Art Spark Texas

Inclusive Dance Teaching with DanceAbility
2026-02-28 16:00 - 18:00 (America/Chicago) | Rosedale School, 7505 Silvercrest Drive, Austin, TX, 78757, United States
Organized by Art Spark Texas (Art Spark Dance)
Special thanks to Rosedale Foundation for making this professional learning opportunity possible
Saturday, February 28, 2026 | 4:00–6:00 PM
**Rosedale School (Austin, TX)
What is DanceAbility?
As dance educators, we believe integrated dance can reduce isolation and support self-expression and personal growth for people of all abilities. DanceAbility is an improvisation-based method that supports artistic exploration between people with and without disabilities. Through dance and movement, people from diverse backgrounds practice the art of being together—building connection and strengthening more inclusive communities.
DanceAbility cultivates common ground for creative expression with equal agency and representation. Movement material is drawn from the group present in the room, so no one is isolated or singled out. The method supports self-empowerment by offering ways for each person to participate fully and make creative choices—while also respecting personal limits.
Core principles you’ll learn: Sensation • Relationship • Time • Design
(often described as self, others, and community in motion)
What you’ll leave with: Practical, adaptable DanceAbility exercises you can use right away, Tools for inclusive improvisation, partnering, and facilitation, Strategies that support participation for people of all abilities
Who should attend: Dance educators • teaching artists • classroom teachers • therapists • movement facilitators • anyone curious about inclusive dance practice
Register here: https://forms.gle/oB9q7eG6g446B8gh7
Questions / Access requests: dance@artsparktx.org

Lion & Pirate Virtual Inclusive Open Mic
2026-03-01 13:00 - 14:30 | TX
Next Lion & Pirate open mic is March 1, on Zoom! Sign up to perform or RSVP: https://forms.gle/1DyQmZgvduU2Ui5M8
Zoom link will be posted here the morning of the show.
We’re open to work in any genre: music, spoken word, improv, skits, storytelling, dance, poems, prose… Anything you can perform in 3(ish) minutes!
Read on for community guidelines and accessibility adventure notes!
Community Guidelines: please read the Art Spark Texas code of conduct before Lion & Pirate events: https://www.artsparktx.org/code-of-conduct/
If you are reading work, note that we use content warnings to keep this space safe and welcoming. Please use them! If you have questions about content warnings, feel free to ask us before or during an open mic.
Things we believe:
– We feel and practice respect for all people and for diversity of thought and identity.
– We see honesty as a form of love.
– We acknowledge that free speech is difficult sometimes.
– We accept that we are unaware of the traumas people within even our own communities are trying to live through, and we have to teach each other, learn from each other, make each other more aware.
Accessibility adventure notes for virtual performers or attendees:
Captions: Zoom has auto-generated captions, and those are… ok. When possible, we screen share the words/ lyrics/ poems to each performance so that attendees who need closed captions (CC) get better quality info. Performers are welcome to: screen share their words themselves, so they can stay on screen OR send an L&P host their words and they’ll do the screen sharing OR paste a link to a document with their words in the chat, so attendees can decide if they want to see the words or not. If sharing your words ahead of time is not in the cards, that’s ok, we’ll do our best to make it work!
Sound quality: We ask all attendees to stay muted when not performing (or cheering). Are you performing with an instrument or accompanying music? Learn how to configure your Zoom settings for a live musical performance: https://support.zoom.com/hc/en/article?id=zm_kb…
Access requests: Need something else for virtual participation? Get in touch with Laura P at lperna@txdisabilities.org! See less

A Beautiful Noise in San Antonio's Majestic Theatre
2026-03-01 13:00 - 15:00 | Majestic Theatre, 224 E. Houston Street, San Antonio, TX, 78205, United States
Join Art Spark Texas in San Antonio at the Majestic Theatre for “A Beautiful Noise”, an audio described performance for blind and low vision guests.
3/1/2026 at 1 pm
Audio Describer – Vibrant Light

Art Spark Texas at Destination Life Transition Conference
2026-03-07 09:00 - 13:30 | McNeil High School, 5720 McNeil Drive, Austin, TX, 78729, United States
Art Spark Texas is popping up this year at Destination Life Transition Conference. Join us!
📅 Event Details
Date: Saturday, March 7, 2026
Time: 9:00 a.m.–1:30 p.m.
Location: McNeil High School (in person)

The Great Gatsby at Bass Concert Hall, Audio Described
2026-03-11 19:30 - 21:30, 2026-03-12 19:30 - 21:30 | Bass Concert Hall, 2350 Robert Dedman Drive, Austin, TX, 78712, United States
Join Art Spark Texas for an audio described performance of The Great Gatsby in Austin, Texas at the Texas Performing Arts – Bass Concert Hall. Two performances for blind and low vision guests take place:
3/11/2026 at 7:30 pm
3/12/2026 at 7:30 pm
Describer – Celia Hughes

