Creativity fosters understanding of ADA - Matrix and community make giant puppet of Justin Dart

DETROIT - Matrix Theatre Company is bringing together local youth, community residents, disability leaders and volunteers to learn about the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) as they put the finishing touches on Matrix’s newest giant puppet, Justin Dart, a pioneer of the ADA. In celebration of the 20th anniversary of the passage of the act, the puppet will take to the streets of Detroit for the U.S. Social Forum on June 22, 2010. It will then head to Chicago for the Seventh Annual Disability Pride Parade on July 24, 2010 to help raise awareness for the rights of people with disabilities.

One of only a handful of theatre arts organizations in the country to create giant puppets, Justin Dart will take its place among Matrix’s impressive collection of historically significant “hero” puppets, which include figures like Martin Luther King, Jr., Cesar Chavez, Mother Jones and Ella Baker.

The Matrix way of collaborative creation has been especially successful with this project. Calls went out to community members, college students and disability rights activists to help with the development of this historic work of art. “It was inspiring to watch as this diverse group of people worked together to bring the puppet to life,” said Matrix Executive Director Shaun Nethercott.

As the volunteers worked under the guidance of sculptor Carl Goines and Matrix Community Puppets Manager Megan Harris, curious youth wandered into the City of Detroit’s Roberto Clemente Recreation Center to see what was going on. Matrix partner and project co-organizer Janice Fialka explained the history of the ADA to the children who then shared their own stories about loved ones with disabilities. “My Uncle Sam is in a wheelchair, and he sometimes gets real mad because he can’t get though a door,” said Kyle.

“Interest is nationwide,” said Volunteer Coordinator Ken Srdjak. “Donations have come in from all over the country. We have even received money from Justin’s wife, family and friends. If this continues, I am confident that we can reach our fundraising goal which will allow us to tour the puppet throughout the country this summer.”

“It’s time that Justin Dart and his ideas become visible to all,” said Rich Feldman, Matrix partner and project co-organizer. “It’s time that disability is recognized as a natural and beautiful part of human diversity.”

“Sometimes it happens that an image or a piece of art can reconnect a community with a fallen soldier’s classic one liners that ‘lead us on’ to commit ourselves to ‘the revolution of empowerment.’ The Justin Puppet will be looming in streets shouting out the words, ‘I am with you, I love you, Lead on,’ for the ‘solidarity among all who love justice,” said Tom Olin, social documentarian and photojournalist for disability rights.

The Justin Dart puppet is funded, in part, by Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC), Michigan Disabilities Rights Coalition, the United Auto Workers (UAW), and many donors from across the country.

Matrix Theatre Company is a non-profit community-based theatre located in Southwest Detroit. Established in 1991, it creates everything from scratch, from puppets of all sizes to over 95 original plays. Matrix Theatre Company uses the transformative power of theatre to change lives, build community and foster social justice. It creates opportunities for children, youth, adults and elders, especially those in isolated or challenged communities, to become creators, producers and audiences of original theatre. For further information or to follow Matrix on Facebook, Twitter or Blogger, go to matrixtheatre.org.

For further information on the Justin Dart puppet or to schedule interviews, please call 313-967-0999.

Justin Dart Biography 

Often called the Martin Luther King of the disability civil rights movement, Justin Dart thought of himself in much more humble terms. Born August 29, 1930 into a wealthy and prominent family, he was a self-described “super loser.” Spoiled and difficult, he attended seven high schools, not graduating from any of them. After contracting polio in 1948, he used a wheelchair until his death in 2002. He went on to earn bachelor’s and master’s degrees in political science and history. After being denied a teaching certificate, because he used a wheelchair, Dart went into business in 1956 and in years later hired disabled people giving them a living wage within his companies. Working with President Ronald Reagan, he helped to draft a national policy calling for a national civil rights legislation to end the centuries old discrimination of people with disabilities. This legislation eventually became the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. Although he received many awards including the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Bill Clinton, he never wavered in his commitment to disability solidarity, insisting that all people with disabilities be protected by the law and included in the coalition to pass it. This included those with mental illness and people with HIV/AIDS. He often said, “I am a symbolic representative of thousands of ADA mothers and fathers.”

Dart never hesitated to emphasize the community of support that made his work possible. It was never about him, it was always about the community working together to advance human dignity for all. Justin had the highest regard for his wife of 33 years who has enthusiastically given her full support to have the giant puppet built as a creative way to educate, inspire, and empower all, especially youth to realize and use their own power; and lead on.

