[accessibleimage] cuba, china, theater, artist, book

Hi,
6 articles, links come before each article and put "article " before each to seperate them.
Regards,
Lisa

article 1
Prensa Latina, Cuba
Saturday, October 29, 2005

Cuba Fights Exclusion with Culture

Havana, Oct 29 (PL) Cuban President Fidel Castro stressed that culture must be expanded as an antidote to economic and social marginalization, a scourge that pushes millions of people off the map and in Cuba is disappearing with a state program called the Battle of Ideas.

At a graduation of more than 3,000 art teachers on Friday night in Havana, he said the program already has palpable results here in spite of the US blockade of Cuba, and underlined the need to expand general education to make Cubans one of the most informed people on the planet.

He mentioned the fact that among those still studying in the novel art instructors program, plus those already graduated, the country has more than 20,000 young people ready to teach the arts.

More than half the new instructors are women and many come from underprivileged backgrounds, including people with physical disabilities, the blind, deaf and mute.

In it´s goal of providing education for all, he said the national plan consists of providing one computer for every 15 students.

Fidel Castro concluded his speech to the new cultural educators with a reminder: for human beings, anything is possible.

http://www.plenglish.com/article.asp?ID=%7BD8200FE2-8172-4E3E-8CF3-BFB7FAE90EE8%7D)&language=EN


article 2


http://www.hollywoodbowlart.com/spheres/artists.html **
Alisa Gabrielle is a sculptor and painter who had keratoconus. She was legally blind in both eyes for over 25 years. Then, a serious injury to her right eye left her with no choice but to have a corneal transplant. The surgery gave her the gift of sight. Today, Alisa can see nearly 20/40 without a corrective lense in her right eye. She is now able to continue her passion as a stone carver and painter. She has said, "since my vision has been challenged for so long, sculpture has been the perfect outlet for my self-expression, as my hands can often tell me more than my eyes." It is Alisa's hope that her pieces will stir up feelings of passion, longing, humor, reflection, and sexuality. As for the goddesses, and voluptuous figures in her canvases, she endeavors to honor the feminine spirit, and to show that women are beautiful in all shapes, sizes, and colors. Ms Gabrielle's work is sold internationally.


article 3

CRI, China
Saturday, October 29, 2005

Blind Man Builds 3-storey Building


The China Daily reports a blind man spent 25 years building a three-storied building, with his own hands.

The man surnamed Wang, a resident of Changchun in Jilin Province, is a master of massage. For many years he had dreamed of having a proper clinic, and he first planned the building two and a half decades ago.

He learnt about architecture and design and collected his materials from those discarded on construction sites.
His wife and two daughters helped him to complete the project.


http://en.chinabroadcast.cn/974/2005/10/29/63@xxxxxxxxx


article 4
http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/news.php?id=7809
http://www.wheelock.edu/wft/

SEE, HEAR, FEEL THE MUSIC: JAZZARTSIGNS, THE CUTTING-EDGE ARTS AND MUSIC EVENT
OF THE UPCOMING YEAR PRESENTED IN BOSTON MARCH 9, 2006 BY VSA ARTS OF
MASSACHUSETTS AND WHEELOCK FAMILY THEATRE

*Acclaimed Vocalist Lisa Thorson Improvises with Her Band, American Sign Language Interpreters, and a Painter, Along With Live Audio Describer and Text Captioner*

Making Live Jazz Accessible To All People With and Without Disabilities

In celebration of their 25th Anniversary Seasons, VSA arts of Massachusetts and Wheelock Family Theatre are pleased to present /JazzArtSigns/, Lisa Thorson's groundbreaking multimedia, multisensory and interactive improvised jazz performance piece for all audiences. The event takes place on Thursday, March 9, 2006 at 7:30 p.m. at the Wheelock Family Theatre, 200 The Riverway, Boston. Tickets $20; $10 students. Voice: 617-879-2300 * TTY: 617-879-2150. Email: tickets@xxxxxxxxxxxx

/JazzArtSigns/ performers include Lisa Thorson, vocals; Cercie Miller, saxophones; Tim Ray, piano; David Clark, bass; George Schuller, drums; Nancy Ostrovsky, improvisational painter; Jody Steiner and Misha Derrisaint, ASL interpreters; Vince Lombardi, audio describer; and Don DePew of The Caption Coalition.

Created in 1999 by veteran jazz vocalist, composer and Berklee College of Music Associate Professor Lisa Thorson, /JazzArtSigns/ provides a universally accessible, cross-disciplinary concert experience that redefines the way audiences interact with live performances. /JazzArtSigns/ features a group of world-class jazz musicians, an improvisational painter, American Sign Language (ASL) interpreters, a live audio describer and text captioner, as well as program information in Braille, large print and on tape. This interactive fusion of improvisation, music, visual art, and language encourages all audiences to participate in the spirit of acceptance, innovation and cooperation.

