Accessible Arts, Inc. (AAI) and the Kansas State Board of Education (KSBE) collaborate each year to recognize the valuable work of people who include Kansas children with disabilities in art experiences. To honor these individuals, AAI and KSBE established two awards in 1983, one for Distinguished Service in Arts and Disabilities and one for the Kansas Educator of the Year in Arts and Disabilities. On March 10th, in a ceremony at the Kansas State School for the Blind, the following individuals were honored for demonstrating excellence (in the arts) in service to children with and without disabilities.

The 2003 Distinguished Service Award was presented to Mike Toombs. Toombs has demonstrated dedication, leadership, and commitment to the highest quality arts programming for children of all abilities, races and socioeconomic levels and, through his innovative work, has given children the joy of creative expression. An accomplished painter and art activist, he is founder and CEO of Storytellers Inc. an artist collective.

Believing that “Art is a change agent for society’s difficulties,” Toombs has enveloped artists under the umbrella of Storytellers, Inc., to further their careers, explore together how best to effectively challenge the young people they work with, and offer themselves as role models for artists of the future. Storytellers, Inc. has served more than 14,000 young people in arts programming and has received numerous awards for its “interactive community-based art.”

For the last seven years, Toombs has been providing arts education workshops including KIDZONE, TREC Alternative School (KS USD 500), Work Projects with Juvenile Correction facilities, Jobs Programs with the Kansas City, Kansas Housing Authority, and Summer Science Academy with University of Kansas Medical Center. He has been a long-time friend and collaborator with Accessible Arts and other statewide organizations.

Most recently he has been AAI’s partner in presenting The Art of Learning Professional Development Workshops for Kansas educators and artists. He developed and implemented a component for working with at-risk youth that have emotional and behavioral disabilities. He has also developed curriculum for youth on Arts Education and Arts Entrepreneurship for Wichita State University.

Della Molloy was selected as the 2003 Educator of the Year. Molloy has demonstrated dedication and commitment to the highest quality arts programming for children at the Kansas State School for the Blind, allowing them to express their imaginations, gain confidence and experience success. In challenging her students to express their musical abilities to the fullest, Molloy has shown enthusiastic joy in the process and appreciation for the gifts of each student.

She received her BME and MME in Music Therapy at the University of Kansas, and is currently working with the KU Music Therapy Department to better understand the relationship between musical tempo and gait, and methods to adjust gait and speed for multiply disabled blind children. During her eight years of working as music therapist at the Kansas State School for the Blind, Molloy has used music as a therapeutic tool to address and support nonmusical and IEP-related goals for her students.

Superintendent Bill Daugherty said “[We are] highly focused on promoting learning through structured experiences—learning that is often incidental to non-disabled peers who easily observe the world around them and gain the concepts needed to function independently in that world.

Daniel Meija & Justin Harris present Della Molloy with the award they created for her.

Ms. Molloy uses music to teach these concepts and involve students at the core of the creative process.” Her work spans preschool, elementary and secondary music classes, private voice and instrumental instruction, and classes for students with vision loss and additional disabilities. She organizes a yearly music program and her “process before product” approach allows everyone, regardless of skill or talent, a valued place on the stage.

Molloy’s greatest motivation is the fact that making music is and should be a fun and rewarding experience for all students, in which each can feel like a star in the group. Principal Madeleine Burkendine says, “She draws amazing performances out of her students in such creative and unusual ways—she leaves staff and parents in tearful awe. …She inspires us all!”