0:00

So, thank you everyone for joining us here my name is Regan Shrumm and

0:07

This is the open access workshop organizing accessibility from the grassroots

0:13

facility facilitated by Vancouver based artists Carmen Papalia I’m so happy to see that this was at first in-person

0:24

Workshop that was gonna be in Victoria and I Was about a hundred people registered throughout Canada the US and the United Kingdom

0:33

So that’s very exciting So I just want to first acknowledge

0:39

That we have gathered digitally here On what the art gallery is on Lkewungen speaking people’s lands and the WSANEC speaking people’s lands

0:50

but because while we’re thinking through this acknowledgement in a virtual way, I just

0:57

Wanted a moment and consider the legacy of colonization embedded within these technologies

1:03

structures and ways of thinking and doing that we’re currently using We are using equipment and high-speed Internet not available many indigenous communities

1:13

Even the technologies that are central to the arts that we’re talking about here

1:19

leave can significant carbon footprints Contributing to changing climates that are disproportionately affecting indigenous peoples worldwide. I

1:30

would like you to Join me acknowledge that we all are sharing this

1:35

Responsibility and making good of this time for each other to reconsider our roles in reconciliation

1:42

decolonization and allies ship and I also thinking about

1:47

Current situations right now and what we’re talking about in relation to indigenous communities in Canada and across the world

1:56

So I am gonna be your moderator, my name is Reagan from my friends are she heard a them

2:02

I am the assistant curator at the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria. I am from Irish German Polish English and Scottish ancestry

2:10

and I have been living on the Seated and traditional territories of the laQuan speaking people’s and there was Sonic people’s for the past ten years

2:20

So while I’m moderating this if you have any trouble The other moderator is also Duncan Ferguson. Thank you so much Junction

2:28

So you can either email Duncan or you can send a private message through the zoom chat box

2:37

And Just during this first part of the webinar. I just want to make sure

2:43

That you have an understanding of zoom So, please you’re gonna be muted currently if you would like to be unneeded to respond to something

2:51

please raise your hand and either dunk and I will assist with that and

2:57

we Will then let you speak if you need to leave the webinar early

3:06

You can go on the corner on the lower right hand Corner, and that will allow you to leave you will be getting a recording of this later

3:15

So no problems if you need to leave early If you’re having any trouble with audio, please try the built in speaker output

3:25

You can also phone in with this number The one for Western Canada is one seven seven eight nine zero seven two zero seven one

3:38

with the webinar number is 866 one zero five three five eight and

3:46

Please remember if you’re using phone in please mute your computer audio just in case

3:53

And Today’s presentation is conducted of our screen share so you may want to adjust your view in zoom

4:00

If you are using the captioning right now You may want to also adjust so zoom only takes up half your screen and the captioning takes up the other half

4:10

and within the next Week or two, you will be getting a follow up email

4:15

Just a link with this recording a transcript and also feedback survey as well

4:24

Almost all done here if you are interested in other AG TV accessibility programs

4:30

Carmen will be participating in another community conversation coming up here on Monday April 27th was also Victoria based artist Parker Johnson

4:39

And that will be looking at the future isms of arts accessibility and then also on May

4:46

13th we’ll be looking at present-day arts accessibility within Victoria

4:51

Although these will be probably broader conversations now that these aren’t in person

4:58

So we can really share of what’s happening around the world So now I’m going to introduce Carmen

5:05

Carmen is a social art practice. Sorry Carmen is a social practice artist who uses organizing strategies and

5:14

improvisation to just his access to public space the art

5:20

Institution and visual culture his work which takes forms ranging from collaborative art?

5:26

collaborative performance to public intervention is in an effort to unlearn

5:32

visual primacy and resilience resist support options that promote ablest concepts of normalcy

5:41

fibulas work has been featured at the Solomon R Guggenheim Museum in New York the Tate Liverpool and liberal and Liverpool

5:50

the Grand Central Art Center and Santa Ana and galia gosh a in Vancouver among many others and now on to you Carmen

6:00

Thanks everybody and thanks for again, and and the art gallery greater Victoria as well

6:07

I’m really glad that we were able to open this up to more folks given the current restrictions

6:14

First all first off though I’d like to acknowledge that I’m on the I’m speaking to you from the unseeded and occupied territories of the

6:23

Musqueam Slayer tooth and Squamish people

6:29

It’s privileged to be able to you know, gather here and like this to talk about accessibility

6:35

I grew up here and I’m I’m only Sheltering with my family and I’m talking to you from my bedroom

6:43

Which is kind of my office now because we have under two year old that’s kind of has the run of the house right now

6:51

So, yeah, I’m We had to change the format a little bit today because again this was planned

6:59

It’s like an in-person workshop where we could do like small group work and everything but I’m gonna give an artist talk and introduce you to the work that I’ve been doing over the last like 10 years and

7:11

And then we’re gonna we’re gonna have like some volunteers read a short piece that we’re gonna discuss and then I’m going to share like an audio piece that

7:20

Kind of has clips of interviews with various folks that I’ve worked with in in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside in Chinatown

7:29

Yeah, and so I guess I’ll just get right into it I I consider myself like a so social practice artist or a socially engaged artist. I

7:40

Like to call myself a non visual artist because I I don’t use where it’s like

7:46

blind or visually impaired to Describe myself because I use like my non visual senses as a primary way of learning about my surroundings

7:54

So like I think words like blind and visually impaired still privileged

8:00

The visual experience so I kind of have distanced myself from that language

8:05

since You know kind of establishing in our practice

8:10

and yeah, I guess the first so the first image that you’re looking at right now is

8:17

a project that I did in 2009 and this is before I thought of myself as an artist at the time. I had just kind of

8:27

adopted a white cane To detect obstacles, you know, I wave it in front of me

8:35

Tapping it back and forth and and I never really used it to identify myself necessarily

8:40

But I always felt uncomfortable with the way I it identified me. So, you know when I adopted a cane I found that

8:48

you know people would read my body a certain and I would be you know immediately put into a separate category for my my friends and

8:57

In my peers and my family so I felt like it was more like a distancing that I experienced with the cane

9:05

Also, I’d run into these situations where people it would just like this invitation for people to ask me about like my life

9:13

Like my life story in five minutes, they always wanted to know like they wanted to tell me about

9:18

disabled folks in their lives as well and sometimes this, you know well-meaning sort of interactions where they would want to offer help to me offer support help me cross the street and the

9:30

You know, it just was like inviting a lot of this attention that was kind of more of an inconvenience for me

9:36

so like when as soon as I started using a white cane I started modifying it and one of my first

9:43

modifications was to strip all the white and red tape off the cane and

9:48

And my first cane was a graphite came to so underneath it was it was black

9:58

Sorry the vote When the chats going on I hear robotic voice reading out the chat to me. So yes, everybody sounds like a robot

10:08

Unfortunately through chat or Maybe that’s a good thing

10:14

anyways, so I started modifying my cane to kind of like I Felt like what what it did

10:21

Need stripping all the white and red tape off My cane was sort of like turned the volume onto the the turned the volume down on the message that the cane is constantly

10:31

Transmitting which is like this person needs help and Yeah, I wanted to disrupt that sort of

10:39

Interaction in some ways and and so in thinking through this experience about how the cane distancing from others. I

10:48

In 2009. I made this 15-foot mobility cane so I’ve gone wasps with it

10:55

It’s kind of a social distancing stick I guess you could think about it that way now

11:01

But people definitely did stay away from me when I was using this I take the entire sidewalk

11:08

Tapping it from side to side people would kind of jump out of my way and

11:13

you know is a bit of an antagonistic approach to really thinking through my own access I guess and and it was coming at a point where I was also frustrated with

11:25

Like I was I was learning how to navigate you know walking routes and I was constantly bumping into things and I was kind of

11:33

frustrated about the way that the city was designed and how it definitely

11:39

You know was was not conducive to like my ease of access

11:44

and so I was I was almost like doing doing this to like become like a moving obstacle for other people to have and

11:52

navigate Yeah, and it almost just like I

11:58

Would say like expanded the force field that was already around me when I was using the white cane

12:05

Usually people stayed away from me and I think the cane there’s this dynamic to it where

12:10

It’ll almost like acts like a magnet and in a row pep Repellent at the same time it like draws people towards you in this uncomfortable way, but it also pushes people away

12:23

And we can if he could go to the next So, this is a project I did in 2013 and it was after a conversation that I had with my best friend in Portland

12:34

Where I was just thinking of the various things we were just going back and forth thinking but there’s things I could replace my cane

12:40

With and we landed on this idea of replacing my cane with a marching band

12:45

and so I had I it was just a jokey sort of conversation that we had this ongoing sort of exchange about and

12:56

and eventually I told this to I told this I shared about this with with a curator at the

13:04

Grand Central Art Center in Santa Ana, California And I said and I told him about replacing my cane with the marching band and about a week later. He

13:14

Came back to me emailed me with like, you know told me about five marching bands that he had had popped who are interested. Oh

13:25

Can I get confirmation that you all can hear me

13:30

Okay, cool, thank you I

13:37

Don’t know why Regan

13:42

Darn sorry about the captions to Duncan I wonder if that’s something you’re working on

13:48

And Regan do you feel do you think she just dropped from like the Internet wise or what? What’s the deal?

14:02

Well, if you can if you can all hear me still let this wait, I mean let’s not spend too much time

14:08

I can I can just tell you about my work and When the slideshow comes back I can

14:15

We can follow along just a moment Carmen. I I’m refraining from typing into the chat because I can tell it’s difficult for you to speak and have the robot voice going on

14:27

So I I’m that Regan is in charge of the captioning and so we’re just discussing that right now

14:34

Okay. Okay, cool. Okay yes, I

14:40

Always continue as you were and we’ll get back, right? Okay. Okay. Well linked up with the

14:46

image that are corresponding what to what I’m talking about, but basically in

14:52

2013 I I got this. Yeah, so basically the the curator called my bluff and

14:58

you know provided me with this like list of a five marching bands that were interested in working with me and

15:03

they were all high school marching bands from the Santa Ana area in California and

15:10

And I ended up getting along with this one marching ants really well we kind of carried on this this correspondence over Skype over six months and

15:20

they just kind of asked me questions about my Routines my walking routes the kinds of things I bump into

15:28

How I approach crossing the street All these things and then they went off and made musical cues to indicate some of these things

15:38

and then You know Before the performance like the day before we had this like really quick rehearsal in the high school parking lot

15:49

And we just kind of played out various scenarios. Like, you know, let’s pretend that I’m hang onto a busy street. What happens now?

