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For too long, the deaf and hard of hearing communities have been excluded from the world of music. In 2019, as part of Neruda Arts' Kultrún World Music Festival, the first concert designed for the deaf, Feel the Music, was presented. It was a labour of love that our Artistic Director, Isabel Cisterna, had long dreamed of. Neruda Arts has a mission to be as diverse and all encompassing in our programming as possible, and including the deaf and hard of hearing into our musical programming was important to our vision of inclusion.
How do we do this? In the first incarnation, we partnered with Vibrafusion Lab's founder, David Bobier. He has designed vibrotactile tools that transmit sound into vibrations the perception of vibration through touch. At this inaugural concert, primarily focused on children, we had belts and a 6X6 foot floor. The audience that wasn't taking part directly, were given balloons, to experience, even a small sense of how music is felt as vibration.
One by one, the band, led by Grammy nominated, Lucho Quequezana of Peru introduced each instrument, so the vibration for that particular instrument could be distinguished. That's what makes this so fascinating. Each instrument creates a different vibration. Lucho has held concerts designed for the deaf in South America, so was the perfect choice. The excitement and discovery that day made us even more determined to continue presenting these concerts. The look of pure joy on the faces of the parents was exceeded only by the awe and wonder on the faces of the children.
That was BC (before COVID). While the world of the arts was effectively shut down for two years, Neruda Arts took that time to look at our own infrastructure. When things returned to some kind of normal, we wanted to be prepared, and to be stronger and better than ever.
If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to contact our cultural liaison, Kathie Must at feelthemusic@nerudaarts.ca
Kathie is hard of hearing herself, and we have consulted with her throughout the project.