 Our first speaker for the day is someone I haven't so personally excited about for so long. Momo Hald, the dynamic theater professor in her third year at Gallaudet University, the world's sole deaf bilingual university in Washington, D.C. holds a BFA in acting from Tisch School of the Arts and an MFA in devised theater from Towson University. Her groundbreaking thesis, Universal Design and Theatrical Presentation align seamlessly with her production, Are Your Ears Blind? Momo, an advocate for inclusivity, transforms accessibility into an art form. Her pioneering work redefines boundaries, making theater universally accessible. With a passion for innovation, she continues to inspire by merging creativity and inclusivity, leaving an indelible mark on the world of theater. Professor Momo Hald has been so brilliant and kind in all our conversations so far and we are truly lucky to be learning from someone as knowledgeable and compassionate as her. We also have the wonderful Jenny Blake here with us today who will be interpreting. Please join me in welcoming Momo Hald. Momo, I'm gonna give you screen sharing rights. Yes, and now the stage is all yours. Thank you, thank you. Bear with me one moment while I get myself set up on screen. Sorry, pardon me. All right, are you able to see the screen okay? Is my PowerPoint visible? Yes. All right, I'm not sure because it looks different on my end on my laptop. So I just wanted to double check. Well, so this is my introduction slide. Oh, pardon me. My name is Monique Holt, but I go by no, no. Momo, and this is my name sign here, Momo. And I will be presenting about the topic of how a design of a theater is, especially when we're looking at the facility and how that impacts accessibility. We need to stop adding access to the art. We need to start building access in the art. So what we're doing is we're basically gatekeeping the access and we're actually interfering with the message. When you look at where you see the C to the T here, we don't have to be bound and crucified to the idea of access. The S and the H here, you know, often they'll say, oh yes, we have access and hoping that they'll just satisfy you so you'll shut up and stop talking. No, no, that has to stop. I'll give you a moment to read. So, historically, people may like, you know, cis, white, privileged males have no clue what disability access needs look like, none at all. So they just dismiss by saying, oh, you need this, fine, we'll add this for you. But they emphasize the fact that you are invited to be included because you need these things. That has to stop. The art in it of itself becomes secondary and that's not the goal. And obviously, if they have to say, oh, there's someone here who's disabled, ah, well, that's not friendly, that's distracting, that's not audience, like Frankenstein, you know, where you feel like, well, this is good enough, but does it function well enough? Maybe not so much. We're always calling access like a sort of band aid. They run and jump, oh, you need this, oh, okay, well, what does that look like? What do we do? Well, we do have a lift. Oh, we do have a ramp. Oh, you have a wheelchair? Okay, fine, here, we have this and this. Oh, wait a minute. We have a device for people who are hard of hearing. They can use hearing aids and they can connect. We have the captions available. Oh, but then where do we put it? Maybe over here to the far right or the left. Oh, you're blind? Okay, well, we have audio descriptions. Oh, you're deaf? Oh, you can't read English. You prefer an ASL interpreter? Well, yeah, we can find one for you. Oh, but only for two days, that's all. My promotion is to build access in the arts. And that will help the aesthetic, the design become the primary goal. When a person is creating the art, it should always be the standard, not just the Band-Aid. Now, remember, everyone should be equal. You should be there to appreciate the art. You might hate it, you might love it, but that doesn't matter. The fact is you're still there. Similarly, art and access should be melded into one, like a child. When you offer them nurturing supportive environments and understanding what it is that we could do together and make it happen, not just single out the one and make them feel, ah, okay, you're invited. No, you should be feeling that way automatically and we all work together because we are all petals that create the beautiful flower. Not just, oh, that one petal? Absolutely not, we are all together in this. That will help the child who becomes a citizen to contribute back into the arts and into life and to continue to be just human. And this is always the question. This is always the beginning of the discussion. Well, where do we start? Well, I have some ideas. Oftentimes, we leave all the decisions to the cis white male who makes the decisions for us. That needs to stop. We know what we need, we create the art, we go and see the arts. We represent all areas. We should be the ones included in what the aesthetic looks like and how the accessibility comes together. It's not separate, it's