While reflecting back on my internship, the one thing that stood out to me most was the play “Waiting for the Bus” that Celia invited me to. It was an extremely eye-opening theater play that explored patience, hope, and the human condition about those with developmental and/or intellectual disabilities while also explaining the history of the disability rights movement. I learned about a lot of things that I had no idea had happened like the Capitol Crawl and it showcased a lot of hard topics such as the history of eugenics against disabled people, their general hatred for being called “special ed”, and how being placed in schools meant to care for them can lead to abusive environments and them getting essentially abandoned by their families. It was a very hard play to watch, but it felt very necessary to see. 

The play was told through the perspective of someone with an intellectual disability who waits for the bus at a bus stop because they want to leave the institutional facility that their family had placed them in; and between each bus stop scene is an event that was important for the disability rights movement. One of the scenes that stood out to me most was when the main character believed that they would get to leave the facility and how they were confident that they could learn to support themselves by getting a job at the grocery store while living with their sister, only to learn from the facility that they were deemed to be “not ready for society yet” and that his guardian (his sister) wasn’t able to take care of him because she was going to get married and was expecting a baby soon. I think that the play really hit home the feeling of being trapped in a bubble with no power of your own as you watch the people you love live lives without you and really pushes for the idea that what is most important for disabled people is independence and the ability to do things by themselves. 

In the audio description training for museums that I’m finalizing this week, I hope to integrate making spaces for people to draw their own conclusions. Through my recent completion of the Art Spark audio description training modules, I learned a lot about the importance of brevity, word choice, and even tone when doing audio description and this continues to relate back to my own knowledge as an Informatics major where we primarily study how people take in information and share it with those around them. Bias is in everything, especially in our tone and word choice, and it makes a lot of sense why audio describers typically watch something first before scripting up what they plan to say because it can be hard to decide word choice on the fly during live stage plays.

See Elana’s final presentation based on her internship with Art Spark Texas on our YouTube Channel.

Download the transcript to go along with the presentation.

As I continue working underneath Celia Hughes at Art Spark TX, I’m learning more about the best practices for audio description and hope to incorporate color theory and common color associations into the training that I am creating for museums. While starting this project, I was tasked with going through the training modules that were created to train audio describers and it stood out to me that the first module was primarily addressing what exactly blindness was. It had gone completely over my head about including this in the training that I’m creating and it also made me question what I knew myself.

Alt Text: Elena holding the Audio Description hardware as she sets-up for the show at Ground Floor Theatre.

I recently created a form that would collect people’s associations with colors in order to help with my desire to incorporate color theory into my audio description training and one of the first questions is for the person to describe the blindness. Although I knew about several different types of blindness and was aware that blindness was a spectrum, the various answers that I received still surprised me and it showed how little I knew about blindness. Despite growing up with possible retinal detachment, having my sister experience corneal degenerations, and having a cousin who had cataracts at a young age, there were still terms and definitions that I didn’t know about. One of the videos that Celia had me go through in my training modules was “Blindness is a Spectrum”, a YouTube video that had different blind YouTubers explain their vision loss. Terms like Retinitis Pigmentosa, Stargardt’s Disease, and Hermansky-Pudlak Syndrome Type 3 were all said within the first minute of the video and it showed me that there are still aspects to blindness that I should be aware of and learn more about because it really helped me frame the idea of blindness being a spectrum better.

Alt Text: Elena assists Adam as he tries out the audio description hardware.

With this in mind, a part of me wanted to focus more of the training on explaining what blindness was and to limit the time spent on colors and other artistic elements that museum docents would likely already be using in their work. However, Celia brought up the necessity of activating knowledge. While I might already be connecting the importance of explaining things like colors, lines, and shapes in audio description, the museum docents that my training is meant to teach may not realize that there is a strong connection between the explanation of those elements and their work as audio describers for blind visitors, so I definitely need to learn how to balance those two aspects as I create my training.

As I continue with my work, I want to integrate all of these things into my training while also playing up the strengths of the museum docents that the training is targeted towards. A hard truth that I had to confront was that I had no love or passion for abstract art, which went against Celia’s teachings of how you needed to love the art so that you can describe it as best as you can. I want to learn more about how museum docents talk about various types of art and there is so much that I can learn from the people around me as I create this training.

Alt Text: Elena and Celia pose for a selfie outside of the Ground Floor Theatre display.