One of your last chances to work on Justin Dart

As we get closer to the U.S. Social Forum and the debut of our giant Justin Dart puppet, there are less and less opportunities for community members to help in the collaborative creation of the puppet. But we want you to come out, no matter what your puppet-making experience is, and be a part of the process!

On Saturday May 22 from 10 a.m. - 2 p.m. we're inviting everyone to come out and paint the paper-mache head, work on the frame, sew his signature hat and boots, and make buttons to be distributed to crowds.

Come down to Matrix Theatre Company at 2730 Bagley in Detroit, MI 48216.

The puppet will not only be used at the Social Forum, July 26 marks the 20 year anniversary of the passing of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and we are gearing up to march around the country with the puppet that represents one of the key figures in making the ADA a reality.

Call 313-967-0999 for more information or send an email to Volunteer Coordinator Ken Srdjak at ksrdjak@matrixtheatre.org.

Whether you know a lot about Justin Dart's story or just a little, this is a great chance to come out and be a part of this art project that celebrates not only Justin Dart,

This may be one of the last chances for the community to work on the puppet, so please spread the word!

Learn from the past, Lead on into the future

Thirty-three years ago yesterday, on April 28, 1977, a hard earned victory was celebrated by the nearly 100 jubilant disabled activists who sat-in and took over the HEW federal building in San Francisco for almost a month. The event is still the longest sit-in of a federal building in America. These tenacious citizens and thousands of others with disabilities were demanding that Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act be enforced immediately. Section 504, modeled on the Civil Rights Act of 1964, prohibited discrimination against people with disabilities in federally funded programs. The Act had been passed in 1973, but 4 years later this section had not been implemented. The cry-out by the protesters was “ACCESSIBILITY NOW!”

Once enacted, colleges, universities, hospitals, federal courtrooms, airports, libraries, after school programs and others were required to be accessible for all people. Within a few years, we began to see ramps, bathrooms and entrances reachable for most people.

Many of us take these changes for granted, especially those of us called TBA’s: temporarily able body,” but the progress we have seen wasn’t always the case. Take for example the story of Justin Dart, who used a wheelchair as a result of polio. In 1951, while attending the University of Houston, he literally rolled his wheelchair to the bottom steps of the campus buildings waiting for students to accept his invitation to carry him up the steps to enter the buildings. A few years later, he was told that he could not earn a teaching degree because he used a wheelchair. He wasn’t alone - far from it. These barriers and deeply ingrained discriminations were ubiquitous for people with disabilities. Section 504 was critically important and began to open doors and minds. Though we have a long way to go, Section 504 was a huge leap forward, or perhaps I should say a huge ramp up in the right direction.

Section 504 also provides K-12 students with disabilities, who do not qualify for special education services under IDEA, the supports and services they need to learn and progress.

The activists who sat-in 33 years ago today demanding justice and the immediate implementation of Section 504 paved the way for the passing of the Americans with Disabilities Act 13 years later. I am reminded of a famous photo of Justin and Yoshiko Dart and disabled activists gathered at a rally in front of a federal building. Behind the group is a large banner, blowing in the wind, holding the words of Martin Luther King Jr. Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.

Think about the victories that disability rights activists are winning right now, and the ones they will win tomorrow. Lead on!

The creation of the Justin Dart puppet is being documented through this blog by Janice Fialka. Check back through June as she documents the birth of this giant puppet. If you want to come and help with the project, call Ken Srdjak at 313-967-0999.

Leaders aren't ever born that way

Let me reassure you that my lack of postings to this blog about Justin Dart has absolutely no relationship to what is happening in the small room in the Roberto Clemente Recreation Center where the giant puppet is being created.

I am totally dazzled by what the Matrix artists, Carl and Megan, and the many volunteers have sculpted over the past few weeks. Take a quick glance below to see the evolution in photos.

Like anything of real consequence, persistence is paying off - and having such talented artists helps a lot! Equally exciting to me are the conversations I’ve heard with the young people who come to help. Recently I spoke briefly with a group of high school students from Detroit who volunteer to work on the puppet, they are part of a national nonprofit organization called buildOn. 

Last Saturday, after painting the hands of the puppet, and doing highly intricate shaping of the facial cheek bones, we took a break to talk about Justin Dart and disability issues. Hands were washed and the teens created a circle around Carl as he worked on the clay face.

