The Lexington Observer speaks with Heidi O’Mara, Executive Director of Special Needs Arts Programs, Inc. (SNAP)
LexObserver: What does SNAP do?
O’Mara: Founded in 1981, Special Needs Arts Programs, Inc., (SNAP) creates opportunities for those who identify as being neurodivergent to express their artistic talents and abilities, cultivate friendships and enhance community awareness.
SNAP provides people opportunities that celebrate each person’s unique abilities while cultivating creative expression, building peer relationships, and fostering self-esteem through life-enhancing activities in music and the arts. SNAP envisions a world where everyone is seen and valued.
SNAP offers fine arts, crafts, and ceramics classes for kids, teens, and adults. We also have two chorus groups: one for ages 13-22 called Vibrant Voices, and one for adults called Sing Along Chorus. Our participants perform in our own concerts as well as community performances and display their art at public exhibits we install at local businesses and community spaces. For example, SNAP partnered recently with the Lexington Historical Society and offered a field trip for our artists to Buckman Tavern. The SNAP artists will now work on a project inspired by Buckman Tavern which we will exhibit in the spring.
Our organization has grown over the years, and we continue to add new programming to respond to the demand for creative opportunities in the arts and music.
LO: What is your role at SNAP?
O’Mara: I am the Executive Director. I am responsible for the development of programs, management of staff, and sourcing funding for the organization.
SNAP writes a lot of grants. Only about 30% of our budget is covered by program fees, we must raise the other 70% each year, and a main way we raise money is through grants. So, if people are aware of a grant opportunity or have a foundation that SNAP would be a candidate for, we would love to know about that!
LO: What makes SNAP so special, especially for Lexingtonians?
O’Mara: Limited recreational opportunities in music and the arts are available for people who are neurodivergent. SNAP is the only provider of this type of recreational programming in Lexington and the surrounding towns in Middlesex, Essex and Suffolk counties. Beyond that, SNAP serves a broad range of people with disabilities, encompassing children, young people in their early teens to seniors in their seventies.
Our programs offer opportunities for personal expression, a sense of purpose, self-empowerment, and integration with the typically-abled community. Our focus is not narrowly applied to only those with a specific diagnosis. If a person has any kind of developmental or intellectual disability, either from birth or as the result of a traumatic brain injury later in life, they are welcome at SNAP.
Speaking specifically to the need for this type of programming, people who are neurodivergent often experience a lack of community support systems and peer groups, which leads to the isolation of this population. SNAP programs constitute a supportive and nurturing community where people come together to not only create, but to grow personally through trying new things, making friends and expanding social connections.
Everyone needs friends. For people who are neurodivergent, maintaining friendships and social connections is significantly more difficult. More than just providing another leisure time activity, SNAP programs help to build long-term friendships among their participants and connections to the greater community. The acceptance and camaraderie our participants experience each week provide a measure of stability, comfort and belonging that they don’t often find elsewhere.
The impact that our music and art programs have on participants is important and far-reaching. Creating art in our programs gives people an opportunity to express their thoughts, feelings, and perspective on the world. Our programs allow people to be identified as an artist or singer, not be defined as their disability. Attending weekly rehearsals and concerts, creating art, having artwork exhibit and sold and collaborating with other musicians and artists attributes to our participant’s personal growth, connecting them to people in their community. In post-session surveys, participants, parents and caregivers report that our programs impact their willingness to try new things, make friends, and increase their levels of confidence and independence.
I’ll share a story that captures SNAP’s impact: A young man started attending our Saturday morning Special Artists visual art program at the Lexington Community Center. His older sister had graduated from college and moved to California. Every Sunday night, the family would do a video call with her. The son was apprehensive about communicating over Zoom and would not talk, interact much, or even want to be in the room when the family was talking. Weeks and months went by and the sister and parents were concerned. They wanted the siblings’ close connection to continue even though they were living far away. The son started attending Special Artists, our Saturday morning art class at the Lexington Community Center. Now, he had something to show his sister and talk about! On their Sunday evening Zoom call, the son would now proudly show his sister the art he had made. They discussed what subjects inspired him, his favorite colors, and different art mediums he was trying out.
Art was the connection they needed to start a conversation. His participation in the SNAP art classes totally transformed his weekly Zoom call with his sister. The parents were so happy about this and let me know how SNAP was impacting their family far beyond his weekly hour in art class. Our program brought him closer to his sister and gave him a sense of pride in his talent and accomplishments.
LO: Is there anything you need from Lexingtonians that can help the organization?
O’Mara: SNAP is always looking for volunteers to provide support in our music and art programs. Volunteers are essential to SNAP. High school students, college students, and community members assist as needed and support the SNAP participants in achieving their artistic or musical vision.
Volunteers form a bond with the participants that extends to the wider community where connections occur that would not be possible without the shared experience of SNAP. For some, it has even influenced career choices with some volunteers going on to careers in teaching or human services.
We are also looking for people to serve on our Board (SNAP is run by a professional staff and Board of Directors) and would like to partner on projects with other community groups.
LO: Are there any specific goals for SNAP that you would like to share?
O’Mara: One of our goals for the immediate future is to grow our programs for teens. Our new choral group, Vibrant Voices, for people aged 13-22 will run a spring session starting March 3rd.
Looking to the future, we would like to develop a drop-in art space in Lexington to offer flexible, creative opportunities for individuals who are neurodivergent.
To learn about SNAP’s programs, events, and volunteer opportunities, visit snaparts.org