May is Healthy Vision Month; established by the National Eye Institute in 2003, to educate people about the risks of ignoring the health of their eyes. The 2023 theme is Healthy Vision: A Family Focus, to inspire families to team up and learn how to protect their vision together. This year’s focus is on caregivers of children and older adults in Hispanic/Latino families, but all ethnic and cultural communities can benefit from this advocacy.

In honor of Healthy Vision Month, we are celebrating one of Art Spark Texas’ longest serving Audio Describers, Diana Payne. Originally from El Paso, Texas, Diana came to Austin to attend St. Edwards University, where she earned a degree in writing and rhetoric. After graduation, she started investigating weird and quirky opportunities where she would be able to put her rhetoric degree to good use. It was a podcast about Audio Description where she heard the opening scene of the Matrix described and became intrigued by the creative and technical aspects of AD. Following a weekend training retreat in North Carolina that sealed the deal, she returned to Austin where, to her delight, she learned that Art Spark Texas has been delivering AD services for years. The rest, as they can say, is history.

Diana started describing video clips for Art Spark through a service called extended description. The video is paused to deliver essential visual information, and it is most prevalent in educational environments. Diana’s first video was a black and white video that she remembers had something to do with groceries. It’s okay that she can’t remember because she has written scripts for hundreds of videos for Art Spark since then!

Just before the pandemic isolation, she started live describing in the Austin theaters. Her first show was Ann, at ZACH Theatre, starring Holland Taylor, and she was “really nervous.” In the beginning, she tended to over describe every little thing, but now she is more relaxed because she has developed her Describer reflexes. These allow her to know when to add information later if she forgets something important, to trust her instincts, and that more is not always better. She has, “gained a sense to let the work describe itself, and small movements may not be important.” But she really likes live describing, because she knows that people are in the audience listening to the description, and she hopes to be making it a more enjoyable experience. Hearing patron feedback is really satisfying, good or critical!

Asked how Audio Description has affected her appreciation of the arts, she said that she often finds herself trying to describe movies in her head, to see what words she can find to make it more understandable and enjoyable. She has a greater appreciation of the work that goes into producing a play; and really thinks about the arts through the lens of description all the time now, which “really excites me.” She actually spends some of her free time listening to described videos and films, because not only is it informative to her professional development, it inspires her to hear how other describers handle different visual information. She also admits that listening to description enhances her personal movie viewing and enjoyment. 

Diana offered a few suggestions for people who may be thinking about exploring Audio Description as a vocation or avocation: 

• Listen to a lot of Audio Description. Different types, including horror, comedy, drama, documentary, science fiction. Pay attention to language choices for the different genre, intended audience age levels, culture, etc.

• Seek out blind-centered discussions if you are a sighted describer. There are several informative and interesting conversations happening that concern the changing field of Audio Description, that can influence your development as a describer.  

• Get professional training! Look for trainers who have several years of audio description experience who co-train with blind or visually impaired individuals. 

• It is a rewarding and worthwhile service that takes good training and constant professional development to be good. So don’t give up!

Thank you Diana, for sharing your insights with others and keep describing!  

What is “A Day in the Life” of an Audio Describer like?

Well, each day is unique! I could be describing an algebra lesson, or a live webinar presentation, an eclectic animated music video, or preparing a script for an online art exhibit. Actually, that was just what I did last week! While each job involves different subject matter knowledge, we always use the same core skills of observe, analyze, and communicate to create an audio description.

Observe

First, I watch. If it is a video, I have the luxury to watch it over and over as many times as needed. If it is a live event, sometimes you only get the one time to watch! What am I looking for as I watch? I am looking for the visual activity that provides added understanding to what is being said. Besides watching, I am listening to the words as well as to the silences. The longer natural pauses in the dialogue are my chance to add audio description.

Analyze

Next, I think about what I am seeing and decide how important it really is to moving along the action of the event. Have you ever created a slideshow? Sometimes, you just insert pictures into your slideshow that really aren’t important. This type of visual is what is known as decorative image or “eye candy.” Just something to break up the words on the slide or provide visual interest to keep the sighted audience from losing interest. So, do I need to describe that to the person who is blind and listening to this slideshow presentation? Probably not. But maybe, for example, if it is a funny cartoon and everyone laughs when they see it. The person in the audience who is blind wants to laugh too!

Communicate

Finally, after watching and thinking, it is time to write. I only have a few seconds to convey information, so I need to choose my words carefully. What is the most succinct, but expressive, way to say something about what I am looking at?

