Audio description in the making workshop with Cheryl Green and Thomas Reid

**Image description:** Poster of the workshop with pale purple lettering. AIM lab logo extends from the two corners of the poster, horizontally and vertically all the way down. The poster reads: AIM LAB PRESENTS, AUDIP DESCRIPTION IN THE MAKING WORKSHOP (put in a funky circle), FALL 2021, CO-FACILITATORS: Thomas Reid + Cheryl Green. Participants: Salima Punjani, Diego Bravo, Prakash Krishnan, Sabrina Ward, Pipier Curtis, Nicholas Goberdhan, Jessie Stainton, Caitlin Chan, Simone Lucas, Arseli Dokumacı, Raphaëlle Bessette-Viens, Sharlene Bamboat, Louisiance Leblanc. At the bottom the funders logos appear in black: Canada research Chairs and Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.

Audio description in the making workshop

Audio Description is usually described as a way to make art, TV, films, and theater accessible to blind and low vision audiences. It is often an add-on that gets created long after the art is finished, and the art is not created with Audio Description in mind. This three-part workshop will move Audio Description out of the realm of accessibility add-on and put it in the central role of art itself. Participants will begin with a catalyst piece of art, audio describe it, and then generate a whole new work using the Audio Description as the foundation. These new works will be shared at a virtual event later in the fall term. No prior experience with Audio Description is required. Fundamentals will be covered. Participants will have the possibility to exhibit their pieces on the AIM-Lab website and to participate in an online public panel.

September 30^th, October 7^th, October 14^th 2021, from 1-3:30 p.m.

Poster design: Roï Saade.

A mural of a line of enormous running horses in black and white on a red wall, manes blowing in the wind. Cheryl, a white woman with olive skin and long, curly brown hair, stands with arms folded in front of her, forearms chiseled from too many years typing, staring off in the direction the horses are headed. She has a solemn crow tattooed on one arm and wears a black t-shirt with white text, “No More Spoons” and a row of knives and daggers.

Cheryl Green MFA, MS is a multi-media digital artist, captioner, audio describer, a 2017 AIR New Voices Scholar, 2020 DOC NYC Documentary New Leader, and Digital Operations Lead and a Member-Owner at New Day Films. She brings her lived experience with multiple invisible disabilities to creating media that explores politically- and culturally-engaged stories from cross-disability communities. Cheryl captions and audio describes films for Kinetic Light, Superfest International Disability Film Festival, and Cinema Touching Disability, and leads workshops for artists and museums on arts accessibility. Her audio and written blog, transcribed podcast, Pigeonhole, and documentary films are at WhoAmIToStopIt.com. She lives in the ancestral homeland and current homeland of the Multnomah, Clackamas, Kathlamet, and many other tribes and bands in Portland, Oregon.
ID: A mural of a line of enormous running horses in black and white on a red wall, manes blowing in the wind. Cheryl, a white woman with olive skin and long, curly brown hair, stands with arms folded in front of her, forearms chiseled from too many years typing, staring off in the direction the horses are headed. She has a solemn crow tattooed on one arm and wears a black t-shirt with white text, “No More Spoons” and a row of knives and daggers.

A brown skin Black man with a clean-shaven bald head smiles into the camera. He has a goatee and is wearing dark shades and a gray button up shirt.

Thomas Reid is the host and producer of Reid My Mind Radio. A podcast featuring compelling people impacted by all degrees of blindness and disability. Occasionally, he shares stories from his own experience as a man adjusting to becoming Blind as an adult. Through his Flipping the Script on Audio Description series, Reid continues to explore the art by going beyond surface level topics and examining its implications on the community. Whether in his role as an Audio producer, Voice Over Artist, Audio Description Narrator & Advocate Thomas continues to use his voice to change perspectives around blindness and disability.