Participants come to the studio on scheduled days Monday through Friday from 9 am to 4 pm, one to four days a week. They are expected to show up on their scheduled days or to call if they must miss a day. Everyone brings lunch; afternoon coffee or tea is on the house.Artists are expected to help keep the studio tidy and to be economical with the professional-quality supplies furnished to them. They work in a communal setting on their own individual projects. Staff facilitates artwork production, helping with technical issues, giving advice, spurring to extra effort. Staff does not teach art.
Between sessions, artists store their unfinished artwork in their own flat file drawer. Everyone's finished work is accumulated in the "finished folder" from which the best pieces of each artist are chosen, by staff, for framing and sale, just as mainstream artists submit their work to juries.
Earnings from sales (60% of revenues) are distributed by check at the beginning of the month.
Who qualifies?
Art Enables is open to persons 18 and over from throughout the Washington metropolitan area who are diagnosed with developmental disabilities and who have the desire and the discipline to work at becoming professional visual artists.
The intake procedure includes an in-depth interview with applicants, focused, in particular, on their enthusiasm for visual expression and their willingness and ability to adhere to studio rules and guidelines. Applicants are encouraged to bring samples of their work to the interview and are asked to complete a simple arts exercise. People accepted into the program must sign information and photo releases. Artists retain copyright to all work produced under the auspices of the program.
Art Enables has a zero-tolerance policy for physical and verbal aggression.
Fees & agreements
There is a per diem fee for participation in Art Enables. That fee can be covered privately although it is most often covered by state or regional service providers. The responsible party is billed monthly for days attended the previous month.
In the District, Art Enables is a vendor in the categories of day habilitation, prevocational training, and suppoted employment for the Medicaid Waiver as administered through the Department on Disability Services.