15:57

And then the, you know marching band director would kind of direct band members to where they needed to be

16:03

So where maybe I was like encountering an obstacle or something and then there would be like a big cymbal crash or something

16:12

Hey Regan’s back

16:18

Hey We’re still on to a marching band image with the high school marching band

16:26

Yeah, so we kind of worked out these scenarios and then we just did this like completely

16:32

Improvise process where I just like walked through downtown Santa Ana which I had no like sense of prior to this

16:40

This performance and through this improvised process. I just like found myself and you know my way into

16:48

restaurants art galleries an underground parking structure All while the the band was responding to and trying to anticipate where I where I was going

17:01

and yeah, and and so Regan you can you can continue with the the next few images

17:08

So last year in September I had the opportunity to do this project is called mobility device

17:15

If you want to see a video of that performance with the high school marching band, it’s on YouTube. It’s called mobility device

17:22

I had this opportunity to work with the the High Line in New York City and

17:28

In 2017 I kind of started this conversation Source fondants with another band a Brooklyn based band called the hungry March band who been playing together for over 12 years

17:40

They they started playing shows on the occasion of the Mermaid Parade At Coney Island and they kind of advertised themselves

17:48

That’s like a marching band that would play any gig so I kind of challenged them on that and said, okay

17:53

well, this is what I wanted to do and And they were up for it. So

17:59

Over you know, since I don’t know we had a bunch of rehearsals I I would go back and forth to New York City and we’d spend time in in in

18:09

Studio kind of doing this similar thing to do what I did with the high school marching band where we would just like play out different scenarios and

18:18

And then that they would find various strategies for for addressing things that we might encounter in public space

18:26

and yeah, then we kind of like played outside a bit and and then finally brought our

18:33

Operation to the to the High Line where I navigated, you know over two nights two evenings

18:40

With the band as my navigation system

18:46

and I Plans I had plans to do mobility device in London in September, but those have been delayed

18:58

And we could go to the next image now, it should be me with the megaphone

19:04

It’s a saying like I can’t see you. Yeah Yeah, and okay. So this is another like project about the cane and my mobility and and I would say also about like

19:15

You know, what? What a public’s Responsibility to you know to care for those in need might be and that’s that’s what a lot of my work is about

19:23

It’s about accessibility and you know how we we care for people in times of need

19:29

So with this project it’s it’s called white cane amplified. And and I just did this kind of as a

19:35

Process for myself like it was it was just like a private sort of thing that I did No audience or anything

19:42

But just with a small like a camera crew to document it

19:47

And what I did is I I dropped my cane and I replaced my cane with a megaphone

19:53

that I used to just like identify myself and Hale support from

19:58

Passers-by so, you know and I really thought of this this project does like me reclaiming the social function of the cane

20:05

so like instead of letting the cane like speak for me really kind of like Speak for myself and use the language that I use to describe myself

20:14

so, you know literally like in this performance this process I was like I’m a

20:20

Visual learner. I can’t see you. Hopefully you can see me hopefully I don’t bump into you and just kind of like making my presence known but then also just like

20:32

Finding my way out of crowd, you know At a crosswalk in and just like, you know putting that call out to to the people around me

20:41

You know That that I might need some help crossing the street And just having to wait there, I guess and until someone

20:49

responded Yeah and ivory performed that Performance of a few times so far in different places

20:58

but usually I just use it as like I choose a destination for where I want the performance to end and

21:06

Then I kind of tried to get there with public support. So it’s like completely improvised

21:14

And we could go to the next image Mmm, this is from Project. I did in 2015 with this engineering college

21:22

Just outside of Boston called Olin College of Engineering and I was invited to as part of this series

21:30

Called investigating normal and it was really – like this call – folks in the disability

21:37

community to develop like an assistive device around their terms

21:42

So the designer that invited me was named is named Sarah Hendren and she has this adaptive and assistive

21:49

technologies lab at Olin College and She really like embraces this design for one sort of philosophy

21:57

And and so instead of like trying to make the next like consumer object or you know the next iPhone

22:05

something that everybody would want she kind of interviews the people who will be using the object that she’s designing and and really gets like what their hopes for usability are and and really just have the the

22:18

The the object kind of suit that person’s needs the users needs and so when she asked me like what I was interested in doing I was really thinking through the white cane and

22:30

And my kind of relationship with it Since I started using one and so we decided to develop an alternative to the white cane

22:40

And so I in a similar you know process to with the marching band, actually I kind of like her students interviewed me about like

22:51

Again, like what? What? Yeah what my position on the cane was

22:56

you know my walking routes all these things what might you know how I like interacting with

23:03

The world around me And then I kind of visited the campus and and I took

23:11

students on walks with their eyes closed and And gave a couple talks there, too

23:16

and and then we engage in this process where just kind of like explored the topic the topic of the white cane and

23:22

through design and and various like it or of iterative processes and

23:28

And what you’re looking at now is like the studio image where like students are broken up into teams, and they’re just kind of developing

23:37

Alternative canes and one of them was like, this is the vest. I like I wear vests a lot

23:43

might see them in some of my documentation but it was a vest that had these kind of like

23:48

Like cat like whiskers coming out of it that would feel different obstacles and give me like haptic feedback

23:56

These were very like basic prototypes. So they weren’t like, you know, they they weren’t working

24:03

Devices they’re just kind of being pieced a bit pieced together for concept

24:08

the one that I’m using and the image is this one group who they just kind of used what they had access to in their dorm rooms and

24:16

And they they’ve had like a bunch of guitar equipment guitar amp looping pedal distortion pedal and and all these things and they just kind of like

24:28

You know raked my cane up in such a way so there was like a contract and mic on the bottom and then

24:35

that sound like I could drag my cane on the ground and it would pretty much like

24:41

Translate texture to sound and then that that that sound would be output on two speakers that I could you know

24:48

and then I could also use the the pedals as well to play around with those sounds and

24:54

and it was super fun to use so we kind of like Continued on that track of exploring this idea of like the cane that translates the texture into sound

25:04

Reagan there’s there’s the next Image or sorry the next piece is is a

25:10

Short video and it’s so the students ended up making like for a list of four hundred

25:16

Conceptual cane ideas and and they were not all realized But you know

25:21

They ranged from say a single used cane that would break or that you would have to dispose of after you used it to

25:29

like a cane that left a You know a trail of ink and

25:35

and this this came was one on the list and it was called the wander cane and it was a cane with a mind of

25:41

Its own that would take the user where it wants to go instead of allowing the user to have agency

25:47

so we’re just gonna watch and I would get these videos from students like every

25:53

Month or so and they were just like them Playing with with these ideas in studio and we’re just gonna watch the short video

26:47

Yeah, so it kind of broke apart, but yeah, that was the laundry cane the next video is

26:53

Is one of the students working in a studio and like working on the modulation device so the device that kind of like produces the sound and he’s working on like

27:07

You Well videos a bit choppy. Sorry about that Yeah, the next video is it’s more of a sound sort of based video. So hopefully that comes through alright

27:17

But yeah, so the students just working on the modulation device

27:29

So, I think that was the same video Carmen Okay, do you have the other one or um, I don’t think so I have the third one

27:40

Okay. Okay. So oh I think that is the second one. Okay. Yeah

27:55

It might be hard to hear but it’s just the Delay, sort of echoey sort of a sound that the Kanes making money influence. Just triggering it

28:10

Another student saying that it’s annoying So anyways, yeah, this is very much the culture of the campus students are

28:23

Sorry, I’m just getting thrown off by the chat don’t refrain from using the chat though

28:31

You could switch the next video so the the next video is just another student using the akane

28:36

Once it the sound cane once it was like more to to usable state

28:48

Yet that was more of like that was that sound was coming in a bit more clear and it was more of like it’s the

28:54

Lightsaber effect I would say but yeah, there’s so many so much of a range with the modulation device

28:59

I get you know the pretty much he just oh you could probably see it actually next image Um, they they kind of like repurpose those like Fender guitar pedals and all that stuff

29:10

and it’s supposed to be It’s supposed to be portable. It has like a belt

29:16

Thing that I can attach it to my belt, but it’s it’s a little bit heavy a bit cumbersome

29:22

Were we’re planning to work on a new version of the cane That would be a little more streamlined and

29:28

The version that I could just plug into any audio setup and and so like I could work with a composer or a musician

29:35

You could like live mix the sounds that I’m producing You could go to the next image now

29:44

This is my walking tour image, yes Oh

29:49

Okay. So this is a project that I’ve been doing since 2010 where I take groups of people on walks where they close their eyes

29:56

and link arms and line up behind me and I take them on like about an hour long walk through through cities and

30:02

rural areas as well and And I’ve taken groups of up to like 90 People on on these walks where you could imagine if it’s a group that large, we really kind of disrupt public space

30:15

I think of these walks is like not really like a you know a

30:20

simulation of my experience or like a walk in my shoes, but like more of a like

30:25

Intentional time spent with eyes closed so an opportunity to exercise your non visual senses

30:32

You know something that we don’t often Take time to do And yeah, I you know

30:39

I started leading these walks when I was when I moved to Portland to go to grad school in 2010

30:44

And I was in this place where I was learning like a whole new set of walking routes and once I I learned

30:54

These various like how to navigate these places. I I wanted to kind of share I mean they became my like like that was my sense of place and and I felt like this this

31:06

Yeah, I was interested in bringing other people into that space into that process So I just kind of one day asked my classmates the like, you know

31:14

meet me in front of the art building and line up behind me and and close their eyes and I didn’t really tell them what Was we were going to do

31:20

but I took them on our long walk through the city and

31:26

And yeah that was the beginning of it and then I started just putting that call out to the public and I

31:31

you know advertised on like Craigslist and Facebook and I would just say like

31:36

if you want to learn how to walk your eyes close show up at this place at this time and

31:41

And you know being Portland it, you know people like a good group of people would show up and

31:47

Yeah, and those are some of my first walks and the walk that you’re looking at now is is from Haverford College in?

