when nobody really.
I mean, who would have thought a bunch of people with developmental disabilities
would be getting public art commissions?
But here we are. Isn't that awesome? Yeah.
(19:10):
Well, it has to be intensely satisfying when you see you've not only unlocked
the creativity and given people an out, But then again, to see them grow into
artists, professional artists.
Yeah, professional artists. And that's the thing is, it's not,
I believe that this is also a long game.
(19:33):
We're not, you know, the funding cycles, and you know this from your time in
the non-profit sector, the funding cycles are usually an annual thing.
Well, you don't really make a huge difference with people over, people who have.
A lot of, you know, really the deck is stacked against people with disabilities
in this country. You're not going to make a difference in a year.
(19:55):
So we really do take the long game. Again, we have some people that are approaching 20 years with us.
And, and sort of a side note,
I mentioned earlier, our whole intergenerational approach in the disability
community, sometimes that idea of, you know, gender was a hotbed for disability rights movement.
(20:17):
It was really, you know the gang of 19 rtd protest
a lot of people don't know that but if we have artists
that have been with us for 15 or 20 years they're now in
leadership positions so somebody coming out of high school can see
a path forward i really believe you can't
be what you can't see and we're seeing artists who are
non-typical artists but they're finding success so
(20:40):
people can see that oh yeah if i keep at
this this you know things can i can
really develop it into it and i want to be real clear
some of our artists have no interest at all in making money it really
is about being with their friends it's about just exploring their
craft it is about you know some of
our artists do have other jobs they have other commitments but we really want
(21:02):
to make the environment we're very person-centric you know we really get to
know the people what they're interested we don't push people to make things
they're not interested in or to take classes is that they're not interested in.
It really, you know, people stay with us for three to six months and then we
get a real feel for if they're really a good fit, if they really do have a creative
(21:23):
practice that they want to explore.
And, you know, some people come in and out of it. Some people don't,
aren't as interested and motivated by money.
They really just want the camaraderie in the community.
And we have a very, very thriving comic book class that, you know.
It's really fun to watch them.
But really, that is, these are about eight
or nine artists that get together every week and they just
(21:46):
kind of like to hang out and it's hilarious to listen
to the conversations that they're having it's all i don't
know some of the pop culture references anymore but you know there's a whole
disagreement about dc versus marvel superheroes right okay gosh well i'm totally
stealing that line you can't be what you can't see that is that's so fantastic
and you know obviously you guys are onto something,
(22:09):
I mean, 25 years and everything else,
it sounds like you've struck the great balance of, you know,
being that person-centric organization that you can take those folks that really
want to get out there and become a professional artist or the folks that are
just looking for an outlet and a connection.
Yeah. And I think that that's key. We're really trying to find what the individual
(22:33):
is interested in and we're not a cookie cutter place.
I think The biggest challenge is as we've grown, because we grew.
Pretty quickly in the last few years we we really did is finding that balance between,
making sure that we have rules policies and procedures
to make sure everyone's safe and well cared for
(22:53):
right but not losing that organic grassroots right
why don't we try this you know we made a few
years ago we made an entire gallery show out of stuff we got from ikea we don't
want to lose that that fun playfulness but right
going from 14 people to 45 people we
have a business yeah it is and it's
a business that's taking care of you know a lot
(23:16):
of people don't realize this but sometimes we're sort of the first while
we are an arts organization we're very vested some of our folks
come to us three or four days a week yeah there's something wrong at
home or something's happened we're very often the front line so making
sure we have the the policies and
procedures and and the systems in place to make sure our folks are safe is very
(23:37):
important yeah well what are some of the leadership lessons you've learned or
some of the leadership principles you've leaned on at your time at access gallery
that you think could really help other leaders.
Well that's a good question let me think for a second i think really going back
to that idea of creative creativity and artistry are two very different things
(24:00):
i spend a lot of time thinking about creativity there's always a solution it
may not be an apparent solution but there's always
a solution to the problem.
I think we get so locked up sometimes in looking at all of the obstacles,
we forget that sometimes there is a path through.
I also think particularly for people who are working in the nonprofit sector
(24:23):
in this human service realm is, remember, it is a slow, it's a long game.
It really is a long game. It's not built in a day.
It is not built in a day. you don't affect real change, both at a personal or
even at a community level overnight.
It is truly a long game. And if anything, I think over the last couple of years,
(24:48):
I think for a long time, I was really not so much focused on the budget size,
but that's what, you know, you get a bunch of nonprofit people to go, Oh, how is your budget?
I don't care. I really don't care about your budget. What are you doing to make a difference?
How are you affecting somebody who, you know, I get to see the magic all the time.
I get to see somebody who for months doesn't speak, all of a sudden breaking
(25:10):
out laughter with their new friends because they, they're in a safe,
supportive environment.
That is magic. And I just, yes. Keeping in mind that.
Really, yeah, money does make the world go around, but there's lots of different ways to do things.
And, you know, I don't, I think I gave up a long time.
We're not going to change these systems, but we can make the world a little
(25:30):
bit better for the community of artists that we're supporting.
