Department: Music
MuseIT
Increasing awareness for hearing disabilities in the arts: The Deaf community experiences significant isolation when participating in music and performing arts. The community members lack access to collaboration opportunities with artists, arts institutions, and assistive technology developers to support them to actively participate in the arts. Although they experience access barriers to the artistic practices, Deaf artists, more specifically Deaf dancers, develop an enhanced level of embodied listening and understanding of sound through movement, touch, and expression. This summer we will collaborate with an Oakland-based Deaf dance company, Urban Jazz Dance, and its artists. Together with the institution, we will explore the ways they facilitate dance education and expression for people with hearing impairments as well as their specific needs and improvements.