31:54

2013 for that walk I chose a destination of where I wanted to walk to end and that words and I think if you were to walk

32:03

From where we started to the destination and you knew where you were going you probably take five minutes to get there, but I kind of didn’t know where we were I

32:14

chose to Approach the walk as an improvised process with with everybody involved and just

32:22

problem-solve my way there to the destination and and for us it took it took an hour and 45 minutes to finally get the

32:31

destination But I was pretty happy because the next day I cut my time by an hour and to cut to that same place

32:40

But yeah, I think that the route that I take and my approach to, you know piecing together a route really changes

32:48

Based on where I’m leading these walks. I’ve led them all over the place now

32:54

The next image is an image from the California College of the Arts in San Francisco campus where you know

33:01

It was the first time a lot of people showed up from my walk and these are students from California College of the Arts

33:07

Next image is I think a walk from New York a few years ago

33:13

And then the final image here is it’s this image again from the California College of the Arts

33:18

and you know, I think on one hand while this work work is I think this project is about

33:26

You know kind of like creating a space for non visual learning non visual You know ways of navigating our surroundings and understanding our surroundings

33:35

it really is about a group of people coming together and like modeling a

33:41

support network because people are you know naturally kind of aware of of what’s going around on around them and like

33:49

others about that so, you know I I deliver information from the front of the line and every second person repeats it but then there’s also this like

34:00

Informal sort of like oh I just like, you know, I encountered that first step down, you know

34:05

and people are just telling the person behind them or you know, just It’s a really, you know, it’s interesting. How like

34:14

In maybe in the first 10-15 minutes people are super uncomfortable and like still figuring out how to walk with your eyes closed

34:20

But by the end of the hour long walk, like it really becomes this responsive support network

34:30

And Could go to the next image So in 2013

34:36

I had this opportunity to to do a few projects about non visual learning in the museum at like the

34:43

Guggenheim the Whitney and and MoMA and a lot of the museums at that time those museums were doing

34:51

work about like the census and At the Guggenheim I was able to work with

34:59

The mind’s eye program, which is through the Education Department and it’s like this

35:06

It kind of like caters to the low vision and blind community and it’s this interesting program because like it, you know

35:14

I guess like it’s it’s unique in in so far that like

35:19

the programs programs that it offers and the things that it kind of takes on as initiatives are like

35:25

like directly relate to things that the community has told them that they want so

35:31

So, you know, I was invited here to like

35:36

make a project on the invitation of the group that the mind’s eye group and

35:43

And I proposed this project called the touchy subject which is about tactility and touching art objects in the museum

35:50

And so through this project I negotiated for like tactile access to certain

35:56

works in the collection And then I spent time with education staff members and we like spend time developing this

36:04

methodology for like touching these objects and like, you know finding out like what we could learn about them with eyes closed and

36:12

and then also developing like terminology and vocabulary for like describing what we felt

36:19

And then there was a series of public tours Offered

36:30

Yeah, so there was this these public tours their one-on-one tours with an education staff member where the the visitor whoever was you know, the the tour

36:41

Being toured around could shut their eyes and link arms link link arms with an education staff member and their hand would be

36:49

Directed to tactile points of interest so that included the building itself It included objects from the collection that we had been working with that were open for for touching as well

37:00

and also there’s that closeness between the guide and and and person being guided

37:07

and what you’re seeing is a person being

37:12

Touching the this point on the floor in the rotunda of the Guggenheim There’s like two dots there

37:18

Once the world kind of like opens up again and people I don’t know if you ever find yourself in New York at the Guggenheim

37:25

There’s this amazing little architectural detail where you know if you stand at a certain point in the

37:32

rotunda and project your voice like your your your voice kind of just like Encompasses you it surrounds you and it kind of like resonates in this interesting way

37:43

Go to the next

37:51

Okay, hopefully is this a poster I know this is you

38:00

Okay, maybe I’ll skip that then okay

38:05

Okay, it’s not the one where people are laying down Okay. Yeah. Yeah, so this is from a project a

38:12

residency that I did in Ireland where I just like made projects that responded to my own access and this one was

38:19

For two to two my experience of this space. So this was a gallery that I I

38:26

encountered where there was just like a bunch of paintings that were like from the permanent collection that were

38:33

hung at a typical height for like a standing viewer and And I requested that they all be lowered

38:39

So there are only inches from the ground and in order to like trouble that that you know

38:44

Kind of like maybe typical access or the access that the institution was catering to?

38:50

and and you know while Kind of just kind of disrupting the the just passive

38:57

experience of viewing part in the museum where you know, we usually kind of just

39:03

Wander through these spaces and maybe spend I think the number is like maybe 20 seconds at each piece

39:10

But this kind of like required the the viewer to like problem-solve their way to come comfortably comfortably

39:18

view the work and and that meant for them to get close to the ground and crouch and and crawl and

39:27

you know, it also opened up being that low opened up access for

39:32

Kids and wheelchair users and and a bunch of other folks, too

39:40

Yeah next image So this is a poster from a project I did in 2015 with gallery gosh a and Vancouver

39:48

Gallery caches in Vancouver is in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside neighborhood It’s thin

39:55

It’s a collectively run space with like I’m mandate around demystifying issues relating to mental health

40:03

It’s been active in the community for over 20 years and kind of has been remained like a you know an open space for

40:13

residents in the neighborhood and and and you know yeah, and I felt like it was maybe an ideal place for me to

40:24

Think through accessibility as like a living practice because I really think that gallery gasps. Yay

40:31

Accessibility is an ongoing process It’s changing with the people who are involved with the space at any given time

40:37

It changes with the the politics of those those folks You know the social environment they create together

40:45

and there’s very few spaces like that in in Vancouver, I noticed and The only other one that I really had the privilege to be part of was the purple thistle Center that’s not around anymore

40:57

But it was like a youth run space that was collectively run by youth participants

41:03

but at gallery cachet what I ended up doing was I I gathered a group of people together that were just kind of friends that all all kind of were thinking through

41:14

Accessibility from different perspectives. So like not not everybody identified as disabled

41:20

some identified as mad as

41:25

We’re thinking through their experience of accessibility from a you know From their position being indigenous or trans or

41:33

or a young person There are some actually youth participants from the purple digital Center that joined in this process, too

41:40

and what we did is we just kind of had like weekly meetings about accessibility and just try to develop sort of like

41:48

You know a framework to assess an institution and the institution that we wanted to assess was the Vancouver Art Gallery

41:57

Which is you know? Situated well, it’s in its a former courthouse building that still I think holds a lot of

42:08

That that that colonial history And and so a lot of the artists I was working with felt like outsiders in relation to that space and felt unwelcome there

42:19

So we were just kind of setting us we We were all thinking about accessibility from our individual perspectives and just like

42:30

using that experience to to interpret the space and and

42:38

We would do And we made an exhibition as a result and one of the pieces that we worked on together is the next image here

42:46

it’s a wall panel that we actually Found at the Art Gallery

42:52

Vancouver art gallery when we were visiting one day and and as you do we just kind of gathered around this one piece

42:58

It was it was describing an exhibition of photos by a

43:06

Canadian photographer named Christos, tokiko’s and it was a show that was curated by the associate director

43:12

and chief curator of the institution as well and and this series of photos was depicting like

43:19

Like art and objects made by indigenous artists without any context as to who maybe object

43:26

Who you know who the artists were what objects were and and in some cases too? There were objects that actually, you know through through protocol should not be depicted in a photograph

43:37

and so we just You know kind of gathered around this wall text and started reading it aloud and it became you know

43:45

Pretty clear that it was misrepresenting colonization it referred to you know

43:51

first contact as like an exchange between cultures and

43:56

And so we started to think about like, you know given that we were talking about accessibility from various perspectives

44:01

and we’re talking about indigeneity and in relation to accessibility and

44:07

We thought about like what would this text look like it if it was edited by by folks at cached so we kind of just like reproduced the wall panel and open that process up to folks a gallery – a

44:20

And they provided sort of the decolonial narrative that wasn’t available at the gallery. So that’s what you’re kind of seeing in red

44:26

Correct of marker, and the next image is a detail shot so you could see How people were offering the traditional name for certain place names like Falls Creek

44:36

they’re also just calling out the exchange between cultures as genocide and also, you know, and we thought like you know, the

44:44

While you might just kind of like pass by this This wall panel on at the gallery. Nothing too much of it

44:52

We really thought that it was pointing to what the politics of people who are decision-makers at the institution

44:59

were around you know And and I guess what involvement with with local indigenous communities was what that state of that

45:09

Relationship was so so we really thought it was kind of revealing of the institution in many ways

45:15

and Yeah, and our whole process was kind of like this unsolicited accessibility audit of the bank over art gallery that we felt like, you know, we kind of

45:28

Yeah, we was done without invitation without an invitation by the institution

45:34

through through necessity a Next image

45:40

After Iran, I know I’m going a little over, but sorry

45:45

So just after I that show about the Vancouver Art Gallery came down. I

45:53

I kind of like went on the road and and started sharing the framework that

46:00

That that we were using to assess the Vancouver Art Gallery with other other play other

46:05

institutions and and just like sharing about our process with them and Around the time that I hosted that gathering at the Vancouver Art

46:14

Sorry at the gallery gesh a I wrote this set of five

46:20

Guiding principles, which I called open access and at the time it was really just a way for me to describe my own position on the topic of

46:29

Accessibility and really it kind of like frames accessibility a lot differently than we usually talk about it

46:36

and And maybe yeah, sorry. I kind of switch things around a bit here

46:42

but I do have those that statement that and a few volunteers here that I that are going to read it aloud and I’m just gonna

46:50

it It’s five five short paragraphs and it describes accessibility

46:57

It describes accessibility as an ongoing practice of mutual care

47:05

and I’m just gonna

47:24

You know

47:30

And so I I call this like a manifesto but also like a conceptual framework and in some ways and I’ve I’ve used it in various waste and applied it in various ways to make like projects and

47:43

and also just to like introduce like a new like to establish like a new context for

47:50

conversations about accessibility in public engagement at various institution

47:56

so if I’ll start reading this and then I shall to continue with the next

48:04

so in 2015 artists coming Oh, you can just start with the principles. I like just with it. Yeah. Yeah. Sorry about that. That’s okay

48:14

Sure, I’ll do this first one open access relies on those present What their need needs are and how they can find support with each other and in their communities?

