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+1 202-554-9455
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2204 Rhode Island Ave NE, Washington, DC, DC, 20018
b/t N 22nd St & N Jackson St
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1.1 miBrookland-CUA
1.3 miBus 80 con destino a National Museum Postal
1.3 miRhode Island Ave-Brentwood
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Specialties
Art Enables has two main goals:
To further in the arts market an appreciation of outsider and contemporary folk art, that category into which most of the work by Art Enables artists falls
To further an understanding and acceptance of the alternative, visual way in which many people who are marginalized for any number of reasons can communicate when they are given the chance
History
Established in 2002.
Very often people with developmental and/or mental disabilities are better able to express themselves in images than in words. Art Enables is focused on just such a group: thirty-some artists whose disabilities include but are not limited to Down syndrome, autism, traumatic brain injury, bipolar disorder. Their ages range from 24 to 72. They are African-American, Caucasian, Hispanic, Asian, Arab.
Art Enables gives them the resources and supports they need to become visual artists. Their artwork is exhibited and sold at the studio, at host venues and via the web site. They earn 60% of revenue from sales. They have a chance to tell their stories, and they find people eager to listen.
Meet the Business Owner
Joyce M.
Business Owner
started her career in publishing, first as writer in New York City and later as desk editor in The Hague, The Netherlands. Later in Brussels she did freelance translating and copy editing. She took up ceramics when the family moved back to Holland, working out of her own studio and exhibiting individually and in group shows in Amsterdam, Bussum and Hilversum (NL). In a parallel development, she volunteered in various programs serving both children and adults with mental, developmental and physical disabilities.
After returning to the United States in 1995, Ms. Muis-Lowery worked for a number of years with WVSA arts connection (formerly Washington Very Special Arts), ultimately as Director of ARTiculate gallery & studio, an arts-based program for teenagers with special needs. In 2000, with the help of an extremely engaged and experienced focus group, she founded Art Enables to explore the benefits of arts-entrepreneurial programming for adults with developmental disabilities.
