Sherlock Center awards five Access for All Abilities Mini Grants

Rhode Islanders will find it easier to create art, navigate community spaces, explore a living history farm and participate in an escape room experience thanks to accessibility improvements planned by five recipients of Paul V. Sherlock Center on Disabilities Access for All Abilities Mini Grants.

This year’s grant recipients are:

• Anyhow Studio ceramics studio in Providence will use its grant funding to make its space more accessible. This includes adding pottery wheel extensions to make their height adjustable and tools that support people with limited strength, as well as fixing uneven flooring to create a safer and more accessible space for all artists. 
• Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Providence will use grant funds toward its project to improve accessibility, which includes adding portable ramps, handrails, seating modifications, assistive listening devices, large-print materials and improved signs. The project will also provide disability inclusion training for staff and volunteers and expand livestream and hybrid participation options. 
• The Chorus of Westerly, a community arts organization offering education, rehearsals, youth camps and performances for all ages, will use its grant funding to install ADA-compliant signs with raised lettering and braille throughout its historic building. Clear signs will mark entrances, exits, restrooms, rehearsal rooms, offices and performance areas. 
• Coggeshall Farm Museum, a working 18th-century farm and living history museum in Bristol that offers hands-on agricultural and cultural experiences, will use its grant funding to install Mobi-Mats over uneven ground across the property. These mats will make it easier for people with mobility challenges to move around the site and be included in activities like visiting farm animals, watching demonstrations and joining seasonal programs. 
• The Riddle Room LLC of Warwick will use its grant funding to improve accessibility in its “Monster in the Museum” escape room, an interactive experience where people of all ages work together to solve puzzles. Funding will support improved lighting along with an accessibility review by a Rhode Island-based consultant to identify ways to make the experience more accessible for people with various physical and sensory needs. 

The Access for All Abilities Mini Grant program supports Rhode Island businesses, nonprofits, schools, libraries and municipal agencies that are committed to including people with disabilities alongside other community members. Grant recipients use funding to improve accessibility so people with disabilities can participate in social, leisure, recreational and cultural activities.

Past grant projects have included physical improvements such as ramps, beach wheelchairs and accessible entrance doors; accessible materials and communication supports such as large-print, plain-language and braille materials, American Sign Language interpretation and 3-D printed adaptive items; and training and technology including assistive listening devices, audio-assisted library books and disability awareness training.