~ Greetings & Salutations!  We trust this finds you and yours well ~

 

The Dream Works (TDW) seeks to address a sorely missing piece of human dignity

found within the aging & disability communities:

   Truth be told, society tends to devalue the aging & disability communities.

 

One simply needs to watch any televised commercial or look at any magazine rack to find evidence of this marginalization. Further, and understandably, due to a strained financial system, and given recent health scares, deliver of publicly funded home & community base services (HCBS) to the aging & disability communities have devolved to a strictly “medical-model” of service delivery.

 

The medical-model is one in which the person receiving services is viewed as a “patient.” Services are seen as “taking care of” the person. Devaluation and medical-model service delivery takes control away from the person and contributes to a feeling of hopelessness & helplessness, degrading the person’s dignity. These feelings of hopelessness & helplessness have been exacerbated due to recent isolation and shutdowns. In an effort to reduce, if not eliminate, these hopeless & helpless feelings, thereby restoring an element of human dignity, TDW is endeavoring to establish a Fine Arts Initiative (FAI).

 

Fine art is defined as “art for art’s sake,” meaning the purpose and enjoyment is found within the “expression” regardless of the form of art. The value of “expression” to improve one’s sense of dignity is perhaps best described by Ms. Stella Adler, arguably the most important teacher of acting in American history: “Life beats down and crushes the soul and art reminds you that you have one.”

 

The Fine Arts Initiative developed by TDW will include traditional art (painting, drawing, etc…), written word (poetry, essays, etc…), acting (short films, stage work, etc…), and other yet to be developed forms in which to find “expression.”     

 

There are many “art” programs out there for able-minded/bodied folks. There are also other “art” programs out there for the aging and disability communities.

 

The Dream Works’ Fine Arts Initiative (FAI) seeks to bring together the able-bodied/minded community together with the aging and disability communities, blending folks of various talents, abilities, and skills to birth the powerful and unique “expressions” like none other in the Greater Kansas City Area.