Maria Porto

A light blue gradient background with navy blue text has “The D-30 Disability Impact List” at the top centered above “2025 Honoree” which is in between two laurels. Below, text “Maria Porto (she/her), USA” are to the left of a picture of them, which fills the right. At the bottom left corner is text “Diversability, #D30DisList”.

Maria Porto

She/her/hers

CEO and Founder, ACCESS Broadway NY

USA

Maria Porto is an accessibility consultant, creative strategist, and founder of ACCESS Broadway NY, a disability-led organization transforming live performance through inclusion. A disabled advocate herself, Maria designed Act 1 Access, a real-time software platform that delivers captioning, audio description, and translation—praised by Forbes as a tech breakthrough that merges equity and artistry. Her platform has been used in regional, touring, Off-Broadway, and Broadway productions. She has led access work for the UNICEF Gala, Heartstrings National Tour, and 2024 Accessibility Workshop Series with Maestra Music and CO/LAB Theater Group. Maria’s efforts are redefining what equitable performance spaces can be, and her work is featured in the Women & Theatre RISE Series podcast.