About
Our Mission
Community Access to the Arts nurtures and celebrates the creativity of people with disabilities through the arts.
CATA provides innovative arts programs for people with a wide range of abilities and disabilities—focusing especially on people with developmental and intellectual disabilities, autism, and brain injuries.
Through dynamic workshops in painting, dance, acting, music, juggling, yoga, creative writing, and more, CATA artists tap into their creativity, develop new skills, forge community, and express their unique perspectives.
Public exhibits and performances bring our whole community into the act, shining a light on the ability within disability.
CATA is about creating the community we all believe in: one that recognizes the value of ALL its members.
This is what we know
The arts can foster inclusion.
Creativity can be embraced by all of us.
Tiny moments of connection lead to tidal transformations!
67
Program Partners
1,300
People with disabilities
served week in and week out
3,000
Workshops Annually
10,000
30+
performances, art exhibits, readings, and sharings every year
100%
of programs subsidized by your donations
At CATA, people with disabilities create, lead, and thrive.
INNOVATING with a community-based model: CATA forges strong partnerships with disability agencies, day-habilitation programs, residences, schools, parents, and caregivers to create arts programs that meet the needs and interests of people with disabilities.
LEADING with Accessibility: CATA Faculty Artists are talented painters, sculptors, musicians, actors, and dancers— expertly trained by CATA in disability, accessibility, and inclusion.
NURTURING Growth & Wellbeing: Through CATA, people with disabilities discover talents, build skills, and find belonging. Everyone benefits: CATA artists thrive, and the impact spreads to families, caregivers, teachers, and beyond.
SHARING CATA artists’ talents with the public: We work closely with cultural organizations to showcase the talents of CATA artists in art exhibits, performances, and poetry readings.
CATA is…
Watch our short film and let CATA artists take you behind the scenes of our work!
Our History
While working as a dance therapist for adults with disabilities, CATA founder Sandra Newman was inspired to strengthen community through the arts. In 1993, she founded Community Access to the Arts (CATA), a non-profit arts organization that gives people with disabilities powerful opportunities to express themselves creatively and share their talents with the public.
In 2014, Margaret Keller became Executive Director and CATA has since grown by leaps and bounds. Today, CATA offers over 3,000 arts workshops reaching more than 1,300 children, teens, adults, and elders with disabilities in our community across more than 16 towns in Berkshire County, MA and Columbia County, NY.
In 2020, CATA completed a highly successful capital campaign to create a beautiful, fully accessible arts center in Great Barrington, MA. The building now serves as our home base, where CATA artists come for workshops in dedicated studios for the visual and performing arts, and where staff work to coordinate programs at partner organizations across the community with weekly programs in Pittsfield, Lee, Dalton, Adams, North Adams, Williamstown, Hudson, and beyond.
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By submitting this form, you are consenting to receive marketing emails from: You can revoke your consent to receive emails at any time by using the Safe Unsubscribe® link, found at the bottom of every email. Emails are serviced by Constant Contact
