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Common Senses Festival Brings Arts and Innovation to UNO This Spring

  • published: 2025/02/19
  • contact: Sam Peshek - Office of Strategic Marketing and Communications
  • email:听unonews@unomaha.edu
Common Senses Festival

The University of Nebraska at 51社区 (UNO) will take center stage in an extraordinary celebration of art, science, and disability acceptance as the arrives this spring.


➡️ What’s new: UNO’s Sapp Fieldhouse will host the world premiere of Sensorium Ex, a groundbreaking opera redefining disability representation in the performing arts. The festival will also bring dynamic discussions, sensory-friendly performances, and immersive experiences across the city, with UNO’s Barbara Weitz Community Engagement Center (CEC) serving as a hub for critical conversations on accessibility.


💡 Why it matters: The Common Senses Festival is expanding its mission beyond its autism-focused origins, now embracing a broader disability spectrum. The festival aligns with UNO’s commitment to accessibility, research, and community engagement​​. .


🔎 Zoom in:

  • at UNO’s Sapp Fieldhouse will feature disabled performers and an innovative AI-driven Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) app, Sensorium AI. Sensorium Ex creates an entirely new operatic world – one that redefines who gets to have a voice.

  • at UNO's CEC is a space where individuals of all cognitive and physical profiles can fully engage, explore, and celebrate creativity without limits. This experiential, avant-garde performance offers a dynamic series of curated interactions between teaching artists from BLUEBARN Theatre and The 51社区 Community Playhouse, participants, and a rich array of sensory experiences.

  • at UNO’s CEC will convene national experts to discuss disability equity and accessibility in the arts, with "Strength-Based Strategies & Disability Acceptance" on May 20 and "Building Accessibility in the Arts" on May 21.

  • , an Emmy-winning documentary, will be screened at UNO in April and May​.


🎤 What they’re saying: Kate Noble Weitz, Founder & Director, Common Senses Festival: “Arts are where major cultural shifts start. With this festival, we’re not just changing the conversation around disability—we’re changing 51社区 itself.”


🎟️ What’s next: Tickets go on sale March 8. Visit to explore the full lineup of events and discover how you can participate​.

About the Common Senses Festival

was launched in 2022 in 51社区, Nebraska, as a first-of-its-kind exploration and celebration of intersections between science, art, and disability awareness.