Sunday, June 5, 2011

LUMINATO INTRODUCES AUDIO DESCRIPTION PILOT PROGRAM IN PARTNERSHIP WITH PICASSO PRO/CREATIVE TRUST AND THEATRE LOCAL

Gentle readers;
I am posting the following information here.  However, I am not responsible for the accessibility issues with Luminato's website, which at a glance would appear to be substantial.  If you have trouble accessing information on the www.luminato.com website, including content and ticketing info, please make them aware of it.  Here is their contact info since the contact form on the site isn't labeled and you won't be able to use it. 

 
Luminato
111 Queen Street East, Suite 450
Toronto, ON
M5C 1S2

T: 416-368-3100
F: 416-368-4010
 
Arts organizations need to make their online content accessible as well as their events.  We are pioneering this area in Canada, so please attend.  Constructive feedback is essential in order to develop and improve upon technique, as well as make organizations aware of what needs to be done to achieve inclusion.

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The Luminato Festival is proud to announce the preparation of an audio description for “Sargasso,” a large scale suspended sculpture on display at the Allen Lambert Galleria in Brookfield Place from June 8 to 18, 2011. The audio file will be available at for download  beginning June 8th. Users will be able to download the audio description as an mp3 file in advance or onsite with a smart phone device. This marks the first time that Luminato offers a descriptive service specifically targeted to the visually impaired community.

In his Luminato-commissioned installation, Philip Beesley’s “Sargasso” combines visionary design with high-tech digital engineering to transform a downtown public space – and to offer a glimpse of the potential future of architectural art. A worldwide pioneer in the fast-growing field of responsive architecture, Beesley and his team of collaborators from the disciplines of architecture, engineering, biology, and sculpture use interactive technology to infuse one of Toronto’s busiest spaces with astonishing new life.


From June 8-18, Beesley’s “Sargasso” transforms a familiar downtown locale: the sweeping atrium of the Allen Lambert Galleria in Brookfield Place. “Sargasso” is a vast canopy consisting of tens of thousands of lightweight, digitally-fabricated components which form an interconnected network of metal, acrylic, and mylar elements. Sargasso slowly shifts and floats above the pedestrian traffic, while shaping the nature of the environment itself.


Previous projects undertaken by this multidisciplinary group have been featured internationally, including in the Canadian Pavilion at the 2010 Venice Biennale in Architecture, and have won many awards, notably VIDA 11.0, FEIDAD, the Prix de Rome in Architecture, and the People’s Choice award at Toronto’s 2010 Nuit Blanche
Audio Describer Rebecca Singh trained with Picasso Pro/Creative Trust and was last heard describing “More Fine Girls” at the Tarragon Theatre.  Rebecca has also been a Fellow of the Luminato Festival* since September 2010.

The audio description pilot program is produced in association with Picasso Pro/Creative Trust and Theatre Local. This small project is serving as a pilot, with the hopes that audio description can be integrated throughout the visual arts program in years coming.

*This position is generously funded by the Canada Arts Training Fund, at the Department of Canadian Heritage, in partnership with Obsidian Theatre Company.

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