Justin always wanted the world to know that he was not born a leader of human rights - he was not given a clearly marked path of doing good. On the contrary, he wanted folks to understand that during his youth, many people did not like him, and he did not like himself. In fact he often referred to himself as a “spoiled kid.”

The volunteer teens in the room were surprised at my descriptions of this famous person, especially when I told them that Justin had gone to seven high schools and never graduated from any one of them. Justin also struggled with addiction and other challenges. A few of the teens shifted in their chairs. I can only guess that their image of a “hero” was being slightly disputed. Maybe they were considering that you don’t have to be perfect, just committed and willing to learn and reflect along the way. I explained how Justin searched for his truth and was highly changed after reading Gandhi’s book, My Experiments with Truth and reading the work of Martin Luther King Jr. as well as whole book of the Bible, in particular all what Jesus Christ had said.

When Justin’s wife, Yoshiko gave her full support to have a giant puppet of Justin Dart built, it was with the strict understanding that this project would be an opportunity for others, especially youth to learn about Justin's "whole life's journey" and to inspire them to discover and feel their own potential. Mr. Dart wanted every single person to feel and become empowered and unite with others who love justice to create a world where everyone’s civil and human rights were realized.

I think Justin would have enjoyed being with the young people from buildON on that Saturday afternoon. I could imagine him talking with them, lifting his gentle, yet firm voice to challenge them to stay involved. I can hear him asking each one of them questions about their lives and their dreams. I think he might have said something like, "I like that name of your group: buildOn. I think that is exactly what you have to do with your lives: build on to your dreams, keep building with others." 

And of course he would have added, "Lead On! You have the power."

The creation of the Justin Dart puppet is being documented through this blog by Janice Fialka. Check back through June as she documents the birth of this giant puppet. If you want to come and help with the project, call Ken Srdjak at 313-967-0999.

Sculpting the visionary in all of us

I arrived on a quiet Tuesday afternoon to work on the puppet with my friend and colleague, Elizabeth, a professor at Schoolcraft College. No kids today, there was only the artist, Megan, leaning over the left hand of the giant clay puppet, immersed in its palm. She intently swished, slashed and smoothed the clay with her small sculpting tool. I was in awe of how confidently she removed chunks of clay around the thumb. “It looks like a real hand, Megan. How do you do that?” I pondered as I stared at the unfinished right hand awaiting me and Elizabeth on the other table.

I missed the kids’ energy and chattering. And yet it’s lovely to have an uninterrupted conversation with Elizabeth and Megan. We covered many topics, especially the need for children and adults to rediscovery their imagination, to just have the opportunity to dig into the clay without restrictions!

We asked for Megan’s guidance as we tried to sculpt the clay hand to resemble a real hand like the left one she’s completed.

With self-assurance, Megan instructed us to use our own hand as a model. She told us to hold up our right hand in front of the clay one and really see the twists, creases and open spaces. She reminded us not to rush. Then Megan told us to transfer what we see in our hand to what needs to be done to the puppet hand. I squinted, hoping to focus better.

She pointed to the space between the puppet’s thumb and pointer finger, “See, there is too much clay here. You’ve got to swipe away globs of clay around the thumb. Open it up.” We both gasped as she chunked out a huge piece of clay. She was right, all of a sudden a defined thumb appears. Slowly, with her encouragement, we timidly cut out a tiny bit of clay, and then more and more. And a more precise hand suddenly appears.

Later, while cleaning up, we comment that Megan has done with us what all great leaders do: she encouraged us to take risks and to envision a new possibility. That’s what visionary leaders, like Justin Dart, do - envision a new possibility. I thought of his famous greeting, “Lead On!” came from his deep understanding and sense that everyone can be an artist. Everyone deserves a sense of their own empowerment to create. Justin Dart wanted a new world that worked for all, and he was wasn’t afraid to dig his hands and heart into the clay to create it.

The creation of the Justin Dart puppet is being documented through this blog by Janice Fialka. Check back through June as she documents the birth of this giant puppet. If you want to come and help with the project, call Ken Srdjak at 313-967-0999.

We’re all in this (puppet) together

A lot can happen in a week, especially when you're watching materials become a piece of art. The kids loved slapping more gooey-clay onto the puppet’s head and hands. We adults can learn a lot from kids at play. They lose themselves in their amusement, it’s their meditation. Nothing else exists at the moment, just sheer fun.

Several kids wanted their photos taken with the puppet’s head and hands to show their families of their fine work as artists. Tony asked, “So, will we be famous because we’re making the giant puppet?”

