Open Call: Want to be an Audio Describer for Art?

Just got an interesting announcement through the grapevine seeking audio describers for live theatre, music and dance. According to the audition call,

Audio Description (AD) has been around in the US since the early 1980’s. It is not sign interpreting. It is not a play-by-play analysis of an event. It is an art of creating a visual picture through words. It enables a blind patron the opportunity to see the show with everyone else and gives them the ability to come to their own conclusions about what is happening on stage along with everyone else.

Basically, it looks like two community groups, Creative Trust and Picasso Pro, have gotten funding from Sun Life Financial to "initiate a communications access program for Blind, Deaf, Low-Vision and Hard of Hearing audiences wishing to attend the performing arts on an ongoing basis."

Sounds like a nice cause... If you're interested in training to be an audio describer, deadline is January 25 to apply. See the full info after the jump.

Image of Moataz Nasr's 2001 Cairo Biennale piece An Ear of Mud, Another of Dough from Nasr's website


Picasso PRO in collaboration with Creative Trust
Audition Call for Trainees!

Would You Like to Become a Professional Audio Describer
for Live Theatre, Music and Dance?

What is Audio Description?
Audio Description (AD) has been around in the US since the early 1980’s. It is not sign interpreting. It is not a play-by-play analysis of an event. It is an art of creating a visual picture through words. It enables a blind patron the opportunity to see the show with everyone else and gives them the ability to come to their own conclusions about what is happening on stage along with everyone else. The Describer’s goal is to be unobtrusive and use vivid words to give the most direct description of the action of the performance, transmitted through a wireless headset worn by the listener. It is similar to a description of a person or place that you might read in a book in which you get a picture or image in your mind of how the object or scene looks. For live theatre and movies this description is fit into a quick time period between the lines of a play or film. It can also be used to describe concerts, dance performances any other live event or in conjunction with ‘touch tours’ of an art or history museum, zoo or aquarium.

Audition and Training Schedule
An Auditions Committee will select six to eight individuals to take Toronto’s inaugural training with audio describer and trainer Deborah Lewis, based on Auditions to be held between February 10 and 28, 2010. The three-day training will take place in late March 2010. Confirmed dates for Auditions and the Training will be announced by the end of January. Auditioners and Trainees will receive all pertinent materials and details prior to their scheduled sessions.

The Commitment
If selected for training you are expected to:

Complete the 3 day training with 100% attendance
Complete several hours of volunteer practicum with Picasso PRO
Participate in the pilot phase of the program as a paid describer by describing 1-3 professional productions by Creative Trust participating companies
Continue to meet with our AD Describers Circle for counsel, professional development and to help us evaluate and continue the program in Toronto
Offer your AD services professionally in an ongoing capacity

The Sun Life Financial Arts Access Program
Creating communications access to theatre, dance and other performance arts for Blind, Low Vision, Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing audiences

Who Are We?
Picasso PRO is a long-term project formed to facilitate genuine opportunity and inclusion for Deaf and disabled artists and audiences in the performing & media arts. Creative Trust provides financial and planning support to Toronto’s theatre, music and dance companies so they can flourish and better serve their art, audiences and community for years to come. Access is a key point of our collaboration. The Sun Life Arts Access Program is linked to Creative Trust’s larger two-year Engaging Audiences Initiative.

Who Are You?
An individual interested in and committed to learning a new professional skill and providing Audio Description services, under the auspices of Picasso PRO/Creative Trust’s 2-year Arts Access Program, made possible through the generous support of Sun Life Financial. Audio description is a professional skill and paid service in many cultural centres worldwide but is new to Toronto’s live performing arts.

Audio describers come from all quarters! You may be:
A writer, translator, wordsmith, literate language lover
An improviser, actor or other trained performer
Someone who knows, lives with and/or works with Blind/low vision individuals
A visual artist or individual with well-honed descriptive skills
A radio narrator, voice-over specialist, volunteer/professional reader for audio recorded materials
An avid theatre go-er, arts advocate, cultural worker, disability activist
An enquiring mind who wants to learn and acquire a new or second vocation

What We Need From You

1. Maximum three-page submission with basic information

Name and address with postal code
Phone number(s): home, work and/or cell
E-mail address:
Your occupation:
Your hobbies/interests/additional skills

2. Brief answers to the following questions

Why are you interested in Audio Description?
What types of events are you interested in describing?
Do you have any description experience?
Are you available to attend the Audio Description training on an afternoon, evening and weekend? Please indicate all that apply
Additional comments

3. Please send your submission as an attachment and include a brief bio note or resume

Submissions should be e-mailed to Rose Jacobson by January 25, 2010:

E-mail: jacobsonr@sympatico.ca Tel: 416-536-7522

Websites: www.picassopro.org www.creativetrust.ca

Picasso PRO/CT is generously funded through the Ontario Trillium Foundation’s Province-wide Program