48:26

It is a perpetual negotiation of trust between those who practice support as a mutual exchange

48:35

Thank you, well if you want to go sure Open access is radically different than a policy that

48:42

Temporarily removes the barrier to participation for a group with definitive needs

48:48

It acknowledges that everyone carries a body of local knowledge and and is an expert in their own, right?

48:58

We know Open access is the root system of embodied learning

49:04

It cultivates trust among those involved and enables each member to self identify and occupy a point of orientation

49:11

That centers complex embodiment Thank you and Joshua

49:18

Open access disrupts the disabling conditions that limit one’s the agency and potential to thrive it reimagines normalcy

49:26

normalcy as a Continuum of embodiments identities realities and learning styles and operates under the tenant that interdependence

49:34

Is central to a radical restructuring of power?

49:40

Read this last one

49:49

Open access is a temporary collective health space

49:54

where participants can find comfort in disclosing their needs and preferences with one another it is responsive support that

50:03

Adapts as needs are real and available resources change

50:09

Thank you and so that that statement I think really

50:15

Describes like my position on the topic of accessibility But it also I I think it’s something that you know while I articulated it in in

50:24

2015 I it really has been like it describes my way of working as an artist and and I think you can see sort of some of

50:32

Those dynamics at play in projects like the walking tour as

50:38

Well as in like the marching band performance and and even you know, maybe with the megaphone piece as well

50:48

My final images I just want to show you a couple of images of current work so last year

50:55

I had the show at the Banff Centre and I had the opportunity to make two new works and And I developed this animation. That kind of is about open access and also like my many

51:05

You know times in hospital since childhood and kind of like my thoughts on the medical model

51:11

and Yeah, and and it was a collaboration with animator named Heather Kai Smith and

51:21

Yeah, it’s it this is a still from that animation In the next sorry, is that correct? And are we on this still? Okay

51:32

Now it’s to the installation yeah, and so it was presented with this installation that I made called ocular centrism and

51:42

That’s like, you know ocular centrism, you know, it’s kind of describes a

51:48

culture a valuing system that that Kind of specifically oriented route oriented around visual experience and so it creates like this

51:59

disorienting visual environment with the mirrored surfaces and all these in your all these pillars are kind of like

52:08

Placed at a 30 60 or 90 degree angle to like create these like kind of

52:15

This confusing visual environment

52:22

All right, and I think that’s it that’s that’s it for my artist dog at least I guess I’d

52:29

Maybe open it up for questions and take questions for a few minutes and then we could get on to our next activity

52:37

and we actually already have a Question that came in earlier. So it says our

52:43

Organization is talking about ways to reduced tactile experiences in the museum as a response to Cova 19 once we open up again

52:51

Tactile experiences are important for access. Do you have recommendations of how we can keep people safe while still allow people to touch

53:01

Yeah That’s that’s a good question I I think what I was really trying to get at with those projects, and I you know

53:12

I I’m continuing to do work about tactility now and and I think it really like falls into that that category of like learning with the non visual senses and like

53:21

privileging of the visual sense and and you know pushing against that tradition of

53:26

ocular centrism And and I think you know in the interest of opening access so, you know

53:34

and I think of these experiences as like having access to an object and the ability to touch it as

53:43

It sits I feel like it that activity is

53:53

It’s interesting like in the museum context like Museum history is is completely centered around, you know

54:02

Visual interpretation and even in the way that who they catalog museums catalog objects

54:09

It’s all about visual characteristics and I Really thought like of these projects at the point that I made them as like, you know

54:17

We’re opening up a different space at place, you know a space that potentially like, you know

54:23

could Could uncover or like reveal

54:29

New ways of interpreting collected art objects with

54:35

coronavirus though and I mean like I really haven’t processed this time yet and what it means for museums and I

54:44

I think I think it’s it’s tough to say like I I would say that

54:50

Description could can create a very immersive experience if done in a good way

54:59

Like visual description can be very immersive

55:04

But yeah with touch I don’t know we can’t we can’t touch so many things already and I would say if they’re just like sweeping

55:12

rules now around like oh we can’t really touch things of the museum for health reasons – like that space will completely be restricted and and

55:23

might oh

55:30

Okay, sorry, is there another question before I respond to the one that just came in through chat No, but I’ll read it aloud just in case people. Okay? Okay a chat. So have how have museum staff and non-disabled individuals?

55:43

responded to your work especially work at gallery gosh a yeah, so I I feel like I get asked this a lot and and and my my initial interest in making work and like

55:55

Starting to work as an artist was to address an uninformed non-disabled audience So like I really was trying to with my with my cane adaptations

56:04

all of these things are pointing at dynamics and barriers that I was experiencing that I felt were like, you know a result of ableism and and so

56:14

You know even even I would say that the touchy subject and this work about tactility

56:19

I think it definitely speaks to the museum as an ableist

56:24

you know like Institution and and I think in non-disabled folks like I there still is that sort of like

56:35

I mean, I think I think a lot of institutions especially putted so-called public institutions

56:40

We could call our institution public but is it really public and welcoming for everybody?

56:47

Usually those institutions want to try to cater to their to to underrepresented groups

56:54

And and so when there’s work that it engages these topics I think there’s there’s there’s always folks that are going to be listening

57:00

But like I guess what my interest is it is now that I get to you know

57:12

Okay, um yeah, I think when there’s Wenders and what’s interesting for me now is is carrying on more longer-term engagements with like the

57:21

institution’s I work with so the McKenzie Art Gallery in Regina, for example I’ve been working with them for a couple years now and I visit them multiple times a year

57:32

we continue our conversation about accessibility around the terms that you know, open access rather than just like

57:39

you know a policy that’s implemented from the top down you

57:44

Know it’s not just I I feel it. Yeah, I I there’s been a great response I think to

57:51

to to the proposals that I’ve made in these institutions, but also with that with that collective work through gallery gosh a

58:02

you know the director of the institution who had curated that show and wrote that wall text like eventually

58:08

Reached out to me and asked if I could talk to You know the curatorial staff there and I kind of like suggested that

58:18

Everybody that conducted the audit should be invited in to talk to to staff and and they should also be compensated for that

58:25

So eventually our conversation kind of, you know fell

58:32

Yeah, I just fell away and and We didn’t really go further than that. So, you know, I really think it’s on the on the institution to kind of like

58:43

Dedicate time space and resources to these topics and it’s you know

58:48

The museum has been a it’s it started out as a colonial project So it still carries those histories. It is a colonial enterprise

58:59

So I think when when changes are proposed like they need to be led by folks who are under underrepresented

59:07

People need to you know who from historically marginalized groups need to be given time space and resources

59:14

To to make proposals to you know address Harmful histories if they want to take that work on

59:22

So it’s a complicated thing Too, you know mmm these conversations forward

59:33

There’s a question that came in about public art and making public art accessible

59:41

Yeah, yeah public art should be Like public obviously, but I think there’s we you know

59:48

I know a lot of folks who work in New York City do around the percent for our program and

59:54

a lot of work that is commissioned through these you know, public art programs and cities, you know, they try to

1:00:04

to kind of like follow Accessibility guidelines

1:00:10

but like they’re yeah that the accessibility change isn’t so contextual and so local so like I feel like

1:00:17

You really have to do an assessment that That really includes folks that are from the community in which the the work is placed

1:00:25

And if you don’t have the choice to do that because it’s already an existing work I think it’s bringing in people who could speak to that work and in order to open up the conversation around it

1:00:36

So like I’m thinking of work that my friend Ashlyn Thomas did it was an artist out of Kitchener who?

1:00:44

was working at the Banff Centre this summer and and did and developed a tour of

1:00:52

Of all of the public art on campus all the sculptural work on the Banff Center campus and a lot of the the tour was

1:01:02

was kind of like Involved

1:01:08

descriptions by by poets and writers and descriptions of work and sometimes they focused on

1:01:16

everything around the work and and just were various like kind various other ways to connect the

1:01:24

The The viewer to to the space to the land to the histories that and and

1:01:34

context that might but might not have been just like

1:01:39

Available through the work itself or just on first glance So Carmen, it’s just three minutes past two right now we do have another question that came in

1:01:52

but I was wondering if you want to save that for later and go on to the Mingus piece or

1:02:00

Yeah, maybe we can go into the Mia Mingus piece, so I will take your question

1:02:05

We’ll have more time to talk throughout this. So the next piece that I wanted to to share with everybody

1:02:12

It’s called access intimacy, it’s on it’s a term that activist

1:02:19

disabled activists Mia Mingus proposed and Mia Mingus was part of the

1:02:26

disability justice collective kind of like coined the

1:02:32

Concept or established this concept of disability justice, which is kind of like a way of

1:02:38

Looking at like art and culture and just kind of like describes that

1:02:46

You know all forms of repression are intertwined and that you know

1:02:52

Among those like ableism is is the thing that strengthens I would say lots of other forms of oppression as well

1:03:00

like racism and colonialism and and sexism

1:03:07

so Yes, so we’re going to read this short piece. There’s a few volunteers that are going to take turns reading it aloud

1:03:15

it’s uh It’sit’s a short piece too, so it should be taking maybe ten minutes to read aloud

1:03:21

Then we’ll chat about it And I thought access intimacy would be a great thing to introduce now because I think we’re we’re in this moment right now. Where

1:03:29

folks are thinking about how to You know how to respond and and also

1:03:36

just like how do how to be together in a good way while being isolated and I

1:03:44

think there’s a Lot of wisdom in this piece and and I hope folks connect to it as well