This led to a conversation about Justin Dart and the Americans with Disabilities Act passed in 1990. I realized I never really explained the ADA to children. Learning to make it relevant was a good test of my creativity. I wondered, “How do I talk about it with kids?”

I immediately thought about curb cuts. “Pretty soon, you’ll be riding your bikes, right?” Several kids started telling me about their bikes. I continued, “You know when you come to the end of a sidewalk and there is no curb, and you ride your bike without having to bounce down the curb?” They were listening.

“The curb was cut that way so that people who use wheelchairs can roll easily onto the street and not get stuck, or have to bump down the curb.” Kyle shouted, “My uncle Sam is in a wheelchair, and he sometimes gets real mad because he can't get through a door.”

The conversation took off from the kids talking about people getting mad, and ended up being about how sometimes you have to fight hard to get laws passed to get your rights. Ana, as if reading her fourth grade book report, shared, “Martin Luther King had to fight to get civil rights for African Americans.”

It was the perfect lead in “Yes, that’s what Justin Dart and many, many other people had to do. They worked hard, talked to a lot of people, had marches and protests, and eventually got the ADA passed. It’s like the civil rights law for people with disabilities.” Not a lot was said at that moment. It was like the idea of civil rights for all people was sinking in to their minds, like their fingers were sinking into the clay.

Enough talk for now. Enough puppet making for today. Hands got washed. Aprons were hung up. The clay head and hands were covered in plastic bags to keep them moist.

Next week, our artists, Carl and Megan and the kids will smooth and carve away the unnecessary clay. Then it will be time to paper maiche the puppet. Maybe there will be time for a few more talks about standing up for our rights and making a world where everyone belongs. Maybe these are lofty wishes on my part, but then again so were women’s suffrage, civil rights and the ADA.

The creation of the Justin Dart puppet is being documented through this blog by Janice Fialka. Check back as she shares her insights and documents the birth of this community project.

Justin Dart flyer: Spread the word

In case you want to come help out with the building of our Justin Dart puppet, or if you want to let other people know, check out this flyer:

Feel free to print, distribute, share!

The Makings of a Giant Justin Dart Puppet, Pts. 1 and 2

Pt. 1 - When a good dream comes true you want to shout it out to the world, so here goes.

After two years of planning, Matrix Theatre Company and friends began the building of a giant puppet of Justin Dart to be used in upcoming social justice events. Justin is known as the “father of the Americans with Disabilities Act,” which was signed into law 20 years ago on July 26, 1990. Most people know of the ADA, but few know Justin Dart.

We’re about to change this.

The puppet of Justin Dart will soon join the distinguished group of Matrix puppets honoring such activists as: Martin Luther King Jr., Mother Jones, Ella Baker, Cesar Chavez and others. These beautiful puppets have a powerful presence at any event and immediately draw the attention of people of all ages. This curiosity with the puppet lends itself to sharing more about the real person the puppet is based on and their social justice activism.

We carried art supplies and the molds of the head and hands for the Justin puppet from Matrix Theatre Company, across the street, to the Roberto Clemente Recreation Center in Southwest Detroit. We set up the small room, put photos of Justin Dart and his beloved wife Yoshiko on the sign-in table, and encouraged staff, families and youth to get involved. Over time we will watch the giant puppet of Justin Dart come to life. As we build it, more will come to have fun and learn about Justin and the disability movement.

Over the next few weeks, visit us to learn more about Justin Dart and to watch the puppet being built by artists Carl Goines, Megan Harris and folks like you.

Consider joining us for an hour, an afternoon or more. No experience necessary. Individuals are welcome Tuesdays 1:30 - 3:30 p.m., Thursdays 5 - 8 p.m. and Saturdays 12 - 3 p.m. Groups should call ahead to let the artists know they are coming, call Ken Srdjak 313-967-0999 or e-mail him at ksrdjak@matrixtheatre.org.

It always feels good to begin the day with a dream come true!

Pt. 2 - I walked into to the puppet making art room to the squeals of laughter of a few young children and the sound of ripping tape. The artist, Carl, with his soft voice and attentive eyes was instructing the kids to “keep the tape tight as you wrap it around the hands and heads of the puppet.”

Balancing the large puppet hand in her own tiny six-year-old hand, Ana looked up to Carl for reassurance, “Like this? Am I doing it right?”

