International VSA Festival highlights

"What is disability?"

Last fall, VSA, the international organization on arts and disability once known as Very Special Arts, invited artists around the world to answer that question. 

Sunday at 7:30 p.m., Kennedy Center Concert Hall. The festival's opening program features actress Marlee Matlin, singer Patti LaBelle and the China Disabled People's Performing Art Troupe.

More than 1,200 responses came in from more than 50 countries and in all creative forms: painting, drawing, collage, fabric art, poetry, musical composition. The responses will be on display next week in the Kennedy Center Hall of States as part of the week-long International VSA Festival, programming that explores the nature and creativity of what it means to be disabled -- and even whether "disabled" is the appropriate term.
"The diversity within disability is amazing," says VSA President Soula Antoniou. "Internationally there are 650 million people with disabilities around the world. . . . When you try to contextualize it in terms of physical disabilities, cognitive disabilities, mental-health issues, you really gain a sense of the enormity and complexity of disability."
VSA aims to erase labels -- disabled, special, challenged, handicapped -- to focus on talent, artistry and inclusiveness. And the festival's more than 50 performances and exhibits, Antoniou says, offer something for everyone. Highlights include:
Monday at 6 p.m., Kennedy Center Millennium Stage. The members of Australia's Rudely Interrupted indie-rock band have a range of physical and intellectual disabilities.
Wednesday at 8:30 p.m., DC Improv. Josh Blue has cerebral palsy, but that doesn't mean he can't laugh about it. The "Last Comic Standing" winner is joined by Brett Leake and Kathy Buckley. Age 18 and older.
Thursday at 10:15 and 11:30 a.m., Smithsonian Discovery Theater. Uganda Deaf Silent Theatre's "The Magic Seeds," a folk tale that is perfect for families.
Sunday through June 20, Kennedy Center. Artist Dale Chihuly will fill the center's front reflecting pool with spears of glass, while other artwork takes over the halls and walls.
For a complete schedule, visit http://www.vsarts.org.