I worked alongside ten other students to design and organize the DisArt Local space-- a 18,000 square foot empty floor of a building in downtown Grand Rapids. This space, at 250 Monroe Ave., housed artwork from some of the best Grand Rapids local artists with disabilities and was one of five main art venues downtown over the course of the festival.

As part of our work we not only ensured the entire space was accessible to virtually anyone, we cleaned, hung floating walls from the ceiling to display artworks, and aimed to make the space as easily navigable and intuitive as possible. Because the space is so large, leading people throughout the space by placement of artworks and use of signage was one of our most challenging tasks.

Throughout the course of the three months we were working on DisArt we connected with many artists and people with disabilities from the Grand Rapids community. We absorbed as much knowledge as we could about disability culture through first-hand knowledge from speakers such as Toni Bal, Robert Coombs, Chris Smit, and others. These connections helped our team of Kendall students better understand a culture that we were not directly a part of, but became a part of through DisArt. After all, DisArt is not a festival for the disabled--it's a festival for everyone, intended to spur conversation regarding disability, access, and identity.