1:03:52

Thank you herders for for reading this out loud

1:04:05

Okay, and I’ll I’ll start with these two paragraphs and I’ll put on to a shelf for reading the next

1:04:13

slide and So it starts as there are many ways to describe intimacy. For example, there’s physical intimacy

1:04:21

emotional intimacy intellectual political familiar or sexual intimacy, but as a physical disabled woman there is

1:04:31

Another kind of intimacy. I have been struggling to name and describe What I have been calling access intimacy. I

1:04:38

Have begun I have begun using the term loosely and still realizing different aspects of it

1:04:45

this is in no way a complete just describing of it

1:04:51

Instead. This is an initial naming and the beginning of the beginnings of giving it shape

1:04:56

I am offering it as something that has been useful for me And I hope it is useful to others to describe all different kinds of access not just in relation to disability

1:05:09

I think access as a framework is powerful for so many of our lives here

1:05:16

I am speaking for my own lived experience as a physical disabled person, but I know access

1:05:22

Intimacy can also happen in many different ways for mamas and parents women of color queer and trans folks, etc

1:05:31

Anyone can experience access intimacy? I

1:05:38

Have never had words for access intimacy before Three years. I would feel it or crave it but not know how to describe it

1:05:47

It has always been just out of reach just beyond my grasp I have mistaken it for emotional or political intimacy sexual attraction or romantic desire. I

1:05:59

Have mistakenly assumed that it would be there based on one’s identity or experience

1:06:04

I have grappled with how to describe the closeness I would feel with people whom I disabled body just felt a little bit safer and at ease with

1:06:14

There have been relationships that carried emotional physical and political intimacy, but sorely lacked access

1:06:22

intimacy and there have been relationships where access intimacy has helped to create the conditions out of which emotional

1:06:31

familial and Political intimacy could grow

1:06:39

Thank You Michelle and on to UM to the no

1:06:47

Access intimacy Is that elusive hard to describe feeling when someone else gets your access needs?

1:06:53

The kind of eerie comfort that you’re disabled self feels when someone with someone on a purely access level

1:06:59

Sometimes it can happen with complete strangers disabled or not or sometimes it could be built over years

1:07:05

It could also be the way your body relaxes and opens up with someone when all of your access needs are being met

1:07:10

It is not dependent on someone having a political understanding of disability ableism or access

1:07:16

some of the people I have experienced the deepest access intimacy with Especially abled body people have had no education or exposure to a political understanding of disability

1:07:30

Thank You Lena and on to Joshua Access intimacy is also the intimacy

1:07:36

I feel with many other disabled and sick people who have an automatic Understanding of access needs out of our shared similar lived experience of the many different ways ableism manifests in our lives

1:07:47

Together we share a kind of access intimacy that is ground-level with no need for explanations

1:07:54

Instantly we can hold the weight emotion logistics isolation trauma fear anxiety and pain of access

1:08:01

I don’t have to justify and we are able to start from a place of steel

1:08:07

vulnerability It doesn’t mean that our access looks the same or that we even know what each other’s access needs are

1:08:14

it has taken the form of long walks into the night upon our first meeting knowing glances shared across the room or in a group of able-bodied people

1:08:24

Or the feeling of instant familiarity to be able to ask for help or support

1:08:31

Thank You Joshua In my life access intimacy is something that has been hard-won organic or at times even felt magical?

1:08:42

Has taken me by surprise showing up with people that I never would have expected to have that kind of access connection with

1:08:50

It has been exciting and relieving Like a long slow. Inhale. I didn’t know where it comes from or how it would happen or how it happens

1:09:02

It has felt like an unspoken instinctual language between different people like an entire

1:09:09

entirely unique way of being able to communicate and connect

1:09:15

Similar to being to meeting someone you just click with

1:09:20

Access intimacy has felt like a distinct form of Attraction desire and energy onto itself

1:09:32

Thank you Access intimacy is something I am coming to understand that I need in my life

1:09:39

something that I cannot and don’t want to live without I Need it to literally be my whole self because access is such an intimate part of my life as a queer

1:09:50

physically disabled woman of color adoptee without it

1:09:56

relationships exist under a glass ceiling or split by thick frosted windows

1:10:01

With huge pieces of myself never being able to be reached without it

1:10:06

There is survival, but rarely true whole connection

1:10:15

Access intimacy is not just the action of access or helping someone We have all experienced access that has left us feeling like a burden violated or just plain shitty

1:10:26

Many of us have experienced obligatory access where there is no intimacy just a stoic counting down of the seconds until it’s over

1:10:35

This is not access intimacy There have been numerous relationships in my life where I have loved people very deeply but never fully felt safe with them around my access

1:10:44

So many relationships where I knew I could only ask for or share so much Without getting snapped at chided or being punished with reluctant passive-aggressive access

1:10:55

So many times where I was too afraid because of the lack of access Intimacy to speak up and voice what I needed or what I couldn’t do

1:11:03

Resulting in being isolated or getting very badly physically hurt from pushing myself too hard in some of the worst cases

1:11:15

Access intimacy is not charity resentfulness enacted intimidation a humiliating trade for survival or an ego boost in

1:11:24

Fact all of this threatens and kills access intimacy There’s a good feeling after and while you are experiencing access intimacy

1:11:33

It is a free light loving feeling It brings the people who are a part of it closer it builds and deepens connection

1:11:42

Sometimes access intimacy doesn’t even mean that everything is a hundred percent accessible

1:11:47

Sometimes it looks like both of you trying to create access as hard as you can with no avail in an ableist world

1:11:54

Sometimes it is someone just sitting and holding your hand. Well you both stare back at an inaccessible world

1:12:03

Has looked Ike relations where I Always feel like I can say what my access needs are no matter what?

1:12:11

Or I can say that I don’t know them and that’s okay, too

1:12:17

Has looked like people not expecting payment in the form of emotional currency or ownership for access

1:12:23

It has looked like able-bodied people listening to me and believing me It has looked like people investing and remembering my access needs and checking in with me if there are

1:12:36

Going to be situations that might be inaccessible or hard disability body wise

1:12:42

And has looked like crip acts made access it Looked like crip solidarity

1:12:51

In the last half decade of my life I’ve been able to experience many different forms and levels of access intimacy

1:13:00

Before that I was not even in a place where I could have had access intimacy with anyone

1:13:06

it is only being in the last seven years that I have come into myself as a Politically disabled person enough to begin to experience or desire access intimacy even on superficial levels

1:13:19

looking back there have been only a handful of relationships in my life where access intimacy has existed and

1:13:26

Then most of them access into intimacy was not instant, but built and cultivated with me bearing the brunt of the work

1:13:38

For the first time in my adult life I am experiencing access intimacy that is not just painstakingly built over the years

1:13:46

Conversation by conversation what is already infertile existence ready to grow for the first time in my life?

1:13:52

I’m in disabled community meeting sick and disabled folks and experiencing a kind of mutual access intimacy. That feels like family

1:14:00

For the first time in my life. I’m in relationships with able-bodied queer people of color

1:14:05

Experiencing access intimacy that is beyond explanation and belief For the first time this year

1:14:10

I am experiencing a level of access intimacy in my intimate relationships and home life that I’ve never experienced before

1:14:18

it has been both amazing and saddening now having something that actually cares about me and

1:14:24

It ended like emotional intimacy is also a deep risk because it would be devastating to lose and requires maintenance

1:14:31

Now when I’m describing really when I describe relationships, I include access intimacy along with many other descriptors

1:14:38

I’m watching it studying it bearing witness to it as it grows evolves and shifts as I learn all the different ways that

1:14:45

access intimacy can exist

1:14:51

And that was it Thank you to all our returned volunteers, yeah. Thank you

1:15:02

Yeah, and I guess I I just wanted to point that this this piece

1:15:07

Was published in 2011 so like this is kind of like at the around the height of the Occupy movement

1:15:15

When this idea of the 99% of 1% was emerging and it was this moment. I mean like

1:15:24

you know the like I mentioned the disability justice collective, which me, I guess is part of

1:15:29

You know proposing this disability justice Disability justice as a framework as well around that time as well

1:15:37

and and I think you know This this all this work these ideas. Like I think it’s important to know that they’re like this this scholarship

1:15:46

is has been Yeah, I guess it’s been within the disability community for a while and I think this learning around care and

1:15:58

how to support others is is something that everybody’s thinking about now, but

1:16:04

Has really been like a way of life and a means of survival for folks in the disability community

1:16:14

For the longest time, so Yeah, I I wonder if people have any responses after hearing that piece

1:16:24

Especially given our current situation

1:16:56

I mean, I’ll just speak while

1:17:01

We wait for people to type for me

1:17:07

Something that has been on my mind quite a bit is looking at

1:17:13

Disabled Twitter and reading people’s tweets that they

1:17:18

can’t they don’t want to bring their wheelchairs with them when they go to the hospital because

1:17:25

It’ll denta fie them as disabled and then they don’t think they’ll get a ventilator and

1:17:32

That’s something that I feel We’re in this time where?

1:17:41

There there’s new access points like having zoom and and working remotely

1:17:46

But we’re still having difficulty giving everyone

1:17:52

Equal the rights, which is something that I’m really been toying with

1:18:00

Yeah

1:18:06

I’m talking you know, I’ve heard conversations about like how do we isolate people who are the most vulnerable?

1:18:14

And continue like with with with work and and all these things and you know lift some of the

1:18:22

Restrictions and I’m just thinking like I never had thought, you know as as a disabled person advocate

1:18:32

Focuses on accessibility that I I’d be thinking about like You know that this was this was the focus of the disability movement in the late

1:18:41

60s. Oh like you’re trying to like claim visibility like

1:18:48

Claim that access to to public space and to public life and and participating in public life

1:18:54

And and now we’re we’re faced with a similar Set of circumstances where people are, you know, thinking of how how do you how do you put it?

1:19:03

Where do you put that problem so we could get back to life as normal as usual?