Spring Break Animation Workshop
2026-03-16 10:00 - 14:00, 2026-03-17 10:00 - 14:00, 2026-03-18 10:00 - 14:00, 2026-03-19 10:00 - 14:00, 2026-03-20 10:00 - 14:00 | Art Spark Texas, 1152 San Bernard St., Austin, TX, 78702, United States
Join Art Spark Texas for a Spring Break Animation Workshop
Application Deadline: March 9, 2025
Art Spark Texas is looking for young adults with disabilities interested in our Storytelling and Animation Workshop! To be considered, participants should apply by March 9, have 1 reference letter and a strong interest in Drawing and Animation. 10 spaces available.
Participant Requirements
Have a developmental disability*(see below for definition)
Must be between the ages of 15 and 22, *exceptions considered
Demonstrate an interest in photography
Turn in completed application form
Turn in one letters of recommendation (can be from teachers, employers, friends, or family)
Turn in a sample of your artwork
Schedule: The class will be held Monday-Friday, March 16-20, 2026 from 10:00am -2:00pm at the Art Spark Offices, 1152 San Bernard Street, Austin, Texas 78702. Participants must be able to attend the full week. Reasonable absences due to illness, family emergency, etc. will be excused.
Application Process: This application is designed for typing directly into the form. However, the application may be printed and filled out by hand. If you have any questions or need assistance to make this form accessible to you, please contact Jerry Slayton at 512-454-9912

2026-03-27 08:00 - 17:00 | Virtual
Releasing today! Season 3 Episode 27 of the True Tales Podcast, this time with guest J. Kaye Love. Tune in at: https://www.artsparktx.org/truetalespodcast/

Beyond Art Showcase: Mason Miller
2026-03-28 13:00 - 15:00 | Art Spark Texas, 1152 San Bernard St., Austin, TX, 78702, United States
Join Art Spark Texas for a small showcase with artist Mason Miller; Mason will give a presentation, demo and a deeper look at his work and process. Purchase work and speak with his mentor Johnny Villarreal of The Edge of Imagination Station for hands-on animation. March 28th from 1-3pm at 1152 San Bernard St. Austin, TX 78702

Speaking Advocates Workshop Series
2026-04-03 10:00 - 13:00, 2026-04-10 10:00 - 13:00, 2026-04-17 10:00 - 13:00, 2026-04-24 10:00 - 13:00, 2026-05-01 10:00 - 13:00, 2026-05-08 10:00 - 13:00 | Art Spark Texas, 1152 San Bernard St., Austin, TX, 78702, United States
Art Spark Texas’ weekly workshop series designed to guide adults with disabilities towards developing their personal stories, communications, and public-speaking skills, culminating in a community showcase – resulting in skills they can take with them moving forward, to advocates for themselves and their communities and change public perceptions.
Fridays, 10 am – 1 pm, April 3rd- May 8th
Registration Deadline: Monday, March 30th

REGISTER HERE < CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

The 30th Art in the Park
2026-04-09 09:00 - 14:00 | Fiesta Gardens, 2101 Jesse E. Segovia St., Austin, TX, 78702, United States

Texas Veterans Strong Quarterly Meeting
2026-04-09 10:30 - 11:30 | Virtual

Accessible Art Crawl by Pedicab
2026-04-11 09:30 - 12:30 | Art Spark Texas, 1152 San Bernard St., Austin, TX, 78702, United States
Starting at Art Spark Texas, we will travel by pedicab to three different mural locations in East Austin, where artists will join us.

East Austin Accessible Mural Tour
Route Details
Saturday, April 11, 2026
Start – Art Spark Texas
📍 1152 San Bernard St
Stop 1 – Carver Library Mural
📍 1161 Angelina St
Stop 2 – The Pillars Project
Boggy Creek Trail, Rosewood Ave, under the Pleasant Valley Bridge
Stop 3 – Holly Commons / Mosaic Mural Open Air Gallery
📍 2210 Holly St (approx.)
NOTE: Mosaic workshop for interested individuals following the tour – email celia@artsparktx.org for more information

The Lion & Pirate Virtual Open Mic
2026-04-12 13:00 - 14:30 | Virtual
Next Lion & Pirate open mic takes place Sunday, April 5, on Zoom. Celia will be taking over as host this month, and if you’d like to co-host, let us know!
Sign up to perform or simply attend and enjoy! https://forms.gle/98tjeiFqisAMCwrH6

The Zoom link will be emailed out to those who register and posted here the day of the show.
We’re open to work in any genre: music, spoken word, improv, skits, storytelling, dance, poems, prose… Anything you can perform in 3(ish) minutes

Community Guidelines: please read the Art Spark Texas code of conduct before Lion & Pirate events: https://www.artsparktx.org/code-of-conduct/If you are reading work, note that we use content warnings to keep this space safe and welcoming. Please use them! If you have questions about content warnings, feel free to ask us before or during an open mic.
Things we believe:– We feel and practice respect for all people and for diversity of thought and identity.– We see honesty as a form of love.– We acknowledge that free speech is difficult sometimes.– We accept that we are unaware of the traumas people within even our own communities are trying to live through, and we have to teach each other, learn from each other, make each other more aware.

