Home Arts VSA Wisconsin’s new name embraces ARTS for ALL Wisconsin

VSA Wisconsin’s new name embraces ARTS for ALL Wisconsin

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VSA Wisconsin’s new name embraces ARTS for ALL Wisconsin
ARTS for ALL Wisconsin staff members Patti Jungbluth, Debra Scheibinger, Rhiannon Gurley, Christina Martin-Wright, and Mike Lawler when the new name was announced Aug. 25. Photo by Bruce Martin-Wright

By Mike Lawler
ARTS for ALL Wisconsin

VSA Wisconsin has changed its name to ARTS for ALL Wisconsin in order to make it clearer what the organization does and to create a name that opens more doors for potential participants, audiences, donors and collaborators.

“We have changed our name a few times over the years, but never our fundamental mission,” said longtime Board President Jason Stephens. And the same is true for this more significant name change. “Today language is changing faster than ever and we do find ourselves questioning words like disability,” said ARTS for ALL Wisconsin Executive Director Christina Martin-Wright. “Challenged, special needs, differently-abled — these words, this perspective, have been on our minds a great deal as we examine things like branding and colors and tag lines,” she said. “What stays? What goes?” 

Headquartered on the Northside since 2011, it isn’t the first name change the organization has undergone, but it is the first iteration without a direct tie-in to Very Special Arts (VSA). ARTS for ALL Wisconsin was founded in 1985 as Very Special Arts Wisconsin with the mission to expand the capabilities, confidence and quality of life for children and adults with disabilities throughout Wisconsin by providing programs in dance, drama, creative writing, music and visual art. In 2010 it became VSA Wisconsin in accordance with the Department of VSA and Accessibility at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

Recently, Governor Tony Evers wrote that ARTS for ALL Wisconsin has “remained committed to reflecting on their own legacy, embodying the idea that inclusion begins with self-reflection.”

The new name reveal party took place Aug. 25, and attendees were resoundingly supportive of the new name and the logo designed by Madison firm Art & Sons.

ARTS for ALL Wisconsin works statewide in a variety of ways, including six choirs, artist residencies, a traveling exhibition and a call for art that draws submissions from over 60 communities. ARTS for ALL communities include Appleton, Janesville, Madison, Milwaukee, Mosinee, Oshkosh, Plover, Stevens Point, Stoughton, Sun Prairie, Watertown, Wausau and Wisconsin Rapids.

You can find out more about ARTS for ALL and the work they do at artsforallwi.org.