We're, you know, so I love that because they're really an answer.
So, you know, that's, that, those are all great that there's always,
there's always a solution.
That's, um, that's, that's such a great reminder to me.
And I think anybody listening and, and again, persistence, patience,
(25:50):
those, those things are always, always critical.
And I love it. Yeah.
And I love that there's, there's kind of this movement that I've,
I've been watching about uncharitable about how, you know, don't look at an
organization's ratios of their expenses to their revenue.
You know look at the size of the dream of their dreams and impact they're having
(26:14):
so i'm to hear you say that that that's something that you're you're a disciple of too.
Yeah and i'm also you know as far as
non-profits go if there's a way even if
you can make you know we all
know general operating the dollars that's sort of the holy grail
but we figured out a way to make money and stay
(26:37):
true to our mission you know we had an opportunity a
while ago and it just wasn't the right opportunity for us and it's like no we're
not this is we'll be very clear about what your strengths are again we're not
we're not a performance trooper not a dance troupe we're not we're in the visual
arts lane we know how to run a gallery and we know how to make visual art.
(27:00):
You know, we don't do theater. We don't do dance. That's for other people.
No, we collaborate with groups to do that. And I believe in supporting other groups.
Like we're buying, we have a fundraising event coming up September 13th called
99 Pieces of Art on the Wall.
We're buying our beer and our pizza from Brewability and Pizzability,
another nonprofit group that supports our community.
(27:25):
You know, again, great advice that holds across any business platform.
Form you know do what you do well and stick
to it and don't stray and everything else
but yeah a lot of our growth came when we really did add that economic it's
like this is yep we realized the biggest challenge facing a lot of our artists
(27:46):
wasn't the fact they had a disability it was the fact that they were poor and
when we really looked at the lack of economic opportunity the the unemployment rates,
the hoops that people have to go through, once we really zeroed in on that is
when we experienced a lot of our growth.
Now, you have to also give things up in that.
(28:07):
We have to say no sometimes to things that a few years ago we might have changed
the grant, but it's like, no, that really doesn't fit.
We're not going to create a program that doesn't really fit this model because
this is the model that makes the most sense for us.
Well, I think a lot of nonprofits could really benefit from that model of creating
(28:27):
your own revenue because, again, it makes you more sustainable,
which creates more funding opportunities because nobody wants to give it to
an organization that they don't feel is stable enough.
So it's just kind of this circle that, again, you have to be persistent,
you have to be creative to find these opportunities, which obviously you guys have done very well.
But as we wind down, I want to respect your time, appreciate it.
(28:51):
I know you've got a lot of stuff going on at the gallery.
I always love to ask these questions. The first one is, what's something that
you will read, listen to, or watch today?
You know, I probably, I didn't get, I had a little, kind of a busy morning.
A lot of times I'll get up early in the morning, I'll go for a walk in the park
(29:12):
and I'll listen to an album.
And lately, and sometimes it's just something I heard and I want to go back to an album.
So I've had Jimi Hendrix on my mind a lot lately. So I'll probably listen to
a Jimi Hendrix album today.
I love it. I don't think I'm going to have a lot of time to read,
but, you know, I might go for a walk this evening and put on some Jimi Hendrix.
Put on some Jimi Hendrix. I love it. Yeah. Yeah.
So who would you point to as a role model for you in your career?
(29:37):
You know, I was thinking about this the other day.
I think the closest thing to who I have had to a role model was my mentor, Rich Mayle.
Rich passed away a couple of years ago. He passed away during the pandemic.
But he was just somebody I met him when I was getting my degree over at Regis.
He was an instructor. We developed a friendship. And he was just,
(30:00):
he never asked me if I wanted.
Him to be my mentor, but he never really took no for an answer.
So that idea of giving back this idea of, you know, now having been at this
for so long, I'm kind of the old guy in the room sometimes.
And I do, I do believe in giving back.
I'm always willing to talk to anyone who's sort of starting out as needy or
(30:23):
starting out in anything, but I always appreciated his quiet,
you know, He never was pushy, but he was always very interested in connecting.
And I learned that from him. I'm a big believer in all of this work is based on relationships.
And I built a lot of relationships over the years. So, yeah, it's a rich male.
(30:44):
That's fantastic. I miss him dearly. I'm sure he's super proud of you.
But then if you were to look at organizations outside of Access Gallery,
are there ones out there that you really admire the work they're doing or want to give a shout out to?
Yeah, there's a couple. Again, I've mentioned a couple times I'm very interested
in creative or creative aging.
You know, a few years ago, I hurt my back and I realized that even though I
(31:07):
ran an organization, I was sort of denying my own creativity.
There's a group in California that I'm just enamored with, a group called Ruth's Table.
And what they do is they do creative aging programming and they have a gallery and a studio.
I just think that that's the piece that's missing in the creative aging realm
is that That piece where people can come together, make art, and then show the art.
(31:29):
We've learned so much through Access Gallery.
So I think they do a tremendous, tremendous job.
