Exhibits and performances offer inclusive ways to experience the arts

March 14, 2023 - A series of Lakewood Heritage, Culture & the Arts exhibitions, musical performances and historical displays are inviting patrons to experience the fine arts though all of their senses – not just sight.

“Blind Visionaries,” a visual and musical experience inspired by the work of The Seeing With Photography Collective, a New York City-based organization of visually impaired photographers, opens April 21 at the Lakewood Cultural Center. It will be preceded by an exhibit featuring work by members of the collective beginning April 7 as well as a complementary art exhibition, “Seeing Requires Not Sight,” running through April 3, both of which will also be hosted at the LCC.

In addition, Heritage Lakewood Belmar Park is currently hosting the “Sensing Lakewood Restaurants” exhibit, a multisensory experience where visitors can smell, touch and listen as they move through culinary history in Lakewood from early beverage stands to modern eateries.

The exhibitions are part of a HCA’s wider effort to make the arts and culture accessible to all of Lakewood’s diverse population.

“The Cultural Center is a really welcoming space,” said Rita Sommers, LCC administrator. “We want everybody to feel welcome there and, in fact, be welcome there.”

Sommers and Arts Programming Curator Laine Godsey said that the idea of utilizing complementary and inclusive programming really began taking root shortly before the COVID-19 pandemic with the multimedia concert “ETHEL’s Documerica.”

Now, with the arts flourishing again post-pandemic, Lakewood is leaning even more into it, with “Blind Visionaries” and the work of the photography collective serving as a cornerstone of the 2023 season.

“Some of these images are projected on the screen and interwoven with music, and there are recordings of the photographers speaking about creating their work and their experiences being blind in the world,” Sommers said of “Blind Visionaries.” “I thought that would be a really powerful and interesting and beautiful way to experience music and visual art from a completely different perspective.”

“Seeing Requires Not Sight,” the art exhibition currently on display at the LCC, includes sensory and touch-friendly works, which “can be experienced by those who are blind or visually impaired in a completely new way and also allow for people who are sighted to experience art in a new way, to recalibrate what they think the definition of fine art is,” Godsey said.

Along with highlighting the work of artists with visual disabilities, Sommers and Godsey are working to increase the visibility of female artists and artists of color. The National Endowment for the Arts awarded a grant to HCA that is enabling Lakewood staff to design a three-part multidisciplinary art project.

This project includes the February 2023 theatrical productions by The Acting Company of “The Three Musketeers,” which highlights that the author of this classic was of Black descent, and “Romeo & Juliet,” with the story made relevant to a modern audience; the creation of murals by local artists of color; and upcoming community discussions between the mural artists and residents.

Godsey said she hopes that the artist talks will help the community understand what it’s like to be an artist in Lakewood.

It’s all part of an effort to give the entire community a chance to broaden their perspectives.

“The arts are such a great way to be a world explorer without leaving your chair, a great way to explore and build some understanding and have experiences of different cultures and ethnicities,” Sommers said.

Godsey said that the 2023 season will not be the last that looks to challenge audiences in this way.

“The endeavor is ongoing, and it’s a commitment that we have made.”