1:19:12

And just know if you would like to actually see a question right here and

1:19:20

Someone says it feels hard if not impossible to engage with institutions on an access

1:19:26

Intimacy level how do you support yourself in facing these institutions?

1:19:31

Having your access needs recognized Recognized hoping that people care about your work

1:19:40

Yeah, it’s hard because I I feel like like many folks in the disability community Like I hold institutional trauma from my from having to rely on institutions that have failed me throughout my life

1:19:51

and I’ve spent much time in hospital since I was a kid and you know feel like I

1:19:57

I still hold trauma from from that and I still go to the hospital and well I mean that’s my next point is I’ve actually like

1:20:05

It’s gone to the point where I don’t feel safe going to hospital when I’m in

1:20:10

an emergency sort of situation now and so I’m I’m working through that because of my distrust and and I really think it you know it really

1:20:22

it really depends on on who’s hosting you and sometimes I mean, especially my early years practicing as an artist these negotiations for

1:20:34

Support that I needed in order to do the job to actually get to the place to do the work

1:20:39

like that was the most difficult and and I I think those conversations are getting easier as I learned how to advocate for myself and

1:20:50

And make more connections with disabled folks who have to do this as well

1:20:56

but you know, it isn’t easy and and I think

1:21:01

You know Like like disabled folks account for like

1:21:07

They have like some of the least access to the cultural sector of any other minority group There’s been studies

1:21:14

around you know employment obviously in Canada and and

1:21:19

And elsewhere – about disabled folks and there like severely limited access to to meaningful employment

1:21:27

and so these these issues like I mean in our most yeah, like the

1:21:33

institutions that we rely on that are your you know available for in the

1:21:40

To the public or to the the idea is that they’re available to the public

1:21:46

Their systemic barriers that disabled folks face and that’s present in the cultural sector and and everywhere else. So

1:21:55

I guess someone’s strategies that I’ve adopted are I mean like I haven’t done this yet, but like I’m just about to like write an accessibility writer for

1:22:07

Like a writer of my requirements Accessibility requirements for for accepting a contract and you know, that’s something that some disabled performers do

1:22:18

there are some guidelines on online of how certain folks approach that but it’s really to just like

1:22:24

you know like we need to at the very basic level like need these things in order to be able to do our job and I

1:22:35

Last year, I interviewed like about 8:00 like pretty common and disabled artists who had reached like mainstream platforms with their work and

1:22:43

I was asking them about like their experience working as an artist like do they feel like they are supported in the ways that they need support do they feel like

1:22:52

places that they work are accessible and you know, I mean every artist was saying that this ability is

1:23:02

Very poor and also the state of Commerce

1:23:10

And You know, we really just have I think starts we have to establish new cultural standards for accessibility

1:23:19

Beyond a policy that’s just kind of people are trying to comply with

1:23:24

It has I think like access intimacy. It needs to be something that is elusive It needs to be something that is that people are are building together and it changes over time

1:23:37

and I can’t really happen unless you’re you build trust with the person that’s

1:23:43

good if you are a marginal position

1:23:48

And I have another question here Carmen and and just a note for people you can either

1:23:53

Type in the Q&A box or you can raise your hand and either me and Duncan can let you speak

1:24:01

so someone says it is something I Related to you greatly One I fall back. It is something I find that not on this table stand I find this

1:24:13

Plays out a life have right This it even more during

1:24:21

challenging times I quote my people might get through who get me through and I

1:24:30

Interned carry them working in a large institution where I do not experience access intimacy with any staff has been challenging

1:24:37

How do we bring this into the art world at the institutional level?

1:24:44

Yeah, I feel like it’s really adopting a new set of standards like

1:24:51

machine new standards and practices in for accessibility

1:24:56

Beyond a policy model. I think we can’t really just rely on a government to decide

1:25:03

what a basic level of service for people who are it’s just like Experience multiple barriers should have like that

1:25:10

I mean, I think of accessibility that’s the result of policy as maybe like a government’s like, you know

1:25:17

You know best effort to establish a standard of care, but it’s only one way of develop, you know of

1:25:29

Delivering that to to a wider public I think there’s various things that people do in community with each other, especially at a grassroots level

1:25:39

that represent what I’m talking about that represent accessibility is a living practice a lot of

1:25:45

organizations that are active in the Downtown Eastside neighborhood in Vancouver Who are offering like frontlines services as well as?

1:25:54

You know Opportunities for our art education and you know creative development as well

1:26:03

because I think these needs these survival-based needs can be separated from you know the need to

1:26:10

develop on its practice to Represent oneself through through our practice

1:26:17

So at within larger institutions, I think it’s a critical time right now. I I think I think it’s really

1:26:25

I’m really worried actually because you know just before I mean last year like

1:26:31

There was the passing of bill C 81 which is called the accessible Canada Act And and the whole idea was to establish like, you know like this precedent

1:26:41

precedent setting legislation for accessibility that would serve as like like a new

1:26:48

New standard for accessibility but I mean like this this this

1:26:55

legislation is is really not doing much to address that culture of ableism and I think that’s the piece that’s really missing and and I think usually

1:27:07

you know, I When when something is off our or not working?

1:27:13

When it comes before disabled folks it’s often as a result of of an ableist

1:27:21

Premise practice or or or like these traditions that we just carry over and don’t question

1:27:30

But still I think you know as as much as we

1:27:36

we try to make welcoming spaces for Folks like we really I think at this moment and we really need to do do what we can to

1:27:46

unlearn ableism And like identify what how it affects

1:27:53

folks but also like address things that like, I mean, I I think

1:28:01

What was really striking for me when following the accessible cannibal Canada campaign and the legislation and everything is that there wasn’t really mention of like the effects of colonization or like even like

1:28:13

locally well in DC now all these provinces too are responding to accessible Canada and establishing their own legislation

1:28:22

Provincially and like NBC like we don’t have conversations about the you know, the really recent histories

1:28:31

Where where institutions have perpetrated?

1:28:37

Violence on under the guise of care like, you know masked

1:28:42

institutionalization know folks who you know require mental health support in BC alone like we have

1:28:51

like it was only in the the 70s that

1:28:56

That forced sterilization programs war were Ended so these are pretty recent histories that really kind of you think about

1:29:07

like The

1:29:12

Just the relations between disabled and non-disabled people or like people requiring

1:29:17

Support and people delivering support and and there’s just like this history that needs to like that

1:29:24

We need to come to terms with and and I think model new relationships around care

1:29:30

you know, and and I think this whole landscape needs to be defined by people who with lived experience of disability or people who are

1:29:39

its experiences Experience the barriers that are they’re trying to be addressed. It just can’t

1:29:45

we can’t just use a set of policies that kind of came out like what we’re a

1:29:53

Lot of the recommendations for that come out of policy for accessibility are ways of like

1:30:00

retrofitting access it’s it’s a way to like like invite participation in a system or in a situation a space that was

1:30:10

bill built without the person in mind that needs needs Needs that accommodation. So I you know an accommodation I often think is often say is like a

1:30:22

Temporary bridge to participation if it wasn’t available. That place would not be accessible

1:30:27

So I think we have to build new systems from the grassroots

1:30:32

from the ground up and and around it a radically different set of

1:30:39

parameters And and think more like like creatively about accessibility so

1:30:50

It’s 2:30 there’s another question should I go with that?

1:30:56

Okay, so this person I was talking about in the early 90s the city of Kamloops had the mayor’s Committee on

1:31:04

accessibility And they were just wondering Do you know of any other place today that might have such a committee for learning about accessibility needs and support in our museum world?

1:31:17

in the museum world um
I know there’s a few groups that are trying to

1:31:23

Develop a new frameworks for these things to like set new cultural standards for accessibility that can be shared across

1:31:30

institutions some of this works being done in the

1:31:35

Through the Rubin foundation in New York City and eighth floor gallery

1:31:42

I mean locally, I know tangled arts and disability Put out like this this toolkit accessibility toolkit a few years ago

1:31:50

There’s a various organizations that like our dedicated this topic but in terms of advisory committees

1:31:57

I know that this city they do have a disability advisory committee that like, you know

1:32:04

kind of speaks on various topics and influences For certain projects that they’re happening through the city. I know the Portland Art Museum

1:32:14

recently implemented accessibility Advisory Council as well

1:32:19

and in New York City, there’s also the museum access consortium as well that’s a group that kind of meets together around the topic of accessibility and and

1:32:31

from various like leading institutions arts institutions and in New York

1:32:38

Very common just the clarifying point. The person said the diversity of accessibility needs was the important aspect of that mesh

1:32:47

Message so oh the diversity of yeah. Oh I

1:32:55

I don’t know if there’s I think it’s pretty pretty codified. Usually like it we have

1:33:04

There’s not enough of those kinds of approaches to accessibility around I think certain times when when you know

1:33:11

I would say like the tangled arts in disability like the folks who put together that to look at, you know

1:33:17

Really embrace disability just as sort of approach so I would say any any

1:33:23

like intersectional sort of Approach to accessibility that’s really kind of centering folks that are underrepresented because like usually like disability folk

1:33:34

sent centered spaces are white and male and so we still have to do work within our

1:33:41

community to like, you know Center folks that and perspectives and intersections that don’t often get

1:33:48

Space and time so like I think that’s that’s the main problem is

1:33:55

You know, we we really have to embrace. I think that disability justice framework or an approach to accessibility. So

1:34:02

We are considering these other injury, you know these intersections with other forms of oppression and with other communities

1:34:09

As well, but no not often. Not not too many examples out there

1:34:23

Always gonna say the next thing on our Schedule is is is a sound piece. We’re going to have to see how that comes through to everybody

1:34:35

It’s it’s it’s about a it’s about 12 minute piece and It’s actually like highlights from interviews that I conducted a couple years ago

1:34:45

With folks who? Work in a gentleness. I’d neighborhood and Chinatown

1:34:51

And and again, I guess I really wanted to share this because it was a lot of these interviews were done before Vancouver

1:34:58

implemented its own cultural plan the City of Vancouver released this this ten year sort of cultural plan that kind of like

1:35:08

Talks about like what what where cultural funding will go and what will be prioritized and and really it

