Progressive Art Studio AllianceProgressive Art Studio AllianceProgressive Art Studios/Supported Art Studios are organizations working with artists with disabilities in a professional art studio environment. These studios have an educational ethos developed for adults with disabilities and are united by a goal to support them in building and maintaining careers in contemporary art.
The Progressive Art Studio Alliance advocates for resources and policies that improve the outcomes of our member programs across the United States and abroad. As the only organization focusing on Progressive Art Studios, the Alliance works to provide shared opportunities for advocacy, collaboration, education, research, and public policy.
Lori Bartol | Center for Creative Works
Lori Bartol is the founder and Director of the Center for Creative Works, a progressive art studio in Wynnewood and Philadelphia. In this role since 2010, she transformed a traditional vocational training workshop into a nationally recognized progressive art studio program, bringing visibility to artists with disabilities. Previously, she co-directed and developed the Oasis Art Program in Philadelphia from 2004-2010, also a supported studio organization. Her experience ranges from program and staff development, vision setting, and strategic priorities/ financial stewardship to fundraising partnership building, policy advocacy, and growth. She is a strong advocate for inclusive communities. She has given talks and presentations on professional artistic opportunities for neurodivergent artists and the benefits these serve to our communities as a whole. Currently, in addition to her role at CCW, she is a founding director of the National Progressive Art Studio Alliance (PASA). PASA is a new alliance organization with the goal of improving outcomes and opportunities for disabled art studios and artists with disabilities through community, education, network building globally, and national advocacy and public policy. Lori is also a board member of Benevolent Hound, a non-profit organization finding opportunities for artists to “use their talent to help ensure the humane treatment of all Animals”. Ms. Bartol is a graduate of Tyler School of Art and held a studio practice in Berlin Germany from 1991-2001 before returning to Philadelphia and landing in the non-profit world. She currently lives in Philadelphia.
Denise Fisher | Arts of Life
Denise “Denny” Fisher, one of the Arts of Life founders, is grateful to have held the position of Executive Director since its inception in 2000. Denny has a bachelor’s Degree in Education focusing on English and Psychology from Eastern Illinois University. Denny’s lifelong allyship and advocacy began with mentoring students her age in elementary school and coaching gymnastics with Special Olympics. While in college, she worked summers at Camp Jened, a camp for adults with I/DD, which was her most rewarding and foundational experience until opening the studio. Denny then worked on the residential side of services for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities in Intermediate Care Facilities and Community Integrated Living Arrangements (CILA) in direct support positions, then case management, and finally management. Her friendship with Ronnie Cuchlich ultimately led her to serve as the Director of Residential Services at Options, Inc., a small, progressive CILA. All these experiences were fundamental to her philosophy of Collective Decision Making, a trademark of Arts of Life. Denny continues to be excited by what each Arts of Life community member brings to the organization and how they and the entire Progressive Art Studio movement will challenge the broader Arts Sector in the next quarter century.
Gregory Liakos | Vinfen’s Gateway Arts
Gregory Liakos has been the Director of Vinfen’s Gateway Arts since July 2022. Before coming to Gateway Arts, Liakos served as Director of Communications for the Massachusetts Cultural Council, where he led advocacy efforts on behalf of the state’s nonprofit cultural sector. Highlights include doubled annual state cultural funding, centered on a groundbreaking Power of Culture branding platform, and creating the Mass Cultural Facilities Fund, a national model capital program for nonprofit cultural institutions. A former journalist, he also led public relations for the Peabody Essex Museum through its $125 million institutional transformation in 2003.
Anthony Marcellini | Progressive Art Studio Collective
Anthony Marcellini is the Program Manager and Founder of PASC (Progressive Art Studio Collective). He is an educator, curator, writer, and artist. He has produced exhibitions, lectures, public cultural events, and projects with a focus on social practice, public art, and disabilities in cultural venues and universities across the world. For over 9 years, he has taught studio art, curatorial practice, theory, and art and design history at colleges and universities in the United States and Europe. From 2018 to 2020, he was the Programs and Exhibitions Manager of the Friendship Circle Soul Studio, a studio for adults with disabilities in West Bloomfield, MI. At Soul Studio, Marcellini expanded the studio program and worked to align Soul Studio with the history and ideology of progressive art studios and disability culture. In 2021, Marcellini launched PASC the first studio and exhibition program for adults with developmental disabilities and mental health differences in Detroit and Wayne County. Since 2021, Marcellini has grown the PASC program to support over 190 artists across three studios and two galleries, curated and produced numerous local and national exhibitions, exhibited PASC at major museums and brokered the purchase of artwork by seven PASC artists for the permanent collection of the Cranbrook Art Museum. Marcellini received his MFA in 2009 from California College of the Arts with a concentration in Social Practice.
Damon McLeese | Access Gallery
Damon McLeese is a visionary leader who has dedicated his career to promoting accessibility, inclusion, and innovation in the arts. As the Executive Director of Access Gallery for more than 25 years, Damon has been a driving force behind the organization’s success in unlocking the creative power of people regardless of their background, ability, or experience. Damon’s collaborative approach bridges the gap between creativity and community, whether in a corporate or classroom setting. He creates projects that force us to look at creativity, ability, and disability in very different ways. Damon’s work has been recognized with numerous awards, including the 2019 Bonfils Stanton Arts and Society Award, the 2017 Governors Award for Leadership in the Arts, and the 2014 Mayor’s Award for Innovation in the Arts. He has also been a speaker at the 2016 Tedx Mile High event and the 2022 Tedx CU event.
Vincent Uribe | Arts of Life
Vincent Uribe is an artist and creative community builder based in Chicago, IL. A Los Angeles native, Vincent is a dual-degree graduate from the School of the Arts Institute of Chicago. He is the Founding Director of LVL3, an artist-run exhibition space and online publication launched in 2010. Through LVL3, Vincent has organized hundreds of exhibitions featuring exceptional emerging and mid-career artists nationally and internationally. In 2013, Vincent joined the team at Arts of Life to help expand opportunities for artists with disabilities. Through the Artist Enterprise Program, he launched Arts of Life’s in-studio Circle Contemporary galleries and nationally grew Arts of Life’s public exhibitions through numerous international art fairs. Vincent leads the year-round exhibition program for Ingress Gallery at Soho House Chicago, which annually features and promotes 12 local artists. His work includes shows with the Chicago Cultural Center, Art on the MART, INTUIT Center for Outsider Art, and the Ukrainian Institute of Modern Art. Vincent is a founding board member of Equity Arts and the INTUIT Board. He has participated in and led numerous talks and panels dedicated to artists’ professional development. His work has been featured and recognized in publications such as The New York Times, The Chicago Tribune, and New City.
Amy Sharp | Community Access Art Collective
Amy Sharp is an artist committed to supporting and collaborating with artists, makers, problem solvers, and worker bees. Since 2014, Amy has been the director of Community Access Art Collective, a progressive art studio for artists with mental health conditions. She is an ally and an advocate for individual artists and the creative community, expanding art-making opportunities and respecting the right to self-determination. Previous work highlights include project coordinating Geyser Land, a large-scale temporary public artwork by Mary Ellen Strom and Ann Carlson; coordinating Digital Flaherty, a symposium with artists, filmmakers, and curators for International Film Seminars; fundraising research for the strategic planning and capital campaign for The Whitney Museum of American Art; and conducting brand and culture research for creative agencies including Ogilvy & Mather. Amy earned her MFA from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts/Tufts University and her BFA from Aquinas College.