“Perfect,” he said as he handed the scissors to another young boy who was eager to help shape the puppet’s face.

Another young boy, covered in a paint-splotched apron, was helping to recycle the pieces of previously-used hard clay by adding water and massaging the pieces. There was no hesitation about getting his hands dirty.

I arrived at the perfect time. The head and hands of the puppet had been wrapped with miles of tape, and only a bit more was needed. I learned from Carl that the tape kept the inside newspaper from getting wet from the clay that would soon be smeared over the tape. My son Micah jumped right into the final phase of the taping. Micah was relieved that he could tape.

After about an hour Carl announced that “The head has enough tape - it’s time to smear the clay over the tape.” The kids cheered and leaped over each other to be the first one to put their hands into the clay, or as Carl called it “terra cotta.” When I referred to the clay as mud, Ana was baffled, because playing in mud had never been an approved form of play for her. To reconcile this contradiction, she announced, “But this is clean mud, so I can play in it!” And did she ever. 

There was something comforting to me when I heard one of the boys ask Carl, “Is this where Justin Dart’s ear goes?” Before this day, Justin Dart was not a name he knew. Now Justin Dart and the Americans with Disabilities Act are familiar to him. In our puppet making we have fun with the clay and we also talk about creating a world where all people belong, where buildings and buses are accessible, and where we realize that fairness for all is possible.

The creation of the Justin Dart puppet is being documented through this blog by Janice Fialka. Check back now through June as she documents the birth of this giant puppet.

Matrix Theatre Company readies its newest Hero Puppet, ADA pioneer Justin Dart

(Justin Dart.)

Matrix Theatre Company is creating a new Giant Hero Puppet to memorialize Justin Dart, the disability rights activist who advanced the cause of the Americans with Disabilities Act. The ADA became law in July 1990, and the hero puppet will be ready to mark the act's 20th anniversary.

Matrix's newest creation will also be paraded during events planned for the U.S. Social Forum to be held June 22 - 26, 2010 in Detroit. The U.S. Social Forum is a movement-building process bringing people together to solve the global economic and ecological crises. Following its debut at the USSF, the puppet will be headed to Chicago to appear in the Seventh Annual Disability Pride Parade on July 24, 2010.

(Working on the Ella Baker Hero Puppet.)

Matrix has begun raising the $7,500 needed to construct the work. The Justin Dart puppet will be made in "the Matrix way" of community collaboration. This is how Matrix created its roster of giant puppets including Martin Luther King Jr., Cesar Chavez and Ella Baker, and the way that Matrix creates its original theatre productions. The Justin Dart puppet presents a unique challenge for its designers: to make a larger-than-life functioning wheelchair to hold the puppet. Justin Dart (1930-2002) acquired his disability from polio at the age of 18, and used a wheelchair for the rest of his life. The completed puppet will require at least three people to operate it.

(Martin Luther King, Jr., Mother Jones, Ella Baker in action.)

"If the giant Justin Dart puppet is used to communicate his cry for everyone to 'Lead the Revolution of Individual Empowerment' particularly to youth with disabilities, it would be awesome, and extremely meaningful and valuable," said Yoshiko Dart, Justin's wife, in 2008 when the project was proposed to her by Matrix.

"'Lead on! We love you,' Dart's famous quote is recognized still as both a call to action and a reminder that, in the struggle against oppression and the movement toward equity... [that] all things are possible and the resultant change will be powerful, positive and worth the effort," said Dan Wilkins, advocate for people with disabilities.

"The notion that any one person is the single cause of any significant social change - that Abraham Lincoln alone freed the slaves - is a devastating stereotype which robs individuals of responsibility and credit, and actually inhibits social change. You can be a revolution of one. In your living room, in your family, in your community," said Dart, when the 10th anniversary of the ADA was marked by the Smithsonian Museum of American History.

The Justin Dart Puppet Project cause is set up on Facebook. Matrix invites you to please join and invite your friends to join and support the project. Donations can be made directly through Facebook. Donations can also be made over the phone by credit card, 313-967-0999, or by check to Matrix Theatre Company at 2730 Bagley St. Detroit, MI 48216.

The entire creation process will be documented by Matrix. Check the website to follow events and for updates on the construction and fundraising efforts. Matrix is seeking donations of time, construction materials and funds to bring the work to completion. For more information on the project and how to get involved, please contact Ken Srdjak, Volunteer Coordinator for Matrix at ksrdjak@matrixtheatre.org, or call 313-967-0999.