Audio description in Brisbane - Shari Indriani Irwin

PROGRAM THEME (00:08):

It's up to you and me to shine a guiding light and lead the way united by our we have power to...

Speaker 1:

Hi there. Welcome to this week's episode of New Horizons. I'm Vaughan Bennison. Thanks once again for joining us this week. The focus is on audio description. Once again, Shari Indriani Irwin runs a small business called Vantage Point Audio description. She's got an interesting event coming up very shortly in Brisbane and she joins us now. Vantage Point audio description, really interesting name. Tell us about that and a little bit about your background.

Speaker 2:

Certainly. I'm glad you asked about the name. It was something that I took a fair bit of time considering when I wanted to think about what I wanted to name my audio description business. I was pretty keen on avoiding anything that used the word sight or vision or any of those things that I think are just completely overused in the blind and low vision community. So I liked the idea that none of those words are in the title of my audio description business, but I love the idea that it was about, I guess a Vantage Point is not just a place where you can get a good understanding of what's around you, but it's actually the best place to get an understanding of what's around you. So I liked the synergy of that in that it was an audio description service that could give you the best possible experience of what's going on around you.

I tend to do more live audio description is in, I will audio describe live events. So I guess if people are familiar with audio description, they've come across it in television or in films and movies. But I specialise in life performance. So that could be big musicals at your performance centre. It could be site specific work. So some of the work I've done in festivals have actually been describing a location at the festival where multiple events might be happening or there might be an interactive art installation. So what I'm interested in, in terms of what a description is, having a live experience in the live world, not a prerecorded one. So yes, so live installations at festivals, music gigs, some art galleries actually. So a live tour through an art exhibition. It's been quite varied. I do, when I say live performance, obviously that is plays, music, concerts and cabarets and singing.

But I've also audio described circus. I've also audio described contemporary dance, classical ballet, and other strange things or very intimate things. Actually there've some works where it's been very site-specific, in that the performance is very intimate, maybe only 20 or 30 members in the audience and one performer, and it's been housed in a little tiny cafe under the city hall. So some of those are the things that I really enjoy as well about live audio description is that it takes me into unusual, less travelled spaces, which can be fun to describe as well, because not just the performance you're describing, it's the location that you're describing as well.

Speaker 1 (03:30):

And how did you get involved in this?

Speaker 2:

Well, my background is actually in theatre and I had just moved jobs and started a new job at Queensland Theatre Company in Brisbane. And the operations team forwarded an email across my desk and it was a call out for more volunteers for the Vision Australia audio description team. I knew what Vision Australia was, but I hadn't heard of audio description. So I was quite intrigued and learned more about it and thought, well, I love theatre, I love attending life performance. I really intrigued with how I can share my skills with a community who might need them. So it just felt like a really nice fit. So I auditioned and got some training and I was on the Vision Australia's audio description volunteer team for over 10 years. 

So I have a lot of them to thank for, I guess the experience I got in Brisbane. I've noticed a trend in Brisbane alone this year, vantage Point Audio described more events in the Brisbane festival than ever before. So they made a real commitment to accessibility across the board, but particularly audio description, bleach festival at the Gold Coast also offered audio description for the first time this year. So I do feel that really just in the last two years there's been a huge increase in awareness and advocacy to make these live events more accessible.

Speaker 1:

And what's the take-up like among listeners, or I guess you could say festival-goers?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, it's slow. Obviously when a particular group of people have never been invited to something before, just inviting them for the first year doesn't mean they're going to come along. So the take up was slow, admittedly, partially because I think some of these arts organisations, while there's a genuine will and excitement to provide more accessibility, there still isn't a lot of effort in terms of their market development, in their research into how to reach those communities. So they're using the same platforms of marketing and promotion that they would for say, cited participants. 

So it's really trying to make sure that those arts organisations start to form those relationships and partnerships with say, this radio programme or all the right organisations so that the news can be spread through the networks of the people who need to have it. But I'm quietly confident that with time the word will get out and people also have to trust and try the service. Just because something is off, it doesn't mean that it's going to be off well. So I think there needs to be a pilot period where people put a bit of faith in that service, go out and try something new, which I know can be challenging for folks, but to try something new. 

And then for that arts organisation in particular, and for myself as a service provider, to be really open to feedback, perhaps critical feedback, the only way you're going to know whether the service you're delivering is actually useful to people. So yeah, I'm hoping that over time the public using the services will be happy to give it a try and be comfortable in being really robust with the feedback as well.

Speaker 1 (06:46):

We are coming to the end of year season, Christmas and the new year and the, and coming up, you've got a very interesting project happening in Brisbane.

Speaker 2:

Yes. So the Brisbane Lord me's Christmas carols is a huge event that happens at the river stage in Brisbane, and it's a Christmas carols programme when I was a little girl, it used to be Carol's by candlelight, but there's no more flames involved. It's just Christmas carols. It's been my pleasure. This will be my third year audio describing this event, which is produced by the Little Red company. And they do this, they've been doing this for the last three years, but they also make their own shows, which are music based shows around Brisbane, and they tour around the country as well. But they're the producers this year and it's an enormous event. 

