Leadership Exchange in Arts and Disability (LEAD) Awards 

The Leadership Exchange in Arts and Disability (LEAD®) Awards recognize outstanding arts administrators and cultural arts organizations whose leadership and work furthers the field of accessibility. The goal in granting these awards is to increase awareness and focus on the importance of accessibility in artistic venues, cultural institutions, and natural history settings.

2026 LEAD Awards

Recipients will be celebrated at the 2026 LEAD Conference in Philadelphia, PA. Nominations are reviewed and selected by a committee along with members of the Accessibility Office. 

There are three categories of awards celebrating different levels of arts and cultural accessibility work: Emerging Leader, Community Asset, and Excellence in Accessibility Leadership.

The deadline to submit nominations is March 31 at 11:59 p.m. ET.

Recipients of the 2023 LEAD Awards pose together

Emerging Leaders

The LEAD Award for Emerging Leaders acknowledges arts administrators who use what they learn at LEAD to advocate for accessibility within their own organizations and communities. These individuals successfully apply what they learn to open doors to and shape cultural arts opportunities that are inclusive of people with disabilities.

Criteria

Recipients must have attended the 2024 or 2025 LEAD Conference and implemented a new access initiative or project as a direct result of their attendance. These new initiatives may include any efforts to improve accessibility.

Community Asset

The LEAD® Community Asset Award recognizes the achievements of cultural arts administrators or organizations that continually demonstrate success with access initiatives, improving accessibility in their organization, city, state or region.

Criteria

Recipients must be an individual or team on staff at a cultural arts organization or a cultural arts organization that has demonstrated success improving or providing access for individuals with disabilities for a minimum of 5 years. The body of work will be a comprehensive accessibility initiative that recognizes the diversity within the disability community.

Excellence in Accessibility Leadership

The LEAD® Awards for Excellence in Accessibility Leadership recognize a lifetime of achievement in arts and accessibility.

Criteria

Recipients are selected for having sustained accessibility efforts over a significant period, demonstrating either an individual or an institutional commitment to the inclusion of all people with disabilities. This pertains to incorporating accessibility into organizational programs, projects, and environments. Other factors considered in selecting award winners are the breadth of impact and how the person or entity has served as a role-model or leader within the cultural arts community and in areas such as business, social service, and government.

How to Submit a Nomination

There is one nomination form for all three awards.  Answers to questions can be submitted via the form in writing, as videos, in an audio format or in combination. For written responses, bullet points and informal writing are welcome. Please note that there is a limit of 400 words for most questions. All nominations must also include two letters, videos, or recordings of support from members of the community. 

Review the questions in advance below for more detail.  Questions are required unless stated otherwise.

If you have any questions about the form or would like to receive it in an alternate format, please contact us at lead@kennedy-center.org or 202-416-8727.

What's on the Nomination Form

Below are each of the questions on the nomination form along with some tips about the information the reviewers are seeking. 

Step 1: Nominee Contact Information

This first form includes a multiple choice question, and several text fields.

First, let us know if you are nominating an individual, a team, or an organization. 

Next, provide the name, job title, organization name, email address, phone number, preferred method of communication, and how long the nominee has been engaged in arts and accessibility work.   

For teams, please provide the information for each team member.

If you are nominating an organization, please list a primary point of contact’s name and email address in the corresponding fields.

Step 2. Nominator Contact Information

This form has a multiple choice question and several text fields. 

If you are nominating another person, team or organization, please provide the name, job title, organization name, email address, phone number, and preferred method of communication for the person completing the form. 

If you are nominating yourself, please indicate so in the first question. No other information is required. 

Step 3. Nomination Form

This is the section where you describe why you believe the nominee should receive the award. There are 5 different sections.

1. Award Category

This is a multiple-choice question with three options. Select the award category that best fits the nomination:

  • Emerging Leader: Celebrates cultural arts administrators who use what they learn at LEAD to advocate for accessibility within their own organizations and communities. Must have attended LEAD in the past 2 years.
  • Community Asset: Celebrates cultural arts administrators or organizations that continually demonstrate success with access initiatives, improving accessibility in their organization, city, state or region. Must have a minimum of 5 years' experience.
  • Excellence in Accessibility Leadership: Celebrates a lifetime of achievement in arts and accessibility.

2. Describe the nominee’s accessibility work, program or initiative.

This question has multiple parts:

  • a. Program/Initiative Name (optional)
  • b. When did this work start? (Limit of 400 words)
  • c. Please provide a description of the work, program or initiative. (Limit of 400 words)
  • d. Please provide a link to the Program Website or webpage (optional)

You can type responses or provide a link to a video or audio recording. If you would prefer to upload a file, please enter "upload" in the text box and use the upload button to attach the file.

3. Please described the impact of the nominee's work on the organization and/or community.

How is your organization and/or the community better because of the work? What has changed? (Limit of 400 words)

You can type a response or provide a link to a video or audio recording. If you would prefer to upload a file, please enter "upload" in the text box and use the upload button to attach the file. 

4. How may or will this work continue?

This question has two parts:

a. Is this an ongoing program or project, or a one-time event? (multiple choice)

Please select the answer that best fits.

b. Are there plans to continue the work? What’s next? (Limit of 400 words)

You can type a response or provide a link to a video or audio recording. If you would prefer to upload a file, please enter "upload" in the text box and use the upload button to attach the file.

5. Additional Information (optional)

If there is anything else you would like to share about the nominee, please do so here.

You can type a response or provide a link to a video or audio recording. If you would prefer to upload a file, please enter "upload" in the text box and use the upload button to attach the file.

Step 4. Community Support

Upload and/or provide links to two (2) letters, videos and/or audio recordings of support from members of the community impacted by the nominee’s accessibility work.

Step 5. Supplemental Materials (optional)

Submit up to three supplemental materials, such as brochures, websites, videos or additional letters, that support the nomination.

This section is optional.

Questions

If you have any questions or would like to receive the nomination form in another format, please contact us at 202-416-8727 or lead@kennedy-center.org.