Accessibility adventure notes for virtual performers or attendees:
Captions: Zoom has auto-generated captions, and those are… ok. When possible, we screen share the words/ lyrics/ poems to each performance so that attendees who need closed captions (CC) get better quality info. Performers are welcome to: screen share their words themselves, so they can stay on screen OR send an L&P host their words and they’ll do the screen sharing OR paste a link to a document with their words in the chat, so attendees can decide if they want to see the words or not. If sharing your words ahead of time is not in the cards, that’s ok, we’ll do our best to make it work!
Sound quality: We ask all attendees to stay muted when not performing (or cheering).
Are you performing with an instrument or accompanying music?

Learn how to configure your Zoom settings for a live musical performance: https://support.zoom.com/hc/en/article?id=zm_kb…
Access requests: Need something else for virtual participation? Get in touch with Laura P at lperna@txdisabilities.org

Professional Learning: Dance Educator Workshop with Krissie Marty
2026-04-18 16:00 - 18:00 | Creative Action, 1023 Springdale Rd. Bldg 3, Austin, Texas, 78702
2026-AST-PL2

DANCE EDUCATORS — COME LEARN IN COMMUNITY
A Collaborative Workshop with Krissie Marty
Master Trainer, Wolf Trap Institute
Bring your lesson plan ideas, your questions, and your teaching challenges.
In this free professional learning workshop, Krissie Marty will share tools and insights from her deep experience in creative movement and teacher training, while inviting participants into a collaborative process of reflection and exchange. Together, we will experience an exercise, unpack it, and reflect on what it reveals about teaching practice.
This workshop is designed as a space for learning, experimentation, and shared problem-solving, with additional support from Art Spark Texas on meaningful inclusion of students with disabilities.
April 18, 2026
Creative Action, Austin
1023 Springdale Rd, Bldg 3
Austin, TX 78721
Please register here. Free to attend

All for Art Community Exhibit at Imagine Art
2026-05-01 18:00 - 20:00 | Imagine Art, 2830 Real Street, Austin, TX, 78722, United States

Lion & Pirate: Virtual Monthly Open Mic
2026-05-03 13:00 - 14:30 | Virtual
May 3 Open Mic is being co-hosted by our friend, John Beer. Everyone is invited to read, perform, share a story, or attend as an audience member! Sign up to perform before midnight: Saturday, May 2, 2026.
CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP.

Mandala Workshop with Christina Culverhouse
2026-05-03 13:00 - 15:00 | Art Spark Texas, 1152 San Bernard St., Austin, TX, 78702, United States
REGISTER HERE < CLICK TO SIGN UP
We are opening our doors at Art Spark Texas to the community for a Mandala Workshop from local artist Christina Culverhouse. This workshop is donation-based, with the teaching artist guiding guests on how to make mandalas on old record albums using acrylic markers.
Note from Christina: Mandalas can take days to complete depending on their complexity, but 2hrs will give you enough time to get a good start on something.
Guests can see examples of work from the teaching artist – and all supplies are included.

** This workshop includes Flute music by Christina Culverhouse

Speaking Advocates Showcase
2026-05-11 19:00 - 20:30 | The Rosette, 3908 Avenue B Suite 116, Austin, TX, 78751, United States
Join us at The Rosette on May 11th at 7:00pm for the Speaking Advocates Showcase, the final performance culminating after our 6-week workshop with adults with disabilities. FREE to attend.
Speaking Advocates is a workshop designed to enable adults with developmental and other disabilities to write personal stories and develop the public speaking skills to present those stories in a variety of venues (conferences, civic group meetings, schools, legislative sessions, etc.).
Each workshop series ends with a Showcase where participants perform to an audience of friends, family and interested members of their local communities. These stories are also recorded and included as episodes on Art Spark’s podcast platform, TRUE TALES PODCAST.

Sight Sound Soul at AccessU
2026-05-13 18:00 - 21:00 | St Edwards, 3rd floor Ragsdale Center, 3001 S Congress Ave., Austin, TX, 78704, United States
Join Art Spark Texas for Soul Sight Sound at the AccessU Knowbility Conference

Wed, May 13, 6pm – 9pm CDT

St. Edwards University (Mabee Ballroom)

Austin TX, United States
REGISTER HERE < CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP

Join us for a special closing celebration in partnership that brings back a multi-sensory art experience we haven’t seen at John Slatin AccessU for 15 years.
During Sight Sound Soul, musicians with disabilities perform on stage alongside artists painting in real time. Energetic ASL interpretation, human captioning, and live audio description are provided. This year, our closing event will also honor Sharron Rush, Knowbility’s founder and one of the original pioneers of digital accessibility, as she retires after decades of global impact.

6:00 PM: Networking / cocktail hour

Appetizer buffet
Complimentary water and tea
Cash bar

7:00 PM: Program begins
7:30 PM: Performance begins
9:00 PM: Program ends

REGISTER HERE < CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP

Creative Voices: 2-Day Animation Workshop at Imagine Art
2026-05-15 13:00 - 16:00 | Imagine Art, 2830 Real Street, Austin, TX, 78722, United States
Join Art Spark Texas at Imagine Art in East Austin on May 15th and 18th from 1-4pm for a two-day accessible stop-motion animation workshop with Maricela Vaca.
REGISTER HERE < CLICK TO SIGN UP.