We've got a live band, a choir, I'd say, I think I want to say at least 30 or 40 people in the live choir. There's adult dancing, like adult dancing chorus, there's a children's chorus. There's quite often some celebrity singers that are a part of the lineup. And then everything in between Santa's there of course. So yeah, it's quite a huge production and it's a really lovely vibe because it's obviously families and friends and it's because it's outdoors. At the river stage, people bring their picnic blankets and a picnic and spend the afternoon and after sunset, that's when the show begins. 

And as I believe when I started this in audio describing the event, that was the first year it was audio described, and that's largely because of a commitment that the Little red company have made to accessibility of all their shows. So it's been great to be able to do that at that scale.

Speaker 1 (08:34):

Of course, people would be familiar with the Carol's by candlelight, which happens in Victoria on Christmas Eve every year. And that is supports the work of Vision Australia and all the profis go to support Vision Australia. So I guess this is kind of the similar sort of thing except focusing on the Brisbane audience.

Speaker 2:

Yes, that's right. It's the same thing except there are no candles and I believe think the ticket prices are fairly low. It might be only $5 entry. So there is no charity attached to the ticket sales.

Speaker 1:

It has been a few years since I lived in Brisbane, but I have visited that venue on occasion. My recollection is that it's a big open, as you say, outdoor venue. It's quite loud. How would you provide audio description to people under those circumstances? What's your usual process?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, so users of the audio description would pick up a headset they wear over their head like a regular headset. And that volume is controlled by that headset. And yes, I think if you were sitting very, very close to the front speaker stacks, it might get a little bit too loud, but this is a huge outdoor amphitheatre. So you could find a spot really anywhere from middle lay up where you could comfortably hear the volume of my voice in your ear and balance that with the music that's coming from the stage. Yeah.

Speaker 1:

Do you go to the rehearsals so that you can get to know what's going to happen at the performances?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, absolutely. I try to watch a lot of rehearsals when I can because it's such an enormous production. Different groups are rehearsing at different times. So the adult dancers will do their own rehearsals for their routines. The kids will do their rehearsals, the musicians and the choir. So every section or component of this enormous show will rehearse in its own time in its own groups. And then actually when they come together, there's very few occasions where all those people come together to rehearse everything in order that it's going to be performed in on the night. So those rehearsals are quite precious. 

So I'll try and attend those largely to get a flow of the order of events. So it might be that the host will come out first and there'll be some five dances behind her, a bit of chat, then we'll have a kids' number then so on and so on. So you get a sense of what Christmas carols are being sung in which order, which performer is singing those carols, which dance numbers are coming on and off. So early rehearsals where with a whole group is helpful for me to understand the flow of those different acts and those different performers, which where they're coming from on the stage, where they're leaving from describing the sets and the layout of where the musicians are versus the chorus and so on. 

And then there is, I guess a final costume rehearsal where everybody's in their costumes, the set is completely dressed, and so that's important for me to watch as well because obviously if someone's singing and they're not moving around a lot, there's not a lot that they're doing necessarily, but a huge component of what makes these carol's fun. There's that all the performers are in fun and beautiful costumes. So quite often themed to the song or to the overall themeing of the year's performance and their costumes can be quite elaborate. 

So those things are useful for me to spend time looking at as well, so I can describe them as quickly as and efficiently during the performance. So people have a nice idea of that. The style of that costume without me talking over the top too much of the songs, what people are there to ultimately enjoy is the music.

Speaker 1 (12:14):

And how can people find out more and get tickets?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, sure. Tickets go on sale Tuesday the 12th of November at 10:00 AM and the event does sell out quite quickly, and you can get them through Ticketmaster. And if you are hoping to use the audio description service, if you are online and you're booking the tickets online, there'll be an area where you can select how many audio description headsets you want to attach to your tickets before you head to the checkout. So make sure you do that step before checkout so that they can capture how many headsets you need. 

And the big event is on Saturday the 7th of December, the gates open at 4:00 PM so you've got plenty of time to find your picnic spot. There's some pre-show entertainment at 6:00 PM but the event proper starts at 7:00 PM and then goes two hours straight to finish at 9:00 PM.

Speaker 1:

And how can people find out more about you and your business and what you'll be audio describing next year?

Speaker 2:

Sure. People can find VantagePoint audio description at the website, VantagePoint ad.com. And on that website you can learn more about me and you can ask me any questions you might have. And I keep a calendar of a what's on, and those are events that I'm audio describing in the near future. Obviously there's the Lord Mayor's Christmas carols on December seven, but there's a few other fun Christmas shows coming up in December and some circus shows in January. So even though it's coming to the end of the year, this is also when people love to go out with their friends and family. So there is still a lot happening that's being audio described in Brisbane over December and January, so it should be a busy, fun, festive time.

Speaker 1:

And those tickets went on sale on Tuesday the 12th. So get in quick. If you want to attend the Lord Mayor's Christmas Carols in Brisbane on Saturday the 7th of December, if you'd like to get in touch with Blind Citizens Australia, you can call 1 800 033 660 ... 1 800 033 660 = or of course, you can email bca@bca.org.au ... BCA at BCA dot org dot AU. Don't forget that Blind Citizens Australia relies heavily on donations from its members and from the public. If you'd like to become a BCA backer, don't forget to ask a staff member when you call or don't forget to ask when you are sending your email. In the meantime, I'm Vaughan Bennison - I'll join you again next week.