1:35:15

It is built around the idea of like equity and inclusion

1:35:20

and it’s called culture shift, so Before this whole cultural plan was going on. I was talking to a lot of folks who work in

1:35:28

grassroots Organizations about the work that they do how they serve their communities how they practice

1:35:35

Accessibility really to explore like the politics of support within these communities

1:35:41

And Maybe conversations that often get missed when when you know, maybe governments or cities or city departments

1:35:50

discuss accessibility and how to open that up

1:35:56

Okay, okay, I’ll share my screen

1:36:07

If we think about disability history and Americans with Disabilities Act for example

1:36:13

For many that was the first time that there was like a mass movement

1:36:19

To venture out or to find a way out of institutions Being institutionalized and some of first ways to participate in public space

1:36:29

and Accessibility has been a project that has been pretty much contained within policy

1:36:39

The ways and the dynamics set up by policy based models for accessibility of really modeled relationships between people who need care and

1:36:50

Support and people who have resources and can deliver those things

1:36:56

Even even we were speaking right now It’s not gonna be accessible to a bunch of folks and I’m really sensitive about that

1:37:04

I I have some of this language that I’ve learned in community and

1:37:10

For a while, I I wasn’t trying to pass myself off as someone who

1:37:16

had post-secondary education but I’ve been in situations where people thought oh this person has accessed academia and

1:37:26

That sort of becoming a weird shortcut for folks in their mind that okay. That means

1:37:33

Led is better equipped to talk about not only my own experiences But those of others and just this idea that there’s like the right way to talk about this stuff

1:37:45

It makes me super uncomfortable and and and really confused

1:37:51

calamity is an amazing activist Organizer that I work with and they’re always like when you go into a space whose bodies fit into the chairs

1:38:01

Who did they have in mind when they made these these spaces, right? Yeah How’s the the public space like so-called public space oriented? Who’s who’s it oriented for?

1:38:12

there’s a lot of spaces in the Downtown Eastside where people Certain people don’t feel very comfortable going in. So and other people are saying well, I don’t understand why because the door is open, so

1:38:24

Especially a bigger organization. So you just think like well, it’s free So everyone can just come and it’s like that’s actually not enough

1:38:33

hopefully thank your avenges on the other side of town or but their order they what they do is they’re starting to realize oh

1:38:41

We wanted to have it for those folks and then they’ll call it Carnegie or something Hey, can you bring all those people over not addressing the fact that actually that costs money for them to do all that

1:38:52

We have a decision-making structure that is intended for participants of the space to be able to make decisions about how the space runs and

1:39:01

You know most people who are on the collective or folks who’ve been marginalized because of mental health stuff I find that that’s a

1:39:10

a radical proposition Which is like shouldn’t be it shouldn’t be radical that like someone’s like a group of people with a mental health

1:39:20

diagnosis are able to like make decisions about finances and hiring and firing and like

1:39:27

programming and whatever like that’s how it should be like even other organizations that are similar to gay where there’s like art and

1:39:35

mental health or disability Often times they’re like more of a service provision model like a day program for people to come and make art or

1:39:45

like physically located inside of psychiatric institutions And people whose artwork is being shown or like incarcerated. They’re basically, you know, so

1:39:56

So it’s it’s a pretty unique model in a lot of ways the assumption that we try to begin with. Is that everyone has

1:40:02

the capability to like make decisions and to take responsibility for their community and

1:40:09

Try to support that you know Speaking like for myself and my embodiments

1:40:15

See sexism and misogyny that I experience Is rooted in ableism

1:40:22

because women’s brains are smaller and We’re weaker and we don’t have the capacity to

1:40:32

Have I need to have a meaningful conversation and that’s by virtue of our physical bodies our biology and

1:40:41

You know that idea of ableism and then also my my queerness and my transness oh, there’s something wrong with this person’s brain for them to think that

1:40:50

You know they could exist outside of this binary or that they could exist in a way that is not in line with the

1:40:59

hetero patriarchal system

1:41:05

And then also racism that’s rooted in ableism – it’s like this idea that you know there there are

1:41:13

Inferior Races of people and so the then and white supremacy completely operates, it could not exist without ableism

1:41:21

Ableism is like all of these fucked up systems best friend and it’s their go to it. All it all seems to always

1:41:29

Go back to the the body and how all these bodies are different from this

1:41:35

one type of body it means everyone is it means it means the majority of the world is

1:41:42

disabled the majority of the world is incapable and Not worth as much

1:41:50

Doesn’t deserve happiness survival to thrive access

1:42:00

Like I guess a I feel like it’s trying to define how what accessibility means I guess is kind of hard because

1:42:07

It means things that haven’t happened yet, you know It’s holding a space and that’s that’s responsive to

1:42:17

What happens in it? And Who’s there at the time, you know? the idea that

1:42:23

someone out of the blue can’t come to facilitate or help with a workshop because they’re having a bad mental health day and they can’t come then trying to like

1:42:31

okay, we need to always have a backup person or you know these things that that I hadn’t really thought of before and

1:42:38

Okay, well We need to put these in place in how we work because that’s just the reality of

1:42:44

the people we work with them who we want to support and and Then also not make them feel bad that they can’t make it. It’s like that’s fine. No problem. We have backup for you

1:42:52

It’s not a stressful situation. We’re trying to make that work too soon We’re sustained her grants. Right? So like we need somebody who can like write grants that make sense to funders to government foundations

1:43:03

Someone who understands the legal somebody who understands bookkeeping somebody who understands those things and I think that like members are collective

1:43:10

Do you understand those things? But you know sometimes part of being being labeled as having

1:43:15

a disability or having a mental illness is like That you’ve got cycles to your life where there are certain times where you just can’t do stuff and when you’re when you’re writing

1:43:25

Grants to survive as an organization. You’re operating as somebody else’s rhythm. Like, you know, it’s an institution’s rhythm

1:43:33

It’s not the rhythm of your community. And so you you know you need folks are able to

1:43:39

Kind of bridge both of those worlds. I

1:43:44

Don’t know like when when you hear that accessible cannons Hoping to be an innovative approach to to legislation around accessibility right now like nothing about it

1:43:53

it talks about being more like repercussions being harsher for people who don’t

1:44:00

Employ these policies which is like yeah, how are you gonna model good relationships between people who need support and people who are providing if

1:44:10

You know, it’s based on enforcement If we’re really thinking about like supporting disabled artists and like disabled folks

1:44:18

It’s like it’s not just like helping them get their arts thing done. Right? It’s about the bigger inter

1:44:25

Inter dependency piece of like how are folks gonna get their dinner tonight? And how are folks gonna drive to their medical appointment?

1:44:32

So it’s such a base a bigger picture thing of like that community container of support right? I

1:44:40

can be in a room and understand every word a person is saying

1:44:47

But I can also be somewhere completely different Or I get stuck on a couple of words like I understand the words

1:44:52

But I don’t understand what they’re saying and I find it can be really difficult

1:44:57

To engage in that way and you know make space for myself to say could you repeat the question or I don’t understand

1:45:04

But a lot of the time, you know, I kind of just have to pretend that I understand what’s being said

1:45:11

And I don’t see that as you know anything negative about myself

1:45:17

It’s just, you know people exist on different planes

1:45:23

People aren’t good come to this thing If there is no food, for example let’s say whatever the thing you’ve thought of certain things because you know from the past that

1:45:33

Like people are like I got a ghost and and a food line up I can’t come dancing or I got a ghost wait for my shelter. I can’t come to this thing. So

1:45:41

it is you learn on a daily basis of like oh man what the challenges people are facing and so

1:45:50

We’re trying to make it formalized and we’re trying to write that into the money If we are doing a project

1:45:55

We’re trying to get enough money to cover all these things that include as much as that as we’ve thought of beforehand

1:46:00

of course, once the things start you’re like, oh we forgot we didn’t think about people who

1:46:06

need this kind of helped to make sure they come in and so either you have to assemble around and read your budget or

1:46:13

Saying okay for it. Well, we can’t do it this time so next time we got to make sure we add that as anything and I think that’s part of this whole learning process about like

1:46:21

what does that even mean accessibility you it’s almost impossible to think of all the

1:46:26

things before the thing starts and I think in some ways – we’re we’re a little bit naive like cuz we’re so new and

1:46:34

We’re like, well, we’ll just do this and then you’re like in hindsight It’s like oh, you know what we should have done and so it’s really a big learning process. I think

1:46:43

And I feel like this is an accessibility thing, right because a lot of us are dealing with PTSD And different kinds of trauma and it’s like just connecting with people and with gentleness

1:46:55

connecting with people with the benefit of the doubt that they’re If they can’t come or the fae things are coming up that it’s not that they don’t have it

1:47:02

They hate me or that it’s not personal that it’s like they are dealing with their stuff And to really step outside of what I have been socialized in that way and to be like they’re doing what they need to take

1:47:13

care of themselves As opposed to like they hate me or they’re mad at me or something and if that stuff comes up to also be able to talk about that stuff and that’s really different from how I grew up and

1:47:23

what I know so I feel like that’s the way that we are thinking about accessibility and are

1:47:30

Caring about each other in a in a really hard centered way Yeah

1:47:36

that sounds like a practice that’s ongoing and that it’s not like a job that’s ever over and it seems to also be guided by your

1:47:46

Beliefs and like what you hold to be true and no like there’s there’s a politics about it. It seems

1:47:55

and And like what? What would make a space? welcoming

1:48:00

To a marginalized person. Well, it’s like an oxymoron like I need to not be marginalized

1:48:15

Hi everybody Thanks for listening. And and it’s for anything that I also yeah

1:48:22

we have until the end of the meeting just time for open discussion and and reflection in response to to what we we’ve been talking about and penned listen to

1:49:00

If you like to speak first, yeah, yeah, okay. I’m just trying to summarize this question

1:49:17

Just the statement came from reading that I want statements

1:49:23

Some of the statements seem to describe opposite wat So in terms of logistics of setting up a event or activity, so that is accessible to everyone with all their complex needs

1:49:34

It seems like you could potentially be confronting with a situation where they’re posing needs

