FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 3, 2026 
Jason Lam, Press@leonardo.info

Leonardo CripTech Incubator receives Ability Central Grant for its groundbreaking career, leadership, and access work in art and technology

Oakland, California - 3 February 2026 - The International Society for the Arts, Sciences and Technology (Leonardo/ISAST) is excited to announce that its CripTech Incubator is the recipient of the Ability Central Grant in the Communication focus area.   

"We are thrilled to receive the Ability Central Grant, enabling Leonardo’s efforts to champion access as creative practice and break down barriers across creative sectors. Thanks to this support, Leonardo will continue collaborative labs and experiments that “crip” technology led by disabled artists, fostering leadership opportunities and driving innovation that benefits all." said Diana Ayton-Shenker, CEO, Leonardo/ISAST.

Launched in 2021, Leonardo's CripTech Incubator promotes diversity across the arts and technology by providing an innovation platform for artists with disabilities to remake creative technologies through an accessibility lens. Leveraging labs, fellowships, residencies, workshops, and exhibitions, CripTech Incubator reimagines how a body-mind can move, look, and communicate by employing a broad understanding of technologies, including prosthetic tools, neural networks, software, and the built environment.

“CripTech Incubator amplifies the experience, expertise, creativity, and leadership of disabled artists. Taking non-compliant approaches to technology, these creators expand the field of possibilities in art, technology and community. We are eager to continue this crucial work at a time of seismic social and technological shift.” says Leonardo Director of Programs, Vanessa Chang. 

With the support of the Ability Central Grant, CripTech Incubator will continue to foster disability innovation in emerging technologies, launching with a public event series and community design charrettes. CripTech Incubator will engage a cohort of emerging disabled creatives to cultivate their practice using artificial intelligence as a creative tool. What new paradigms might emerge when disabled creatives contribute to the development and applications of these emerging technologies? 
   
“Ability Central is proud to support Leonardo/ISAST’s CripTech Incubator because it puts disabled creators at the center of innovation. The Incubator is building a global platform for disabled artists, designers, and technologists to shape the future of creative technology, and we’re especially excited about its focus on AI and haptics as tools that can expand access and create more meaningful digital experiences.” says Griffen Stapp, Executive Director, Ability Central

For more information about the CripTech Incubator and Leonardo’s access work, please visit leonardo.info/criptech or contact press@leonardo.info

For more information about Ability Central, please visit https://philanthropy.abilitycentral.org/ 

About Leonardo 
Fearlessly pioneering since 1968, Leonardo serves as THE community forging a transdisciplinary network to convene, research, collaborate, and disseminate best practices at the nexus of arts, science and technology worldwide. Leonardo serves a network of transdisciplinary scholars, artists, scientists, technologists and thinkers, who experiment with cutting-edge, new approaches, practices, systems and solutions to tackle the most complex challenges facing humanity today.

As a not-for-profit 501(c)3 enterprising think tank, Leonardo offers a global platform for creative exploration and collaboration reaching tens of thousands of people across 135 countries. Our flagship publication, Leonardo, the world’s leading scholarly journal on transdisciplinary art, anchors a robust publishing partnership with MIT Press; our partnership with ASU infuses educational innovation with digital art and media for lifelong learning; our creative programs span thought-provoking events, exhibits, residencies and fellowships, scholarship and social enterprise ventures.