“Access to the arts and culture is still a rarity for many people with disabilities,” says VSA arts of Massachusetts' director Charlie Washburn. “Rarest of all are integrated events that make the artistic product available and accessible to people with a wide range of disabilities. /JazzArtSigns/ is a groundbreaking event because it provides people with and without disabilities the opportunity to interact with art and music from a variety of perspectives so that they literally see, hear and feel music as it is being performed.”

/JazzArtSigns/ creator Thorson, a wheelchair user, comments on her artistic vision. “Through /JazzArtSigns/ I hope to inspire new mainstream artistic projects that will take a holistic view of access to the arts - one where access is an element in the creative process rather than an add-on that restricts creativity. With /JazzArtSigns/, the ASL interpreter and painter trade fours with the band and everyone improvises. This is what makes this event so unique.”

/JazzArtSigns/ has been performed twice: in 1999 in Cambridge MA and in 2003 in Portsmouth, NH. Audiences responded with great enthusiasm. As Janet K. Marcous from Northeastern University's American Sign Language Department says: “/JazzArtSigns/ was the most extraordinary experience I've ever had with jazz. It left me feeling incredibly happy and with a sense of freedom that I don't often feel because I am deafblind... it captured every aspect of sound, sense, visionary collections, musical lyrics, movement, color, details, contrast and on and on.” And musician Luciana Souza says: “I felt privileged to have been an audience member at /JazzArtSigns/ - all my senses were stimulated as I felt a communal experience take place.”

In addition to the performance, VSA arts of Massachusetts is sponsoring workshops for students and presenters in jazz and painting improvisation, universal design in the arts and audience development. The purpose of these residency activities is to encourage community building of participants and presenters alike and give everyone a look at the future of cultural access.

/JazzArtSigns/ was developed in collaboration with VSA Arts of Massachusetts' National Cultural Arts Initiative with support from the New England Foundation for the Arts (NEFA) and the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA). /JazzArtSigns/ is also supported by the Berklee College of Music's Faculty Fellowship Program.

The creator and lead artist of /JazzArtSigns/, Lisa Thorson is an acclaimed Boston-based jazz vocalist, composer and educator. She has toured the U.S., Canada and Italy as a concert artist and jazz clinician, and has produced five recordings as a leader. Her 2002 release /Out to Sea/ which /The Boston Herald/ praised as “a stunning duet date”, features pianist Cho Yoon Seung. Thorson's 1999 release /Resonance/ was produced by Gunther Schuller for GM Recordings and has received unanimous critical acclaim. Michael Nastos (/All Music Guide/) hailed the CD as “one of the very best musical offerings of the year and an astonishing vocal document of the 90's.” She has also performed or recorded with jazz greats Sheila Jordan, Harvie Swartz, Herb Pomeroy, Jerry Bergonzi, Bruce Barth, Steve Grossman, Valerie Capers, Linda Hopkins, the Billy Taylor Trio and Kenny Wheeler.

An Associate Professor at Berklee College of Music and a performer for over 25 years, Thorson creates works in theatre and music that bring people together to effect social change. Thorson has been nominated Outstanding Jazz Vocalist in the Boston Music Awards, received the Humanitarian Entertainer of the Year Award in 1989 from the Boston Encore Awards for Excellence in Cabaret and was nominated by actress Jane Alexander and received a Living Legacy Award in 1992 from the Women's International Foundation in San Diego, CA. In 1996 she received an award from the Massachusetts Coalition for Citizens with Disabilities. She is the subject of two award winning documentaries /Key Changes; A Portrait of Lisa Thorson/, produced by filmmaker Cindy Marshall and /Lisa and Friends/, by producer Virginia Bartlett. Lisa has been a leader in the advocacy for full access to the arts for people of all abilities since 1980. She co-founded Next Move Unlimited, one of the first professional theater companies to bring performers with and issues of disability to the stage. She worked for over 15 years as an arts accessibility consultant with the National Endowment for the Arts and numerous non-profit, corporate and public organizations, including five years on the Board of the MA Cultural Council, a state agency. www.lisathorson.com

Now celebrating its 25th anniversary year, VSA arts of Massachusetts works to leverage access for people with disabilities through the arts. VSA arts of Massachusetts leads through a consortium of school systems, cultural institutions, universities, and human service agencies to creatively leverage programs, services, policy, and events in three program areas: 1) Create art programs in the schools to integrate students with and without disabilities, 2) Create programmatic and physical access to cultural and other public facilities, 3) Create sustainable opportunities in the arts for people with disabilities. VSA arts of Massachusetts represents part of an international network of VSA arts organizations founded in 1974 by Jean Kennedy Smith as an affiliate of The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. www.vsamass.org

