NEA Discipline Directors

Paula Terry
Director, NEA Office for AccessAbility

Since 1979, Paula Terry has directed the AccessAbility Office at the National Endowment for the Arts, an advocacy and technical assistance office that encourages and assists arts programming involving older adults, individuals with disabilities and people who reside in institutions.  Her office provides guidance and technical assistance to the Endowment's staff, panels and grantees concerning a wide variety of access issues.  This work includes how-to publications, and access presentations, seminars, and regional institutes.  Terry has established leadership initiatives in Creativity and Aging, Universal Design, Careers in the Arts for Individuals with Disabilities, Arts in Healthcare and Arts in Corrections. Her office produces a variety of reports and technical assistance materials. 

Terry's office developed a broad partnership with the public and private sectors to support the "Creativity and Aging Study" with George Washington University.  Completed in 2006, this multiyear study was the first-ever effort to measure and quantify the impact of professional arts programming on the quality of life for older adults.  She also worked with AARP and other partners to convene a Mini-conference on Creativity and Aging in America to develop recommendations for the 2005 White House Conference on Aging.

Other projects include work with the Graphics Artist Guild to develop the first collection of 12 disability symbols to encourage and assist groups in advertising access accommodations.  Interagency initiatives include an ongoing agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice on an artists-in-residence program in Federal correctional facilities and a partnership with the National Arts and Disability Center at UCLA and Social Security Administration to convene statewide forums on Careers in the Arts for Individuals with Disabilities. 

The Arts Endowment has received many awards in recognition of this work, including honors from Generations United for intergenerational programming in the arts, the Ella T. Grasso Award for the NEA's role in the first professional arts program in a U.S. hospice, the 1998 Universal Design Award, and a 2002 award from the National Business & Disability Council. In 2006, the Arts Endowment was recognized for excellence in accessibility leadership by the Christopher Reeve Foundation and the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

Terry received a B.S. degree and did graduate work in the fine arts at Louisiana State University and Garrett University, Evanston, Illinois.

National Endowment for the Arts · an independent federal agency
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