Here locally, I'm very taken by the Wayfaring Band. They take people with intellectual
and developmental disabilities on trips.
And if you think about it, with all the economic talk we've had,
a lot of our folks couldn't afford to go on trips.
So the fact that we have some people that have never been further west than Golden.
(31:51):
And they're taking people all around the world. So I think the Wayfaring Band
just does an amazing, amazing job.
I love the band. It's not a non-profit group, but I'm very, I had the opportunity
to look and talk to a lot of people across the country.
I think we're very fortunate to live here in Denver. I think Denver has a lot
of things between the SCFD, Denver Arts and Venues.
(32:14):
We are a very arts-friendly community. And I think just the city of Denver in
and of itself, being so open to so many different artistic and creative voices.
I want to give a shout out to my friends over at Denver Arts and Venues and SCFD.
That's fantastic.
Lastly, most importantly, if somebody wants to support your work,
(32:35):
learn more about it, come to the gallery.
What's the best way to find you? I'm just going to the website,
accessgallery.org. The address is there. All of our upcoming shows are there.
As I mentioned, we have a fundraising event coming up September 13th.
It's 99 pieces of art on the wall.
There are 99 pieces of art. They're all exactly the same size.
(32:55):
And they're all $99 from artists with and without disabilities from the metro area.
It's $10 at the door. We're getting pizza and beer from Pizzability and Brewability, another group.
It's kind of your anti-hype and fundraiser. It's really a program that fits our culture.
It's a little rough around the edges. It's pizza and beer and affordable,
(33:17):
accessible art. So just go to the website.
That's great. We'll make sure to put that in the show notes,
Damon. I hope you keep up the good work.
Can't wait to come down and visit the gallery and see everything you got going.
But thanks for your time today. All right. Well, thank you so much. I hope that was okay.
Thanks for listening. And thanks to Damon for sharing his passion for bridging
(33:41):
the gap between creativity and artistry through Access Gallery.
This podcast was brought to you by JC Charity Services.
Positivity is the competitive advantage. And as a John Gordon certified power
of positive trainer, I'd love to bring that competitive advantage to your organization.
You can find me at makingourworldbetter.com or jay at jccharityservices.com.
(34:03):
Let's connect and talk about it. To learn more about Access Gallery,
their schedule of shows, and how you can support their efforts,
visit accessgallery.org.
Until next time, I hope you're inspired to find a way.
Music.
No matter what kind of abilities or disabilities we were born with,
creativity lies within all of us.
Over time, some are able to unlock their creativity to become true artists.
You'll hear from Damon McLeese how the awesome Access Gallery is making that
happen every day on this episode of Making Our World Better.
(00:23):
Welcome to the Making Our World Better podcast, where you will find motivation
and encouragement through lively conversations with inspirational people who
every day are making our world a better place.
Now, here's your host, Jay Clark.
Welcome to the podcast. I am Jay Clark, and I am excited to host a conversation with Damon McLeese,
(00:44):
Executive Director of Access Gallery and an awesome nonprofit advocacy and education
organization that is a cultural institution in Denver and a national model for
working at the intersection of art, ability, and disability.
Damon is a speaker, trainer, activist, and community artist who specializes
in unlocking the creative power of people regardless of their background,
(01:07):
belief, or experience in creativity.
The executive director of Access Gallery for 25 years, Damon creates projects
that force us to look at creativity, ability, and disability in very different
ways. Can't wait to get into it.
He was the recipient of the 2019 Bonfi Stan Arts and Society Award,
the 2017 Governor's Award for Leadership in the Arts, and the 2014 Mayor's Award
(01:32):
for Innovation in the Arts.
A TEDx speaker, Damon takes great joy in helping people discover or rediscover
the creative genius that resides in us all.
Damon, I'm so excited to talk and thanks for being with me today.
Oh, thank you for having me. I'm excited.
Yeah, I would love for you to just kind of start off basic and introduce us
to Access Gallery and your mission.
(01:55):
Sure. So Access Gallery is, the way I describe it is, it's a social enterprise
that works to increase access and economic opportunity through the arts for
artists with disabilities.
You know, if you think about it, that sounds very simple on paper.
It sounds like a very simple mission, but it's really, really not.
There's a lot of moving pieces whenever you're talking about economics and disability,
(02:19):
there's a lot of moving pieces with it.
The very fact that the art world is still thinking in terms of.
Sort of disabled and non-disabled artists. And there's just a whole lot of complexity
to what we do, even though on, you know, first glance, it looks pretty simple.
It's really not. There's a lot of moving pieces to it.
(02:42):
And you could say disabled artists, it's artists, right?