Wheelock Family Theatre celebrates its 25th year of creating intergenerational and multicultural productions that provide a shared experience for the whole family. Their productions celebrate the diverse range of families found in the world today and seek to unite them in the shared experience of live theatre. WFT is especially dedicated to those who are historically under-served: people of color, people with disabilities, and low-income families. Winner of the 2005 Commonwealth Award, Massachusetts' Highest Honors in Art / Science / Humanities, and Winner of the 2005 LEAD Award from the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts & The Christopher Reeve Paralysis Foundation for Leadership in Accessibility, WFT was the first theatre in New England to audio-describe productions for blind patrons and the first in Boston to open caption all performances for patrons who are deaf or hard of hearing. Since their inception, they have interpreted every WFT production in American Sign Language for deaf patrons. WFT was instrumental in introducing these services and new technologies to other professional theatres in Boston. They are also one of the few theatres in America to offer a theatre education program for deaf teen-agers. Access is not limited to their audiences-actors who are blind, deaf, and physically disabled are given unprecedented performance opportunities on the WFT stage. Their access efforts have been hailed by the Bay State Council of the Blind and the Massachusetts State Association of the Deaf, among others. www.wheelock.edu/wft

article 5

excerpt
http://www.broward.com/mld/cctimes/news/local/states/california/counties/west_county/12185939.htm

LOCAL ARTISTS IN S.F. SHOW: Works by artists Lois Ann Barnett and Lacee King of the National Institute of Art and Disabilities in Richmond have been selected for inclusion in Insights 2005, the 16th annual national juried art exhibition of works by legally blind artists.

The works will be shown Aug. 17 through Oct. 28 at San Francisco City Hall. A public artists' reception will be held Aug. 31 from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m.

article 6

(unsure if this was sent before)
link to book site http://www.nowiseewhatyousee.com/

http://www.fox28.com/php/article.php?news_id=8293&PHPSESSID=145a7c543c377f72379a8c6944617ec9

BLIND ART BOOK DEBUTS LOCALLY

Beautiful works of art can be very inspiring ... if you have the sight to see them.

But a local woman has come up with a groundbreaking idea that allows blind people to see pictures, too.

Fox 28's Erika Edberg was there as she showed it off to some students for the first time.

Erika - FOX28 NEWS: Lisa Green has painted pictures for decades. But she knew there was a part of the population that could never see her work ... until now. She's created a book of art in Braille.

Lisa I just knew it needed to be done to open up a whole new world for them.

Erika - FOX28 NEWS: Lisa got the idea from all those years she went to art shows and her paintings would be on display. She said blind people would try to feel them, touch them and she wanted them to have a way to see art themselves.

Erika - FOX28 NEWS: She created carvings that became these pictures in a book.

Lisa Finally lo and behold I came up with a way to do not just one picture but to mass produce the pictures.

Erika - FOX28 NEWS: But she was still a bit nervous about showing her book to two blind students. Vinny Tirotta was first.

Lisa/Vinnie You'll be at the top. There you are. "Now I see what you see."

Erika - FOX28 NEWS: First he reads a description of an animal.

Vinnie Porcupines are rodents that make their homes in the woods.

Erika - FOX28 NEWS: Then for the first time, he feels the shape and texture of a porcupine, just like Lisa intended.

Lisa Green, CREATED BRAILLE ART BOOK I wanted him really piney, I wanted you to feel the prickles in him and know that he has those quills that can do damage.

Erika - FOX28 NEWS: Paula Monroy picked another picture, and identified it just by feeling.

Paula Monroy, FEELING PICTURES FOR FIRST TIME It feels like some type of insect but it's got wings and antennas so I'm guessing it's a butterfly. (butt 00 38 00) That's amazing. Whoever made these books we should thank them. That's Lisa, right over there. Thanks, Lisa!

Erika - FOX28 NEWS: Lisa tears up, just knowing people get it.

Lisa Years ago, they said a person wouldn't get these dots -- there's no way you're gonna get a blind child to read dots and get 'em to read Braille. I figured if they can get these dots they're gonna definitely be able to get these pictures.

Erika - FOX28 NEWS: Vinny and Paula proved her right. Erika Edberg, Fox 28 News.

Lisa's company will start printing the books on Tuesday.

They cost 59 dollars apiece, so she hopes people will help with donations so she can get them to as many children as possible.

If you'd like to donate or want a book for someone you know, call 1-888-641-7185.


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