• Video shows various quick clips of the 2022 Common Senses Festival. Lots of children and adults enjoy art, science, and more.

    Text says: Common Senses Festival launched in 2022. 31 days. 37 unique events. 9 powerful art and science installations. 5,500 people from 26 states. One common goal.

    Celebrate our similarities and uniqueness. An arts festival with a purpose. We unite community by intersecting art, science and disability. By evoking empathy, we find we’re more alike than not. In May 2025 we are back! Kate Noble Weitz, Founder & Festival Director (clip of her talking). Bigger and bolder. More artists, installations, speakers.. And you! We are all similar. We are all unique. See you in May 2025! Common Senses Festival + logo graphics. Follow us @csensesfest, www.commonsensesfestival.com, and the partners and logos across the bottom of the screen.

Common Senses Festival 2022

Thank you for making Common Senses Festival a massive success!

 

Common Senses Festival positively impacted inclusion efforts for the Omaha autism community.

This includes:

  • Over 5,000 attended festival events

  • 122 families experienced “Up and Away” performance

  • 29 organizations represented at the “Don’t Just Dim the Lights”: An Arts & Inclusion Symposium

  • 138 voices heard during Timbre Talks: Lifting the Unique Voices of the Autism Community

 

Explore what happened at Common Senses 2022

 

 
Two people sitting on opposite sides of each other, on illuminated (blue and yellow) translucent cubes that act as chairs.

Installations

that engage all the senses through visual art and technology

A group of four people in colorful costumes posting in front of a backdrop with clouds and a hot air balloon.The backdrop says “Up & Away”

Performances

for and from neurodiverse communities

A woman with short pink hair, wearing a pink blouse and a neutral plaid suit. She is smiling and speaking into the microphone she is holding.

Lectures

on emerging research and inclusive practices

What People Are Saying

 

“What an incredible event. Our son on the spectrum has been to the installations and has been engrossed in all of them.”

— Festival Attendee
regarding the interactive installations hosted at KANEKO

“Today proved that balloon flights are for everyone- the ages of our balloonists ranged from 2 to 57!”

— Matthew Gutschick, Artistic Director at The Rose
regarding the ”Up and Away” Performances

A young boy and a man are in the middle of dancing, their arms stretched forward as if they are grabbing each other's hands. In the back is a small group of people.
Two women and a man smiling as they look at an installation that has a large circular opening in the middle.
Five men sit on stage in a panel, looking at each other. They are sitting in front of a tree sculpture. In front of them is an audience.
A young girl crawling through a colorful, spiral play structure. It is light green, red, and various shades of blue.
A young girl sitting in a blue illuminated cube acting as a chair.
A group of people on stage act out a demonstration of sorts. There are children watching in the audience.

 Meet our 2022 Creators