Arts Accessibility
ACCESSIBILITY INITIATIVE
The spring semester of my sophomore year I proposed a Second Stage Laboratory research proposal to the Loyola Theatre Department. This proposal was accepted by Loyola and I was granted departmental support to conduct research about arts accessibility, attend the Kennedy Center LEAD Conference, and implement open captioning at Loyola's mainstage theatre performances.
Check out my full proposal!
KENNEDY CENTER LEAD CONFERENCE
My mentor Jennie Martin and I attended the 2019 Kennedy Center Leadership Exchange in Arts and Disability Conference in Denver, Colorado. This was a five day trip where we attended workshops in areas such as sensory friendly performance, universal design, audio description, touch tours, DIY open captioning, and other arts accessibility educational and networking events.
IMPLEMENTING OPEN CAPTIONING
After attending the Kennedy Center LEAD Conference, my mentor Jennie Martin and I implemented open captioning for two mainstage productions at Loyola, prior to COVID-19 shutdowns. The open captioning consisted of a PowerPoint presentation being projected onto the captioning board and was operated by a designated captions operator. We offered open captioning for all eight performances of both OUR TOWN and FUN HOME, with a designated seating bank for open captioning.
Read more about the open captioning at Loyola here: https://www.luc.edu/dfpa/homenews/ourtownaccessibility.shtml
LOYOLA UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH SYMPOSIUM PRESENTATION
As the culmination of my Accessibility Initiative, I presented my research at Loyola's 2020 Undergraduate Research Symposium, including the results of audience surveys. See the full presentation below!
OTHER CAPTIONS
As Accessibility Coordinator for About Face Theatre's productions of MOSQUE4MOSQUE and GENDER PLAY, OR WHAT YOU WILL, I created low budget captions for select performances.
Open Captioning set up for GENDER PLAY
Open Captioning set up for GENDER PLAY
Open Captioning set up for GENDER PLAY
Open Captioning set up for GENDER PLAY