AGENDA – as of 7/7/10
2010 Second Annual Audio Description Project (ADP) Conference
An Initiative of the American Council of the Blind (ACB)
“DESCRIBERS TELL IT LIKE IT IS!”
Phoenix Downtown Sheraton Hotel - July 12-14, 2010 – Phoenix, AZ
Note: -Mornings are kept open for attendance at ACB Convention plenary sessions;
-The ADP luncheon is scheduled for Wednesday; contact concerning any special dietary requirements.
Day I – Monday, July 12, 2010
1:00 pm-1:30 pmWelcome/Introduction to the ADP–
Mitch Pomerantz, President, American Council of the Blind
Kim Charlson, 1st Vice President, American Council of the Blind;
Chair, Audio Description Project Committee, ACB
Joel Snyder, Director, ADP
1:30 pm-2:30pmADP Website / AD—What Works? -- ADP Webmaster and long-time describer Fred Brack will update attendees on the ADP Website features ( developed over the past year. Fred will moderate a panel discussion with two description users and twodescribers on “what works” in the development of description in variousformats/genres (performing arts, museums, media, etc.)
2:30 pm-3:30 pmLegislative Update – mandate for broadcast description; broadcast description in the digital era and the FCC; Department of Education funding; news regarding 508 updates and U.S. Access Board activities
Eric Bridges, Director of Advocacy and Governmental Affairs, ACB;
Timothy P. Creagan, Senior Accessibility Specialist, U.S. Access Board;
Karen Peltz Strauss, long-time access advocate, Deputy Chief, Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau, Federal Communications Commission
3:30 pm-4:00 pmbreak
4:00 pm-4:45 pmSpecial guests—Arizona Assistant Attorneys General Rose Daly-Rooney and Cathleen Dooley-- Attorneys General Daly-Rooney’s and Dooley’s work on behalf of access to thearts was a critical factor in the recent victory regarding captions and descriptionforpresentations at an Arizona chain of movie theaters.
AGENDA – as of 7/7/10
2010 Audio Description Project (ADP) Conference
An Initiative of the American Council of the Blind (ACB)
“DESCRIBERS TELL IT LIKE IT IS!”
Phoenix Downtown Sheraton Hotel - July 12-14, 2010 – Phoenix, AZ
Day I – Monday, July 12, 2010- Continued
4:45 pm-5:30 pmCertification for Arts Describers: The Future—and the Past (Learning From Our Sign Interpretation Colleagues)–Julie Gebron of Portland, OR (a certified* sign interpreter and seasoned audio describer!)will review thewell- established proceduresof the Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf for the inclusion of sign interpreters inthis nationally-respected certification process. Julie is the author the landmark publication Sign The Speech: An Introduction to Theatrical Interpreting.
* Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf and National Association of the Deaf
5:30 pm-6:30 pmPeople with Disabilities in the Production of Description– PART TWO
Last year’s attendees enjoyed “Part One” of this session, a live audio presentation by Rick Boggs, President, Audio Eyes and The Accessible Planet; Former Director of Described Media, VITAC. This year, Rick joins us along with top audio editor, Phoenix-based Chris Snyder (totally blind)to demonstrate important description techniques and illustrate the ways in which description production benefits by collaboration with description users
Dinner on your own
8:00 pmScreening of “It’s Complicated” with description provided by WGBH!
Day II – Tuesday, July 13, 2010
1:30 pm-3:50pmAudio Description Around the World – Chaired by Bernd Benecke
1:30-1:35 pmIntroductions—Bernd Beneckeof Bayerischer Rundfunk in Munich
1:35-1:55 pmAudio Description in Germany -- Bernd Benecke, long-time description trainer and producer of description for Bayerischer Rundfunk in Munichwill demonstrate his work and share his informed perspective.
1:55-2:10 pmAudio Description in Spain and throughout academia -- Dr. Pilar Orero, worldwide leader in “audiovisual translation” academic programs and the Director of the AV Translation Program at the Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona, will review how audio description is taught on the graduate level and how AD users access description in Spain.
2:10-2:25 pmAudio Description in the U.K. -- Dr.Sabine Braun leads the audiovisual translation and audio description studies at the University of Surrey in the U.K. Sabine will outline the widespread availability of description in a wide range of formats throughout the U.K. We’ll get some hints on how other nations can “catch up” with the level of AD available in the U.K and the state of audio description in academia.
AGENDA – as of 7/7/10
2010 Audio Description Project (ADP) Conference
An Initiative of the American Council of the Blind (ACB)
“DESCRIBERS TELL IT LIKE IT IS!”
Phoenix Downtown Sheraton Hotel - July 12-14, 2010 – Phoenix, AZ
Day II – Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Continued
2:25-2:40 pmAudio Description in Sweden -- Peter Lilliecrona will report from Sweden. Peter is a leader of the audio description interest group “Audio Description NOW”. He will present the unique Swedish perspective on audio description.