Yeah, it's artists. Yeah. First and foremost, I always sort of jokingly say,
I feel like I've done my job or we as a staff have
done our job when the people that come
to us start referring to themselves as artists and we work
primarily with people with intellectual
(03:03):
and developmental disabilities who are coming right out of high school so
they're very much in that transition we all
know transitions are hard they're trying to find which
way they want to go very often our summer
program is their first working real job that
that they're getting paid an hourly rate there's a lot of
opportunity for people to sort of find their voice through
(03:25):
the work that we do that's very very exciting for
me that's very cool i'd love to to take
a step back and you know tell me a little bit
about the history of the organization and kind
of how it's evolved yeah well so the organization was actually founded in 1978
as pike's peak arts for the handicap and so clearly we don't use the word handicap
(03:49):
anymore the organization has morphed and changed several Several times.
It's interesting having such a long tenure at the organization.
I've seen us sort of reinvent and revamp our mission and things a couple different times.
Most recently, a few years ago when we added the economic opportunity piece.
(04:09):
But we were actually born down in the Springs. We moved up into Denver in the early 80s.
We associated with the Kennedy Center, so we're still very much in the...
And we have a relationship with the Kennedy Center out of D.C.
They funded a group called Very Special Arts.
And for years, we were known as Very Special Arts.
(04:30):
And then people with disabilities didn't really like to be referred to as special.
So the brilliant marketing minds in D.C.
Started using the initials VSA and just really confused everybody.
So we were VSA for a while. And then about 15 years ago, they said,
yeah, we're going to keep the VSA moniker, but you as organizations in the field
(04:53):
can call yourselves whatever you want.
So we officially changed the name to Access Gallery because that's what we were most known for.
But during that transition, we went from an organization that really served primarily adults.
Then we went to primarily serving children and school-age kids.
Kids now we've come full cycle back again really
(05:14):
working primarily with adults and i used
to say young adults but a lot of our artists we don't have
an upper age limit we don't have oh you know
you've been here for eight weeks or eight years you have
to leave we don't have any of that a lot of artists will
stay with us and they're they're in high school and then all of a sudden they're
in their 30s and it's like oh okay we have you know
(05:34):
intergenerational co-generational model we work
a lot at making sure that you know
we don't really we try and include everybody irregardless
of who they are and where they come from so well and
i think that the fantastic part about that that i would love to for you to talk
about a little bit is and you know i've got a little bit of background working
(05:56):
with a special needs community yeah so talk about and i love you kind of touched
on it when you said people refer to them to artists but But there's something magical,
I think, when you focus on what people can do instead of what they can't do.
Yeah, and I think that that's underlying pretty much everything that we believe.
(06:18):
I believe that the idea of disability is hopefully something that we as a culture
are sort of moving away from.
This idea that there's a separate class of people that have a disability.
If you think about it, if you live long enough, you're going to have a disabling condition.
You know, most people who are disabled, less than 10% of the people in this
(06:39):
country who have a disability were born with their disability.
So you're either going to acquire a disability or you're going to age into it.
So I do some work in the creative aging realm, too.
But I really do believe that art, singularly, I believe that art is the way
that people with disabilities can express themselves.
Themselves there's i worked for special olympics for a few years and it was
(07:01):
a wonderful wonderful experience wonderful organization early in my career and
i i like the arts because there's.
You don't have to have that competitive thing. We really work to find,
one, what is this person interested in?
Two, how can we make this medium available to them?
We have a young man right now that he's just blossoming because we were able to get him an airbrush.
(07:26):
He was fascinated by airbrush. He was painting, and his paintings were nice.
But now that he has the airbrush, we're seeing a whole different quality.
We found people that have really found their way through the arts by trying
a lot of different things.
And there really is a certain level of joy in everything we do when we find people.
And again, going back to this idea, we're not an eight-week program.
(07:48):
You can learn something in eight weeks, but you're not going to develop a body
of work and really become an artist in your own right over the course of eight weeks.
So we have people that have been with us for 15, 16 years.
That's awesome. They're getting
shows outside our gallery. They're doing a lot of different things.
And I should mention our gallery. When I talked earlier about us sort of morphing
(08:12):
and changing, we moved into the Santa Fe Arts District 20 years ago.
Next year, we'll be 20 years in our gallery location.
And it's, you know, first of all, for a nonprofit to survive 20 years through
the pandemic and several different presidential administrations. That is a win.
Yeah, yeah. It's a big win. And then we really do love the neighborhood.
(08:33):
We've expanded a lot. So we have our gallery, our studio, which we let people
experiment and make things.
So we make the stuff in the studio. We sell it in the gallery.
And then we also have a digital art component where we do a lot of our career services.
So people might be interested in graphic design or something.
So we have a whole computer lab that we're a function. So we're very much a
(08:56):
part of our neighborhood.
I think we really have found our stride with.
That economic opportunity piece is really huge for us.
Well, and you really are in the epicenter of the arts world in the metro area, which is awesome.
And, you know, I'd love to touch on that a little bit. I mean,
I know your organization relies a lot on fundraising, but also generates a lot
(09:20):
of its own revenue through the social enterprise. price.
So, you know, Todd, tell us about that and talk about how your programs range
all the way from, you know, education and unlocking creativity all the way to
full-blown, fully commissioned art projects.
Yeah, it's, you know, I, one day I jokingly said this at a staff meeting and it kind of stuck.
