‘Radical Inclusion’: Calvit Wraps Long Career at Interact

Interact Center for the Performing and Visual Arts’ fall gala last month included a tribute to founder Jeanne Calvit, who retired in February after a long career that included many partnerships with the Institute on Community Integration.

At the sold-out event, Calvit recognized Charlie Lakin, former director of the Institute’s Research and Training Center on Community Living; Jerry Smith, ICI’s marketing and communications director; and Greg Lais, founder of Wilderness Inquiry , each of whom played significant roles in Interact’s success over the years as a theater and visual arts center that challenges perceptions about disability. At the Saint Paul organization, funded by state and other grants and by private donors, artists and actors with and without disabilities create professional visual art and original theatrical performances.

“I’m an artist by trade, but I didn’t know how to navigate the disability funding process,” when she founded Interact in 1996, Calvit said in an interview just before the gala. “Without Charlie’s stamp of approval and without his help, I couldn’t have done it.”

Smith has worked with Calvit since before she founded Interact, creating numerous films over the years that showcase performances by actors with disabilities. He also created a video about Jeanne that was shown at the event.

“Jeanne’s dream of a world where artists with disabilities are seen, valued, and celebrated has touched countless lives and transformed the arts landscape,” said Joseph Price, Calvit’s successor as Interact’s executive director. “Through her unwavering dedication, she built Interact into a space where creativity knows no limits and every artist’s voice shines brightly. [She] worked tirelessly to ensure that art is not just a medium of expression but also a powerful tool for advocacy, empowerment, and inclusion.”

The author and actor Kevin Kling, a longtime Interact performer, said Calvit is a hero of his.

“Jeanne has broken ground in the world of performance and visual arts, and her company in Minneapolis has served as a template for new programs around the world,” Kling said. “One of my favorite memories is a time when we were touring England with Interact. We performed our play “Cloud Cuckooland” at a festival in Cheltenham. The event was a mixture of theater, dance, and music featuring performers with disabilities. Most of the companies were focused on an allegiance to a specific disability. Our company was populated by folks representing a myriad of disabilities. This was fine with the presenters, but what really upset them was the fact we also had able-bodied people in our company. Without a tinge of irony, Jeanne said, ‘Well, if they’re good enough, they can be in the company.’”

Kling recalled a sign in the Interact rehearsal space that says, “Work your quirk,” and another that says, “Radical inclusion.”

“These are the missions Jeanne has instilled,” he said. “She knows that a diva is a diva is a diva no matter the mental or physical housing. She wants that person to shine and for others to see them as they see themselves. I have been the witness and beneficiary of her process. It’s a life changer.”

Calvit is working on a book project, which she has submitted for grant funding. The project will highlight stories from her experiences. She hopes to interview and include reflections from several Interact performers and share stories of other critical company members who have now passed away.

“So many moments stand out,” she said, including performing sold-out original plays at the Guthrie Theater and a History Theater show that a local newspaper at first refused to review, apparently because they did not want to hurt the feelings of the actors if the review was negative.

That play, about the history of the institutionalization of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, featured Cliff Poetz, a longtime disability rights activist and ICI employee, playing the role of a man living in an institution who was trying to raise money to have his name put on a grave marker when he died.

She also highlighted the critical role of Eric Wheeler, a founding Interact actor in the early 1990s, in challenging perceptions about disability and in building an audience.

Calvit also talked about the importance of the visual arts side of Interact.

“In 2018, we luckily got a DHS grant, awarded for innovation, that enabled us to hire a gallery director and archivist. That really put our visual arts department on the map,” she said. By the time the 2020 pandemic hit, Interact artists’ work was selling well online.

Price said Calvit’s leadership and compassion inspired artists, staff, and audiences alike, and broke barriers.

“Jeanne’s work has left an indelible mark, not just on Interact, but on the lives of so many artists and the world of art itself.”