2:40-3:00pmSpecial Report from Japan -- Dr. Chieko Asakawa and Dr. Hironobu Takagi, IBM, Tokyo Dr. Asakawa and Dr. Takagi present ground-breaking research by IBM on speech synthesis and its potential application to description. They will also share information on current description activity in Japan.
3:00-3:15 pmAudio Description in Argentina -- Pablo Perez of Antarctica Films in Buenos Aires will tell us about description activity in Argentina and his own interest in incorporating description within Antarctica Films’ productions.
3:15-3:30 pmAudio Description in Brazil -- Dr. Francisco Lima, Associate Professor at the Universidade Federal de Pernambuco in Recife, Brazil. Dr. Lima supervises students studying audio description and will report on his students’ research and audio description work throughout Brazil.
3:30 pm-3:50 pmAudio Description in Australia -- AD is alive and thriving down under! John Simpson of Vision Australia will provide an overview.
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3:50 pm-4:15 pmbreak
4:15pm-5:00pmDescription for Media—Film and DVD (and AD in Canada!) -- Entertainment lawyerDana Walker (formerly Vice President, Business Development and now consultant to DVD distributor Shout Factory;founder ofNew Media Resources and describedmedia.com) and David Errington, CEOof Canada’s Accessible Media, Inc. and “The Accessible Channel”, will brief us on their efforts and offer thelatest news ondescription on DVDs and downloads, and share the latest indescription throughout Canada.
5:00 pm-6:30 pmACB/ADP Guidelines-Best Practices – review/discussion
Dinner on your own
8:00 pmScreening of described educational video and discussion
Described and Captioned Media Program (DCMP) and Update on
Listening Is Learning – a joint initiative of the Described and Captioned Media Program (DCMP) and the Audio Description Project –
Bill Stark, Director and Wanda Shipman, librarian specialist for children who are blind or have low vision
AGENDA – as of 7/7/10
2010 Audio Description Project (ADP) Conference
An Initiative of the American Council of the Blind (ACB)
“DESCRIBERS TELL IT LIKE IT IS!”
Phoenix Downtown Sheraton Hotel - July 12-14, 2010 – Phoenix, AZ
Day III – Wednesday, July 14, 2010
1:30 pm-3:00 pmLuncheon with guest speaker – Lynn Manning
Photo of Lynn Manning by Christopher Voelker
Audio description enthusiast Lynn Manningis an award winning poet, playwright, actor, Paralympic Silver-medalist, and former World Champion of blind judo. Based in Los Angeles, he's co-founder and President of Watts Village Theater Company; president of FireHouse Theater Company; a member of The Actors' Studio Playwright/Directors Unit West, and associate artist with Cornerstone Theatre Company. The Center Theatre Group’s world premiere production of Lynn's autobiographical, one man stage play,Weights (One Blind Man’s Journey), received three NAACP Theater awards in 2001, including Best actor for Lynn. He has since performed Weights (One Blind Man’s Journey)from London to Off Broadway, from Croatia to Toronto, and from Edinburgh to The Adelaide Fringe. Lynn's award winning play, Shoot, is included in the ground breaking collection, Beyond Victimsand Villians (Contemporary Plays by Disabled Playwrights). His poetry is featured in the 2006 anthology, Voices From Leimert Park. .An audio CD of Weights (One Blind Man’s Journey)was released byBridge Multimedia in 2005.
Visit
3:00 pm-3:30 pmbreak
3:30 pm-4:30 pmACB/ADP Awards – Presented by Chris Gray, Immediate Past President, ACB; Chair, ADP Awards Committee
- “Young Described Film Critic of the Year” Awards Presentations
- Achievement in Audio Description – Media
- Achievement in Audio Description – Performing Arts
- Achievement in Audio Description – Museums
- Achievement in Audio Description – International
- Dr. Margaret Pfanstiehl Memorial Achievement Award in Audio Description – Research and Development
- Barry Levine Memorial Award for Career Achievement in Audio Description
AGENDA – as of 7/7/10
2010 Audio Description Project (ADP) Conference
An Initiative of the American Council of the Blind (ACB)
“DESCRIBERS TELL IT LIKE IT IS!”
Phoenix Downtown Sheraton Hotel - July 12-14, 2010 – Phoenix, AZ
Day III – Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Continued
4:30 pm-5:15pmArizona—Description Abounds! -- Eileen Bagnall of ARTAbility Arizona and VSAarts of Arizona will detail how Arizona describers provide access to the visual image at performances, events and exhibitions throughout the state. During theACB Convention and Conference, VSAarts of Arizona will provide an audio described tour for ACB members of Phoenix’s Heard Museum and aperformance of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat at the Broadway Palm Dinner Theater.
5:15 pm-5:45 pmWikiscribe It! -- Will Grignon, lawyer, professor, writer, speaker, and entrepreneur, is founder and president of Wikiscribe It! ( an online repository of detailed descriptions of images in accessible text format-- and its affiliated charitable organization Descriptions For The Blind Inc. ( Sighted until the age of 31, Will completed his MFA from UCLA and his JD from Pepperdine University.
5:45 pm-6:30 pmOpen Sharing / Discussion
6:30 pmAdjourn