Explore the sensory experience of communication between deaf and hearing people with sensory anthropologist Dr. Paula Bath.

In 2023, Paula Bath embarked on a research-creation project to explore the sensory experience of communication between deaf and hearing people.

Paula, along with a group of eleven (11) deaf and hearing participants re-told their experiences. Some of them were joyful and others, painful. Some shared an exact moment burned into their memory. Others shared a build-up of moments over a lifetime navigating communication barriers and oppression.

A reverberation is like a repercussion. It’s the continuing effect of an event, sound, or experience. Join us for an illuminating talk and video documentary about how we communicate across difference.

Dr. Paula Bath is a sensory anthropologist in the field of communication. She explores moments when ideas, structures, processes, and cultures are lived, negotiated, and experienced by Deaf and hearing people. Born into the dominant auditory/spoken language and cultural group, Paula later learned two sign languages: American Sign Language (ASL) and the Langue des signes québécoise (LSQ) from Deaf people. Married to a francophone deaf person and having hearing children, she lives and works within the interstitial spaces between deaf and hearing people. Starting out observing communication in-action as a sign language interpreter, Paula then moved into the field of federal communications regulatory policy making, video relay services, and research.

ÐÓ°ÉÔ­´´ Music professor Jesse Stewart believes that access to making music is a human right. When students and folks with disabilities co-create music together everyone is transformed.

For over 15 years Stewart has taught a course on Music and Social Justice that has had a lasting impact on students who collaborate with a local organization. The documentary film “No Day Wasted” chronicles the class’s partnership with TCE – Total Communication Environment, a non-profit charitable organization that provides lifetime residential support, community participation, and outreach to long term care for adults with multiple disabilities and special communication needs.

We’ll screen the documentary, directed by Hasi Eldib, and talk about the project with Stewart, Eldib, students Kalle Mattson and Ella Latta Suazo, and members of TCE Jackie Power, Cindy Murphy, Caroline Matte, and Anna-Marie Hector.

Jing Xia is an award-winning guzheng (Chinese zither) artist renowned for her dynamic performances and genre-blending approach to music. Born and raised in Hunan, China, she began her musical journey at the age of six, mastering the guzheng and eventually earning degrees in Music Performance (B.A.), Arts Management (M.A.), and Ethnomusicology (Ph.D.). With a deep foundation in traditional Chinese music, she pushes artistic boundaries by incorporating elements of world music, jazz, and experimental sounds, creating a unique sonic experience that transcends cultural and musical barriers.

World music? Try worlds music. George Sapounidis aka ‘Chairman’ George is an award-winning Greek-Canadian singer-songwriter blending global traditions with folk storytelling. Singing in more than 15 languages, he has toured China multiple times, performed on international television, and was featured in two international documentaries. A two-time Canadian Folk Music Awards nominee for Best World Music and two-time Olympic Torchbearer, he unites cultures through music. George Sapounidis holds a Ph.D. in mathematical statistics from the University of Toronto, Canada.

Kick off the summer with inspiring music for the soul. Free to all, Monday, June 30 at 7 pm.

Help us to celebrate the publication of A Year of Deep Listening: 365 Text Scores for Pauline Oliveros

Enjoy improvisations by guest musicians including Stephanie Loveless (vocals), Jesse Stewart (percussion), and Ellen Waterman (flute) and special guests Anne Bourne and Rachel Weldon (cello). Choose to simply listen, or bring your acoustic instrument/voice and join in collective improvisations like this one by Jay Scott:

TO HOLD A BIRD IN YOUR HANDS

Hold a sound like a bird in your hands

Gently protect the sound before setting it free

Then watch as it flies away

The book, which began online in honor of what would have been Oliveros’ 90th birthday (May 30, 2022) is edited by Stephanie Loveless, Director of the Center for Deep Listening @ Rensselaer. Loveless invited and shared one listening score per day across social media. In book form, A Year of Deep Listening brings these scores together alongside ten commissioned essays that reflect on the themes that emerged over these 365 scores: that of listening to ourselves, to each other, to our surroundings, to the land, in movement, in dreams, through play, and through grief, gratitude, and healing.

will be on hand with copies of the book.

Information:

Registration:

Presenters

Mitchell Akiyama, Patricia Shehan Campbell, Emily Doolittle, John Levack Drever, Brooke Dufton, Doug Friesen, David Jackson, Helmi Järviluoma, Michael Nardone, Laudan Nooshin, Gascia Ouzounian, Garth Paine, Dylan Robinson, David Rothenberg, Debashis Sinha, Jeremy Strachan, Paul Théberge, Micky Vallee, Ellen Waterman

Please click here to view the schedule and presenter bios.

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