(09:41):
We really do three things. We make art in the studio, we sell art at the gallery,
and then we support a community of artists to find their creative voice,
whether that's It's making artwork for, we have an art mat machine.
It's a retired cigarette machine that dispenses art for $5.
Some people come to us and they make little pieces of art. A lot of our artists
(10:01):
can draw or have illustrative backgrounds.
So we can start from selling art for $5 out of a cigarette machine to having
artwork in the gallery at a different group show or independent show.
All the way up to the last few years, we've really branched into doing artwork
for corporations and businesses.
(10:21):
Yeah, we realize that there's a lot of socially minded, a lot of organizations
that share our belief that we should be celebrating what people can do,
like you said, rather than what they can't do.
So we've been doing some corporate art commissions of people.
A corporation may come and say, we want a piece of art for our boardroom and
we can either make the artwork out of their collateral material or we can work with them on a concept.
(10:45):
And then we hire our artists to make the artwork. work i'm extremely
proud of the fact that we're now branching into public art we're getting
some public art commissions from the city of
denver in different places so we are
very fortunate we have staff that have a wide
variety of backgrounds so you know if if you can dream it up we can probably
(11:06):
make it so it's pretty cool and a couple years ago we started taking on paid
graphic design A lot of people were coming to us asking us as an organization
to teach them how to make their websites accessible.
And we're like, what better way than people with disabilities?
Right. So we have a whole graphic design cohort.
So we can design a letterhead, an annual report, a full-blown. We've done a couple.
(11:29):
Awareness campaigns for developmental pathways here in Denver.
During the pandemic, we did a series of billboards around the city to introduce
the idea of, you know, people with disabilities are not so different than anyone else.
And so we kind of hit it from a lot of different angles, but the economic piece,
if there's a way that we can figure out how to get money in someone's pocket,
(11:51):
we're going to be interested in it.
Which again, is so fantastic because it's, if you're the the company,
or if it's a piece of public art, it's just a piece of art. It's not, you know, no labels.
This wasn't done by an artist with a disability. It was done by an artist.
And it's a beautiful piece of art.
And we can tell the story of the corporation or the business,
(12:13):
or we can tell a different story.
And, you know, we all know the statistics, 20% of the population has a disability.
So that's a big chunk of people usually at the table.
And, you know, the last year we've really focused a lot on
getting some of our artists to be on artist selection
panels for public art and whenever we're talking
to a corporation or artists you're right there at the table so it's really
(12:34):
it's very exciting and then of course the gallery itself
being right in the middle of the arts district every
first friday of the month all of the galleries in the
arts district are open so we get we have a sort of
wonderful audience you know any for
for many years we would bring in outside
artists and we would do sort of a slightly different
(12:55):
approach but when we added the economic opportunity piece
now all of the artwork that is shown in our
gallery was made by the artists in our studio program yeah and
we went from 14 artists to 45 artists
so we could use a second we could use
a second gallery but no kidding i don't know that we're quite ready
for that that's fantastic well and you
(13:19):
know i know you've got a serious art background but
and you touched on it a little bit but kind of walk me through what it is when
you when you know i believe i completely believe that we all have creativity
and creative gifts it's just a matter of finding them and unlocking them how
do you guys you guys obviously have found some secret sauce in doing on that?
(13:42):
Yeah, I don't know that it's so much secret. I think for me,
it's been more of a matter of really defining or...
Clarifying the difference between creativity and artistry. I do believe everybody
is creative and I think everyone can learn to have artistic skills.
I really do believe that. But the creativity is that push, that draw.
(14:05):
We have a young woman that has been with us for almost 20 years and her passion
is dragons and dinosaurs.
Nicole loves dragons and dinosaurs. She's going to paint dragons and dinosaurs.
And for a long time, she would paint dragons and dinosaurs in
front of castles or you know in meadows and
they're they're lovely paintings they kind of have that outsider art
(14:26):
feel they're really very stylized for
her but they weren't you know there's not a huge market for dragon and dinosaur
paintings i mean we were selling a few of them but then we asked her to start
painting them in front of denver landmarks and all of a sudden we were able
to make that shift so she really didn't care about the background but now Now
she can paint beautiful buildings. She can paint the state house. She's done.
(14:48):
And in her, in her own creative voice, she started researching interesting buildings around the world.
And she would, she's painted dragons in front of the Taj Mahal.
She's painted dragons in front of the Sydney Opera House. But that was her interest.
She's like, oh, let's go see where else the dragons might be.
So really, it's a matter of not just finding one thing that people are interested in,
(15:11):
but giving people lots of options that they
can explore printmaking or they
can explore sculpture or they can explore photography so
we really do ask the artist community what they're interested in and then you
know some of the other work i mentioned i really sort of zeroed in on this difference
between creativity and artistry yeah when i started doing some work in the creative
(15:34):
aging realm because a lot of the people you know if you think about it when you're a child you know
you're creative and somewhere along the line a lot of
us forget or have that beaten out
of us and then when you hit a certain age you come back into your creativity
so we've done things like we've taught people with alzheimer's and dementia
how to do graffiti oh my gosh really about you know i mentioned that our third
(15:58):
the third leg of our stool is community so whenever we're doing Doing artwork,
it's not an isolating experience.
