On Tuesday, Johanna, Janet's brother John and her cousins Dede and Nancy were all privileged
to see her be honored for her contributions by the Cultural Access Network of New Jersey, a joint
venture of the New Jersey Theatre Alliance and the State Council on the Arts.  She was given the
very first Leadership Award (which included a very sizable check!).  She had been nominated by
the manager of McCarter Theater.  Her is the full text of the citation:

Leadership Award
Janet Zoubek Dickson

For nearly thirty years, Janet Dickson has put her passion to action.  She earned her masters of
Arts management from the University of Maryland in 1994, where she wrote a dissertation on
regional theaters across the country, examining access programs for the visually impaired in
compliance with the Americans With Disabilities Act, which had just been enacted.

Ms. Dickson has the distinction of being a founding member of the National Audio Description
Coalition.  Founded in 1981, the coalition broke many barrier5s, and Ms. Dickson was in the
forefront of them.  Working side-by-side with Metroplitan Washington Ear's founder/president
Dr. Margaret Pfansteil, she helped introduce the Audio Described performance at Arena Stage,
and from 1987 to 1989, Ms. Dickson worked as the narrator and scriptwriter for the Audio
Descriptive Video Service pilot program for Public Television's highly praised series, Amer ican
Playhouse.

Over the years, Ms. Dickson's expertise in Audio Description has benefitted many of New
Jersey's professional theaters.  In addition, she also provides training to new audio describers and
refresher courses for experienced descriptors throughout New Jersey.

With her background and skill in Audio Description, Ms. Dickson has launched other access
programs as well.  As the Access Coordinator for McCarter Theater – a volunteer position – for
t6he last four seasons, Ms. Dickson has provided valuable insight to McCarter's staff on
providing access to the community who regularly attends the theater series productions.  She has
conducted sensitivity training to McCarter's full-time staff and volunteers; she assists McCarter
with its annual review of their ADA plan access handbook; and she provides outreach and
guidance in finding ways tp reach communities and individuals who have not heard of McCater's
access programs.

Always looking for ways to expand her knowledge and stay up-to-date, Ms. Dickson participates
in the annual LEAD (Leadership Education In Arts And Disability) conference, which is
sponsored by the Kennedy Center.  This past summer, Ms. Dickson co-presented a workshop on
audio description, and she has been instrumental in championing Open Captioning at McCarter,
and for the first time in its history, the theater will be providing Open Captioning for all of its
drama productions during the 2009-2010 season.

Janet's passion, skill, determination and most importantly, her dedication to learning new
methods and practices to ensure that the New Jersey arts community continues to provide access
to all, is unparalleled and makes her truly a leader in the field.<