In a study by the Institute of Puerto Rican Culture and the National Endowment for the Arts, it was clearly established that there was little or no access to Puerto Rican artists with special needs to participate in the cultural scene as artists, performers, audience or producers. It was established as well that most, although scarce, participation was among visual arts artists, who due to the individualistic nature of their work managed to have some presence. However, this did not translate into having access to the art market or the possibility to participate in exhibitions. In other areas of the arts such as theater, music, singing, dance, circus and film, their presence is almost nonexistent, even when these artists are professionally trained.
We have been touring around the island offering workshops on accessibility. We have seen that there is total ignorance and apathy on this subject. The Ombudsman Office for People with Disabilitie's director experienced through us the first fully accessible artistic musical performance at its annual assembly in 2009 in Guayama. In 2011, we had a concert at the Centro de Bellas Artes Luis A. Ferré, ATREVETE (DARE), where professional artists with and without special needs shared the most important stage in Puerto Rico. Through this concert, now a DVD on sale, we have confirmed the existence of artists with professional training in the arts with many years of experience, but with no chance of being recruited by producers or the possibility of self-production. This project addresses the need to open professional spaces and raise awareness about this subject and develop management and production skills among the different groups to achieve a pluralistic artistic community, and eventually a more integrated society.