We're really doing it in communities. So the studio is wide open.
We don't have independent or isolated studios. Everyone's working together.
So they're always learning from each other.
So I'm a big believer whenever you can make artwork, a lot of the corporate
(16:20):
art is made in a collaborative setting, which a lot of people believe creativity
and artistry are sort of singular pursuits, but they're really not.
Yeah, that's a great point. Yeah.
Yeah. So I believe that we confuse artistry and creativity, and we really try
and get the creative spark going. Because in the artistry, you can learn.
Over time, you can learn. You refine. It's practice.
(16:40):
But really, giving people voice when they haven't had a voice is sort of the magic spot.
Spot well and you know in developing craftsmanship
and skills and abilities so i've got
this vision of what i want to see how do i make it happen that's a
whole nother yeah and letting people understand that it takes time it does take
(17:01):
time to really and we're in no hurry we're not going to ask you to leave at
the end of eight weeks we're i love that yeah so you've been doing this for
a minute now, 25 years. Salud.
You know, what really keeps you energized and excited about the future?
I think really it's the artist. You know, my favorite days are the days that
(17:23):
I can go be in the studio and just hang out with the artists and see all the creativity.
I really do believe that there's lots of ways that our artists can make money
above and beyond through us.
One of the things we're really going to focus on in 2025 is working with different
arts organizations, like the Denver Art Museum or the Denver Theater or different
(17:43):
groups to say, okay, you know what?
Let's work with you to get ready to hire people. You don't, you know, we're...
People with disabilities are unemployed at a rate of about 70 to 90%.
It's astonishing, isn't it?
And that's just, that's crazy.
And again, we're a small nonprofit organization. There's only so much we can
do. But I believe that the arts are flexible.
(18:06):
I believe the arts are a place where people are generally accepted.
I think the arts are a perfect place for people with disabilities to be employed.
So bridging that gap from being paid. If you sell a painting, you get a commission.
If you work on a public art commission with us you get
paid for that we really want to bridge the gap and
(18:26):
really look at how can we help people gain employment without screwing up their
benefits going back to that idea of the complexity that we were dealing with
because all of our artists are on some sort of ssi ssdi some sort of government
program and each one of them has a very different,
stipulation about what they can and cannot earn and so we want to get people
(18:50):
job jobs and we We want to get people, a case manager, to help us navigate that.
So that's sort of my big goal for 2025.
But really, to go back to the original questions, it's being around creative
people, seeing what we can do when nobody really.
I mean, who would have thought a bunch of people with developmental disabilities
would be getting public art commissions?
But here we are. Isn't that awesome? Yeah.
(19:10):
Well, it has to be intensely satisfying when you see you've not only unlocked
the creativity and given people an out, But then again, to see them grow into
artists, professional artists.
Yeah, professional artists. And that's the thing is, it's not,
I believe that this is also a long game.
(19:33):
We're not, you know, the funding cycles, and you know this from your time in
the non-profit sector, the funding cycles are usually an annual thing.
Well, you don't really make a huge difference with people over, people who have.
A lot of, you know, really the deck is stacked against people with disabilities
in this country. You're not going to make a difference in a year.
(19:55):
So we really do take the long game. Again, we have some people that are approaching 20 years with us.
And, and sort of a side note,
I mentioned earlier, our whole intergenerational approach in the disability
community, sometimes that idea of, you know, gender was a hotbed for disability rights movement.
(20:17):
It was really, you know the gang of 19 rtd protest
a lot of people don't know that but if we have artists
that have been with us for 15 or 20 years they're now in
leadership positions so somebody coming out of high school can see
a path forward i really believe you can't
be what you can't see and we're seeing artists who are
non-typical artists but they're finding success so
(20:40):
people can see that oh yeah if i keep at
this this you know things can i can
really develop it into it and i want to be real clear
some of our artists have no interest at all in making money it really
is about being with their friends it's about just exploring their
craft it is about you know some of
our artists do have other jobs they have other commitments but we really want
(21:02):
to make the environment we're very person-centric you know we really get to
know the people what they're interested we don't push people to make things
they're not interested in or to take classes is that they're not interested in.
It really, you know, people stay with us for three to six months and then we
get a real feel for if they're really a good fit, if they really do have a creative
(21:23):
practice that they want to explore.
And, you know, some people come in and out of it. Some people don't,
aren't as interested and motivated by money.
They really just want the camaraderie in the community.
And we have a very, very thriving comic book class that, you know.
It's really fun to watch them.
But really, that is, these are about eight
or nine artists that get together every week and they just
(21:46):
kind of like to hang out and it's hilarious to listen
to the conversations that they're having it's all i don't
know some of the pop culture references anymore but you know there's a whole
disagreement about dc versus marvel superheroes right okay gosh well i'm totally
stealing that line you can't be what you can't see that is that's so fantastic
and you know obviously you guys are onto something,
(22:09):
I mean, 25 years and everything else,
it sounds like you've struck the great balance of, you know,
being that person-centric organization that you can take those folks that really
want to get out there and become a professional artist or the folks that are
just looking for an outlet and a connection.
