The Metropolitan Regional Arts Council invites you to join the Arts & Disability Forum: Disability in Power on Tuesday, May 24th from 6-7pm. Join MRAC, Mai Thor, Jes Reyes, and Bryan Boyce to explore the imperative and impact of people with disabilities in positions of power.
This hour-long virtual event is appropriate for arts groups seeking to be more accessible, arts groups serving and/or made up of people with disabilities, and individual artists with disabilities who want to learn strategies from peers to embrace and uplift their inherent power.
You may register for the event at any time, and will immediately receive instructions to access the event. If you prefer not to register, the event will be streamed on MRAC’s Facebook Page.
Virtual Event Accessibility
The event, held on Zoom in English, will be interpreted into ASL and live captioned, and will be archived on the MRAC YouTube channel for future viewing with edited captions that can be translated into additional languages.
If you would like any modifications to aid your participation in this activity, please indicate requests in the registration form or reach out to Sam at sam@mrac.org or 651-523-6388.
For complete details about MRAC’s access services and accommodations, please visit Accessibility at MRAC.
Panelist Bios
Mai Thor
As a 2021 Bush Fellow, Mai seeks to develop a community informed disability justice framework to incorporate into social justice work and systems throughout Minnesota. As a person living with a disability and as a leader who has helped design more accessible and inclusive systems for people with disabilities, she sees that social justice movements often leave disability out of their efforts. Mai recognizes that to achieve true justice, the intersectionality of all oppressions must be addressed, and ableism must be eliminated. Mai has a Master’s in Nonprofit and Public Administration from Metropolitan State University and a Bachelor of Arts from Augsburg University. She lives in the Twin Cities east metro and has two boys and a cat.
Jes Reyes
Jes Reyes is an interdisciplinary artist, artist organizer, and art facilitator practicing mixed media art, video, and more. She identifies as queer, feminist, and punk. Her artwork is rooted in play, vulnerability, experimentation, collaboration, and the blending of disciplines. She has exhibited and screened her artwork throughout the Twin Cities. An extension of Jes’s art practice is in community organizing and resource building for artists. She is the founder of Moonplay Cinema, a support system for women, nonbinary, trans, and other artists marginalized due to gender. As Art Supervisor at Fresh Eye Arts, she co-leads a progressive art studio program supporting artists with disabilities with Lauren Hughes. Prior to that, she coordinated Avivo ArtWorks, a multifaceted art studio for artists living with mental illness. Jes also provides support to artists as an Artist Career Consultant with Springboard for the Arts. She is passionate about bringing people together, equitable arts leadership, and career services for all artists. Learn more about Jes at her website!
Bryan Boyce
Bryan Boyce is Founder and Executive Director of Cow Tipping Press, a social venture that teaches and publishes writing by people with intellectual/developmental disabilities. His work is grounded in experience as the sibling of a brother with disabilities and educator in diverse cultural contexts, and has won awards from Teach For America, Grinnell College, and 4.0 Schools. As Cow Tipping enters its seventh (!) year, Bryan is particularly excited by their efforts to work inventively and interdependently alongside people with I/DD at all levels of the organization.