Vsa Minnesota

“The board of directors has the sole authority to elect additional directors to the governing body.”

“The draft form 990 is reviewed by the executive director and the board treasurer upon receipt from the firm compiling the report. The e.d. And treasurer approve the draft for release by the compiling firm. The finalized report is then submitted to the full board of directors for approval and submission.”

“The vsa minnesota board of directors adopted a conflict of interest policy on march 6, 2012. Since then, each year at the annual meeting held in october, each board and staff member read that policy and sign off on their understanding and agreement to abide by that policy. In general, board members are not eligible to apply for grants offered by the organization.”

“The president of the board of directors does an annual review of the executive director which includes compensation. This review is circulated through all other board members. A recommendation for salary adjustment is made based on the review and input from the board. The executive director has on occasion, over the years, accepted less than the full percentage recommended by the board. This did not take place during this year although there were no salary increases for the e.d. This year.”

“The organization makes its governing documents (including by-laws financial audit, 990, conflict of interest policies, ada access plan and personnel policies) available for public inspection upon request. Requested materials can be viewed on-site at the organization's office.”

“Vsa minnesota, a member of the vsa affiliate network, a program of the john f. Kennedy center for the performing arts, is a statewide nonprofit organization dedicated to providing, promoting and creating quality art opportunities and avenues for people with disabilities in the areas of visual and media art, music, dance, theater, storytelling, and creative writing. The arts play an essential role in enriching lives and enhancing the learning skills, creativity, responsiveness, and social itneraction of persons with disabilities, as well as provide for the exchange of information and ideas.”

“Posting service that lists current information pertinent to minnesota artists with disabilities, including employment opportunities, calls for art, accessible performance listings, and announcemnets of happenings by and for artists with disabilities. Finally, this program also includes the emerging artists grant program which supports minnesota artists with disabilities in creating new work. Seven 1,500 grants were awarded this year to writers, performing and visual artists.”

“This year to serve organizations in the lakes region, an area including the nine counties of becker, clay, douglas, grant, otter tail, pope, stevens, traverse and wilkin but there were no applicants for the available funds. This program/service area also continues to include access to performing arts which is a long-standing program that provides technical assistance to arts organizations in the areas of american sign language interpretation, audio description and captioning for individuals who are deaf or blind who attend arts performances offering these accommodations. Technical assistance includes marketing to deaf/hard of hearing and blind/low vision communities and building performance organizations capabilities to meet the needs of audience members from these communities. Vsa minnesota has a captioning display unit that it offers out to organizations wishing to provide open captioning for their live arts performances. The organizations accessible arts calendar promotes all performances in the state featuring asl interpretation, audio description and captioning. This calendar is found on the organizations website at www.vsamn.org/calendar.”

“Public awareness and outreach: other awareness work includes ongoing visual art exhibits showing work by minnesota artists with disabilities. Work was shown during the year at vision loss resources in minneapolis and at two exhibits at mra/trusight in plymouth (october-december, 2013 and september, 2014). Vsa minnesota's web site (www.vsamn.org) is accessible to people with a range of abilities (including people who are blind or have low vision) and includes current and pertinent information about the organization and its programs. Additional information about the organization can be found on the vsa minnesota facebook page. The largest program offered by vsa minnesota this year was the minnesota disability mural project. The project resulted in the creation of 1,022 pieces of art and culminated in two 10-day exhibits in october, 2013. The exhibits were at the gallery saint germain in st. Cloud which featured 368 pieces and the one at city center in downtown minneapolis featured 654.”