Yeah. And I think that that's key. We're really trying to find what the individual
(22:33):
is interested in and we're not a cookie cutter place.
I think The biggest challenge is as we've grown, because we grew.
Pretty quickly in the last few years we we really did is finding that balance between,
making sure that we have rules policies and procedures
to make sure everyone's safe and well cared for
(22:53):
right but not losing that organic grassroots right
why don't we try this you know we made a few
years ago we made an entire gallery show out of stuff we got from ikea we don't
want to lose that that fun playfulness but right
going from 14 people to 45 people we
have a business yeah it is and it's
a business that's taking care of you know a lot
(23:16):
of people don't realize this but sometimes we're sort of the first while
we are an arts organization we're very vested some of our folks
come to us three or four days a week yeah there's something wrong at
home or something's happened we're very often the front line so making
sure we have the the policies and
procedures and and the systems in place to make sure our folks are safe is very
(23:37):
important yeah well what are some of the leadership lessons you've learned or
some of the leadership principles you've leaned on at your time at access gallery
that you think could really help other leaders.
Well that's a good question let me think for a second i think really going back
to that idea of creative creativity and artistry are two very different things
(24:00):
i spend a lot of time thinking about creativity there's always a solution it
may not be an apparent solution but there's always
a solution to the problem.
I think we get so locked up sometimes in looking at all of the obstacles,
we forget that sometimes there is a path through.
I also think particularly for people who are working in the nonprofit sector
(24:23):
in this human service realm is, remember, it is a slow, it's a long game.
It really is a long game. It's not built in a day.
It is not built in a day. you don't affect real change, both at a personal or
even at a community level overnight.
It is truly a long game. And if anything, I think over the last couple of years,
(24:48):
I think for a long time, I was really not so much focused on the budget size,
but that's what, you know, you get a bunch of nonprofit people to go, Oh, how is your budget?
I don't care. I really don't care about your budget. What are you doing to make a difference?
How are you affecting somebody who, you know, I get to see the magic all the time.
I get to see somebody who for months doesn't speak, all of a sudden breaking
(25:10):
out laughter with their new friends because they, they're in a safe,
supportive environment.
That is magic. And I just, yes. Keeping in mind that.
Really, yeah, money does make the world go around, but there's lots of different ways to do things.
And, you know, I don't, I think I gave up a long time.
We're not going to change these systems, but we can make the world a little
(25:30):
bit better for the community of artists that we're supporting.
We're, you know, so I love that because they're really an answer.
So, you know, that's, that, those are all great that there's always,
there's always a solution.
That's, um, that's, that's such a great reminder to me.
And I think anybody listening and, and again, persistence, patience,
(25:50):
those, those things are always, always critical.
And I love it. Yeah.
And I love that there's, there's kind of this movement that I've,
I've been watching about uncharitable about how, you know, don't look at an
organization's ratios of their expenses to their revenue.
You know look at the size of the dream of their dreams and impact they're having
(26:14):
so i'm to hear you say that that that's something that you're you're a disciple of too.
Yeah and i'm also you know as far as
non-profits go if there's a way even if
you can make you know we all
know general operating the dollars that's sort of the holy grail
but we figured out a way to make money and stay
(26:37):
true to our mission you know we had an opportunity a
while ago and it just wasn't the right opportunity for us and it's like no we're
not this is we'll be very clear about what your strengths are again we're not
we're not a performance trooper not a dance troupe we're not we're in the visual
arts lane we know how to run a gallery and we know how to make visual art.
(27:00):
You know, we don't do theater. We don't do dance. That's for other people.
No, we collaborate with groups to do that. And I believe in supporting other groups.
Like we're buying, we have a fundraising event coming up September 13th called
99 Pieces of Art on the Wall.
We're buying our beer and our pizza from Brewability and Pizzability,
another nonprofit group that supports our community.
(27:25):
You know, again, great advice that holds across any business platform.
Form you know do what you do well and stick
to it and don't stray and everything else
but yeah a lot of our growth came when we really did add that economic it's
like this is yep we realized the biggest challenge facing a lot of our artists
(27:46):
wasn't the fact they had a disability it was the fact that they were poor and
when we really looked at the lack of economic opportunity the the unemployment rates,
the hoops that people have to go through, once we really zeroed in on that is
when we experienced a lot of our growth.
Now, you have to also give things up in that.
(28:07):
We have to say no sometimes to things that a few years ago we might have changed
the grant, but it's like, no, that really doesn't fit.
We're not going to create a program that doesn't really fit this model because
this is the model that makes the most sense for us.
Well, I think a lot of nonprofits could really benefit from that model of creating
(28:27):
your own revenue because, again, it makes you more sustainable,
which creates more funding opportunities because nobody wants to give it to
an organization that they don't feel is stable enough.