This process then continues until I am happy with my product. I watch again, speaking my description aloud. I analyze what I have written, and edit if it is confusing or too long.

Audio description is like a fun brain puzzle.

It involves both common sense and complex thinking at the same time. I can’t wait to find out what my next AD job will involve. Maybe a dance or a nature video, or even a history lesson.

To learn more about Audio Description, tune in to our virtual Community Conversation on Wednesday, July 29, 2020 at 7 pm CDT. View or Facebook event for more information.

Recent Audio Description

Art Spark Texas was pleased to provide the audio description, in both English and Spanish, for K’uku (‘Unripe Fruit’ in Quechua) an amazing composition for string quintet, percussion, voice, electronics, and video, with music by composer Pauchi Sasaki and video by artist Juan Carlos Yanaura. The piece was commissioned by the Americas Society, which had its world premiere July 23, 2020.

View the video on YouTube with audio description in English or in Spanish. There is an introduction segment by the artists, with the video portion starting at 8:30 for the English version and at 11:39 for the Spanish Version. Fast forward or rewind the video as needed.

Click here to see other audio description samples by Art Spark Texas.

Interested in Audio Description Services?

For more information about audio description, or to book a description or training, please contact Art Spark Texas at info@artsparktx.org, or call 1-866-489-8412.

April Sullivan
Programs Director, Art Spark Texas

Learn more about Art Spark Texas Audio Description Services here.

English

k’uKu World Premiere and Conversation with Audio Description. There is an introduction by the artists, with the video starting at 8:30:

Music of the Americas presents the online world premiere of “k’uKu”, a composition for string quintet, percussion, voice, electronics, and video, with music by Pauchi Sasaki and video by Juan Carlos Yanaura, commissioned by Americas Society. Shot during the COVID confinement in cities across the US and in Lima, the source video material is 3D scans made by the musicians with their phones in their homes and studios. These images become figures and environments that are in constant dialogue.

Commissioned by Americas Society, “k’uKu” (‘Unripe Fruit’ in Quechua) was originally conceived as a site-specific multimedia performance to take place in New York’s Central Park, and became a site-specific place for the virtual space created by Sasaki and Yanaura.

The online event includes a conversation between the artists and Music Director Sebastián Zubieta, and also feature Sasaki’s earlier work “Borealis”, giving the audience a broader context to appreciate their collaboration. Performers will include members of the orchestral collective The Knights alongside percussionist Haruka Fujii and Sasaki herself on voice.

Support for this world premiere also comes from The National Endowment for the Arts. Audio description in English and Spanish provided by Art Spark Texas.

Pauchi Sasaki: composer, voice, electronics
Juan Carlos Yanura: video artist
Haruka Fujii: percussion
Emily Daggett Smith: violin*
Nanae Iwata: violin*
Kyle Armbrust: viola*
Jane Cords-O’Hara: cello*
Logan Coale: bass*
*Musicians from The Knights
Copyright © 2020 ASCOA / P. Sasaki / All Rights Reserved

Spanish

k’uKu World Premiere and Conversation with Audio Description

​https://youtu.be/hovmIJCoLjM

Después de varias semanas de un intenso proceso creativo junto a Juan Carlos Yanaura, lanzamos con mucho cariño este arriesgado video (grabado casi todo con celulares!) en el que participaron músicos de Ithaca, NYC, Berkeley y Lima. No se lo pierdan este jueves 23 de julio a las 7pm el Live webcast en Music of the Americas.
Descripción de audio en español proporcionada por Art Spark Texas.

Compositora: Pauchi Sasaki
Video artista: Juan Carlos Yanaura
Voces & Electrónica: Pauchi Sasaki
Violín 1: Emily Smith*
Violín 2: Nanae Iwata*
Viola: Kyle Armbrust*
Chelo: Jane Cords*
Contrabajo: Logan Coale*
Percusión: Haruka Fujii
Mezcla: Carlos Cuya
Copista: Gabriel Vizcarra
*Miembros de The Knights

Comisionado por Americas Society/Council of the Americas, con el apoyo de National Endowment for the Arts.

INTERESTED IN AUDIO DESCRIPTION SERVICES?

Learn more about Art Spark Texas Audio Description Services here, or to book a description or training, please contact Art Spark Texas at info@artsparktx.org, or call 1-866-489-8412.