1:49:40

I was under if you have dealt with this how to support folks with seemingly

1:49:46

Opposed needs I can imagine there’s several solutions along the lines of shifting your own perspective

1:49:54

But I’m so simply wondering how you have approached this possible issue in the past or you might have learned from the past experiences

1:50:04

I Feel like most of the time

1:50:09

Accessibility is so limited that you’re not accommodating enough needs for there to be a conflict

1:50:15

And so I would say that when it comes to whether we like, you know

1:50:20

Try to accommodate very some active individual needs In a room and try you know

1:50:26

Like so that I want statements that that this this person posing the question was referring to is a list of

1:50:34

statements that kind of came out of my process with The group from gallery Gachet that audited the vancouver art gallery and everybody was asked

1:50:43

Sort of what conditions must be in place for them to feel welcome

1:50:48

at the Vancouver Art Gallery or for them to thrive as an artist and and so they came up with a series of I want statements that kind of just like represented everything from you know,

1:50:59

I want people in positions of power to be a be poor sick and trans persons of color

1:51:07

– I want the vancouver art gallery to stop charging over $20 for admission and

1:51:15

They really kind of spoke to specific needs and and some some of them

1:51:21

you know where it could be potentially in conflict when we were posing these I wants it was to sort of like

1:51:28

Develop a framework for how to assess the vancouver art gallery and these are a lot of these considerations

1:51:34

fall like way outside of The frameworks that we typically use to you know gauge whether something is accessible or not

1:51:45

And you know, some of them went into personal preference some of went into you know, politics and and various things like that

1:51:54

In in a few events that I posted I can think of

1:52:00

Yeah, like there’s like who’s in the I think I would say I would privilege giving access to

1:52:07

people over limiting like I mean like I would say let’s deal with the conflicts when they arise and if you have a situation where you’re

1:52:16

Accommodating people’s individual needs and there’s a potential conflict and and you’re in that that that situation

1:52:22

I think you’re doing pretty good in terms of accessibility And then that’s like the next like we can we can we can address those conflicts once we get there

1:52:30

that is an issue though like that that is common problem and And I think there’s there’s a lot of you know, there’s there’s folks discourse around this about conflicting accessibility

1:52:43

But I think if we’re broadening what accessibility means and what the responsibilities of the institution is

1:52:51

where to get dedicate those resources to I think I think we’re we’re probably approaching accessibility more closely holistically and and maybe

1:53:03

like worrying about Potential conflicts although those you know, it’s very relevant and and and and of course we can get address those when they do pop up.

1:53:16

I’ve experienced personally Like for me something accessible is providing food

1:53:23

but people who have very severe allergies or severe sense and

1:53:29

the Smelling particular so um with that, you know

1:53:34

Just again communicating to people and learning that certain veggies are really great to have and maybe that won’t be as bad for

1:53:42

people’s allergies or sensitivities And always like if you need to problem-solve around these kinds of things and you

1:53:50

Need to consult with like a community member someone with lived experience Like I mean, it’s always best to talk to the person who’s using the service or using

1:54:00

You know requires the accommodation and or has the lived experience and you know, ideally

1:54:05

You know if the institution or organization is going to benefit or be better for you know

1:54:12

After that consultation like they definitely should be compensating the person that’s offering that perspective

1:54:18

because I think that’s part of the like the project of accessibility is

1:54:26

Yeah, it’s approaching is realizing like all these dimensions of accessibility and how like I mean

1:54:34

there’s so much extra labor on folks who are disabled in in just like scaffolding for their own accessibility and

1:54:42

advocating for themselves and for other people too that can’t show up who are in their community because of

1:54:47

The state of access like I think any any thing that folks can do if they do have access to a platform

1:54:55

access to a budget resources You know, we need to find ways to address that it that that systemic inequality. I

1:55:05

Think and and if we’re doing that and thinking creatively about how to do that

1:55:11

I think I think this is what I’m really talking about about approaching approaching

1:55:16

accessibility as a living practice and ongoing negotiation

1:55:24

You know, what does it mean to to Like hold accessible space that’s gonna be different in every community and in

1:55:35

every context So I think it’s it’s really like intentionally starting a conversation about that and then building on that as well

1:55:43

through like actions and Yeah and real investment

1:55:49

It looks like we have a couple questions and the person raising their hands But maybe I’ll limit to one because we’re running out of time here. Okay?

1:55:59

So president asks, I wonder about these kinds of joyful access we can find and experiences you have had

1:56:07

Being heart filled and exciting and finding new ways to care for each other I’m hoping that leaves that one thing that comes out of this pandemic is learning to understand how empowering

1:56:18

Empowering and powerful it is to learn to care for each other That’s a great place to

1:56:24

Yeah, I’d love to speak on that and and I think the thing that’s been really hopeful for me through this all has been the mutual aid efforts that have

1:56:33

Emerged and have people just you know, letting others know like this is what I can offer

1:56:39

and you know people feeling Like they can actually say what they need and and and disclose in in various situations

1:56:48

And and and I think that’s that’s that’s hopeful like, you know people coming together To show up for each other to to provide counseling

1:56:58

All these all these things but joyful

1:57:03

accessibility I think I think a lot of Exciting work is happening within the disability arts movement. And I think there’s a lot of artists that address accessibility

1:57:14

Creatively because of whether for their own Survival and well-being or just because it’s it’s a topic that that they’re excited about

1:57:23

one really great local example that I’d love Is and that I got to experience last summer. Actually, it was called

1:57:33

Finger works for fireworks and it was it was presented by vocal eye descriptive arts

1:57:39

Which is an organization here in Vancouver that provides live visual description at and mostly at theater events. So like they try to

1:57:48

Give visual context the content the visual context that the low vision or blind person watching

1:57:57

Would be missing and they try to find their points in the performance

1:58:03

To deliver this information where there’s no dialogue or but there’s like a lull or something like that

1:58:09

And so they usually do that kind of work, but they were working with this one Artist who kind of doesn’t really consider himself an artist named Colin van Uchelen and he’s he’s a blind

1:58:21

Adult who? Developed this method for Interpreting these the fireworks displays in Vancouver. So, you know, we have this tradition of the celebration of light, you know

1:58:33

I guess there’s you know, there’s countries that are competing who has the best fireworks display. Colin has always

1:58:41

Had a passion for fireworks and as his vision was declining he found different ways

1:58:46

to make it keep that that experience meaningful for him and eventually landed on this method for his friends to both describe the

1:58:57

fireworks to him the color movement and shape but also to like Make these like hands

1:59:04

like these impressions on his hand arm and back that kind of represent the the Shape and the movement of the fireworks as well and and over time

1:59:15

he kind of developed this program with Vocal Eye descriptive arts where they like did this training program and on how to

1:59:23

Describe describe the fireworks both like, you know through through

1:59:29

Just Verbal description, but then also through these tactile like hand articulations

1:59:37

and they’ve been offering this these kind of like this this program for the last

1:59:43

Just five years and and so you kind of just like sit and watch the fireworks and have someone behind you

1:59:49

It’s a one-on-one experience and they kind of just like are describing the the the display

1:59:55

Subjectively while impressing on your back and I felt like it was such a like. I am usually really skeptical about

2:00:03

Accessibility programs and I’m like, okay who’s designed this experience for me? And you know, were they a person with lived experience?

2:00:11

I’m usually not consulted on the things that I experience that are you know that are available to me

2:00:17

You know in a museum context for example but like this fireworks display was like so different and it was so moving and I felt I felt like it almost like

2:00:27

Elevated experience in a way. That wasn’t Wasn’t available to like the

2:00:34

Hundred thousand people that were were also just like taking in a visual sense

2:00:40

So that’s one like great example that I could think of that’s pretty local here. I

2:00:46

Also think I mean, I love bringing this example up. There was this reading series called reverb a queer reading series

2:00:53

That ran for a few years here in Vancouver. They usually ran out of Gallery Gachet it was $1.00 to participate or

2:01:01

a sliding scale It was really intended to you know

2:01:06

the whole purpose of the project was to make space for queer poets of color

2:01:13

and And they kind of just made this commitment to adopt a new accessibility protocol

2:01:20

every month that they met so you know, they ran for about seven years and at the end of their run their final event, like they just they you know,

2:01:30

they just would take requests from their community and then do the work to implement that accessibility protocol by the next event and

2:01:37

I had the chance of hosting them for their last event in

2:01:42

2015 and there was like over a hundred people that showed up for a poetry event in the middle

2:01:48

You know on a weekend on the in the afternoon Which was amazing

2:01:55

itself, but but also there there was just like the room was just kind of alive with all of these accessibility practices from

2:02:03

You know ASL to Transcription and

2:02:14

Graphic recording and all of these things that would came through recommendations through from their public and it just kind of grew into this project about accessibility, but at its heart it was this

2:02:26

this project to make space for Underrepresented poets so I just I love that example as well

2:02:33

And I think that’s amazing approach to accessibility that can evolve over time as well

2:02:40

Well, thank you so much Carmen for taking all this time with us and thank you all for joining us

2:02:46

I’m especially to Duncan who has also been monitoring the chat to Michele Dino and Joshua

2:02:53

For volunteering to read with us And just a note that on Monday April

2:02:59

27th Carmen will be joining us again with Parker Johnson, who is a

2:03:05

a victoria based facilitator to have a community conversation to think about future isms in art

2:03:13

You have anything else to add Carmen? uh no, I all I I would like to promote too unsettling dramaturgy, which is a

2:03:24

Convening of like disabled and indigenous artists that I’m part of you could is find unsettling

2:03:31

dramaturgy on Facebook and we’re hosting like these these zoom praxis sessions in the next few weeks – and and there’s a couple archived online that you can find – and

2:03:41

really ideas – We’ve been meeting for over a year on zoom just thinking through like various ways of gathering in a good way across communities across

2:03:52

boundaries and and borders and You know check that out and and everybody. Thank you for the time

2:04:00

You know, hopefully we have the opportunity to be in a room someday together

2:04:05

And get further into these topics. I look forward to to

2:04:11

Everybody chatting to everybody soon and be safe

No results found