So it's just kind of this circle that, again, you have to be persistent,
you have to be creative to find these opportunities, which obviously you guys have done very well.
But as we wind down, I want to respect your time, appreciate it.
(28:51):
I know you've got a lot of stuff going on at the gallery.
I always love to ask these questions. The first one is, what's something that
you will read, listen to, or watch today?
You know, I probably, I didn't get, I had a little, kind of a busy morning.
A lot of times I'll get up early in the morning, I'll go for a walk in the park
(29:12):
and I'll listen to an album.
And lately, and sometimes it's just something I heard and I want to go back to an album.
So I've had Jimi Hendrix on my mind a lot lately. So I'll probably listen to
a Jimi Hendrix album today.
I love it. I don't think I'm going to have a lot of time to read,
but, you know, I might go for a walk this evening and put on some Jimi Hendrix.
Put on some Jimi Hendrix. I love it. Yeah. Yeah.
So who would you point to as a role model for you in your career?
(29:37):
You know, I was thinking about this the other day.
I think the closest thing to who I have had to a role model was my mentor, Rich Mayle.
Rich passed away a couple of years ago. He passed away during the pandemic.
But he was just somebody I met him when I was getting my degree over at Regis.
He was an instructor. We developed a friendship. And he was just,
(30:00):
he never asked me if I wanted.
Him to be my mentor, but he never really took no for an answer.
So that idea of giving back this idea of, you know, now having been at this
for so long, I'm kind of the old guy in the room sometimes.
And I do, I do believe in giving back.
I'm always willing to talk to anyone who's sort of starting out as needy or
(30:23):
starting out in anything, but I always appreciated his quiet,
you know, He never was pushy, but he was always very interested in connecting.
And I learned that from him. I'm a big believer in all of this work is based on relationships.
And I built a lot of relationships over the years. So, yeah, it's a rich male.
(30:44):
That's fantastic. I miss him dearly. I'm sure he's super proud of you.
But then if you were to look at organizations outside of Access Gallery,
are there ones out there that you really admire the work they're doing or want to give a shout out to?
Yeah, there's a couple. Again, I've mentioned a couple times I'm very interested
in creative or creative aging.
You know, a few years ago, I hurt my back and I realized that even though I
(31:07):
ran an organization, I was sort of denying my own creativity.
There's a group in California that I'm just enamored with, a group called Ruth's Table.
And what they do is they do creative aging programming and they have a gallery and a studio.
I just think that that's the piece that's missing in the creative aging realm
is that That piece where people can come together, make art, and then show the art.
(31:29):
We've learned so much through Access Gallery.
So I think they do a tremendous, tremendous job.
Here locally, I'm very taken by the Wayfaring Band. They take people with intellectual
and developmental disabilities on trips.
And if you think about it, with all the economic talk we've had,
a lot of our folks couldn't afford to go on trips.
So the fact that we have some people that have never been further west than Golden.
(31:51):
And they're taking people all around the world. So I think the Wayfaring Band
just does an amazing, amazing job.
I love the band. It's not a non-profit group, but I'm very, I had the opportunity
to look and talk to a lot of people across the country.
I think we're very fortunate to live here in Denver. I think Denver has a lot
of things between the SCFD, Denver Arts and Venues.
(32:14):
We are a very arts-friendly community. And I think just the city of Denver in
and of itself, being so open to so many different artistic and creative voices.
I want to give a shout out to my friends over at Denver Arts and Venues and SCFD.
That's fantastic.
Lastly, most importantly, if somebody wants to support your work,
(32:35):
learn more about it, come to the gallery.
What's the best way to find you? I'm just going to the website,
accessgallery.org. The address is there. All of our upcoming shows are there.
As I mentioned, we have a fundraising event coming up September 13th.
It's 99 pieces of art on the wall.
There are 99 pieces of art. They're all exactly the same size.
(32:55):
And they're all $99 from artists with and without disabilities from the metro area.
It's $10 at the door. We're getting pizza and beer from Pizzability and Brewability, another group.
It's kind of your anti-hype and fundraiser. It's really a program that fits our culture.
It's a little rough around the edges. It's pizza and beer and affordable,
(33:17):
accessible art. So just go to the website.
That's great. We'll make sure to put that in the show notes,
Damon. I hope you keep up the good work.
Can't wait to come down and visit the gallery and see everything you got going.
But thanks for your time today. All right. Well, thank you so much. I hope that was okay.
Thanks for listening. And thanks to Damon for sharing his passion for bridging
(33:41):
the gap between creativity and artistry through Access Gallery.
This podcast was brought to you by JC Charity Services.
Positivity is the competitive advantage. And as a John Gordon certified power
of positive trainer, I'd love to bring that competitive advantage to your organization.
You can find me at makingourworldbetter.com or jay at jccharityservices.com.
(34:03):
Let's connect and talk about it. To learn more about Access Gallery,
their schedule of shows, and how you can support their efforts,
visit accessgallery.org.
Until next time, I hope you're inspired to find a way.
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