not siloed. We, the people who are in the process need to be involved in the creation and the start of this building process, doing it together, not as an afterthought. And these folks are the ones who owns the property, owns the dwelling, this building, whether it's cinema, an opera hall, dance studio, it doesn't matter, any venue. Then you have the architects who design the buildings, the designs of the items in the sound engineers, the rigging engineers, they make all the decisions. They never ask us. It's already set, built, and we're stuck with it. And that's not really accommodating. That's not accessible. And of course, the people who come to see the play or the artwork, they wanna look socially elevated, they wanna enjoy themselves, they wanna see art and do appreciate the art. And at the bottom line, it's about making money. We see changes, but it wasn't built perfectly originally of course, art needed something, but it's not adequate. The space cannot meet the art perhaps. So what a conendrum. We had to work around and work around and work around has become the theme. And that's been happening, which led to problems and chaos, injury, et cetera, et cetera. And the hurt happens to the people on this list. The performers, the dancers, the musicians, directors, the directors including sign language, text codes, the dramaturgs, stage management team, the company manager, lighting teams, sound teams, costume teams, set teams, production teams, public relations, art administrator, access coordinators, film production team and the patrons. They are the ones who should be included in what have not been. And it's almost as if it's a cat and mouse. And when something happens, it does impact the additional list because they are accountable. When something happens, well, of course, the team who designed the building jump really quick to try to throw these band-aids on and make the fixes well, because of safety, right? That's the priority, but access is not. And that's the hugest difference. Typically, they'll reach out to part of the people who should be involved, but not all. But when we talking about access, you can't pick and choose. You can say, well, the stage management team, they're important, they may listen to them. Company managers, okay, they'll listen to them. Lighting team, sure, listen to them. Set team, okay. Production team, absolutely. Oh, PR, people are coming to see the show, the building that we're designing. Boy, oh boy, we've gotta look good. The art administration, they're making complaints. Then we make changes aesthetically, but access? Again, that's the last thing on the mind. Patrons who come to see the show, they're left at the bottom of the list. So the problem continues because not everyone is involved in the discussion. The performers, the directors, the dazzles, the directors of the artistic sign language. The script coach, oh, they don't bother them. Sound team, costume team, not so much. The production team, sound team, costume, they don't seem to have any importance. Why should we listen to them? How can they help with the facility? Oh, they don't matter. It's time that we make the change. All of the people that have already listed performers, directors, dazzles, text coaches, dramaturg, stage managers, the company manager, lighting team, sound team, costume, set team, production team, PR, art admin, patrons, everyone should be involved, period. Meaning everyone, everyone should sit together and listen to each other. Talk about what the issues are. What are the problems? What is the wish list? What are the possibilities? It's a two-way street. It's a dialogue. And universal design consultant should be included, a UX and a UI designer team. But should they be involved? Perhaps. We need to start building access in the arts. This is what it should look like. It shouldn't be about access for disability. No, no, no. Access should be access for everyone in the arts. Art, artists, designers, producers, patrons, coordinators, everyone, everyone has equal importance. Truthfully, our job is to remove the obstacles. Ironically, we haven't. We've just added more. How can that be? Here's an example. We have access, but gee, only on two days to see a show with interpreters? What? And that access must be provided with an ID card in order to get a tablet for captions or for a listening device. But what if I forgot my ID? Oops, too bad for me. I'm a short person. I need to have a bolster seat so that I can sit and see properly. Should I have to carry it to my chair? If I was a wheelchair user, I'm limited to sitting in only a specific area. I can't just sit anywhere I want. The same with the deaf. We have to sit where the interpreters are. We can't sit where we choose. And then having empty spaces for wheelchairs. Well, then you may be stealing a seat from another patron. Oh no. And then they complain about the cost. Oh, we have to pay for sign language interpreters or we have to pay for audio describers. Oh, we have to pay a person to type out the closed captioning. My, my, my. Those are obstacles. Oh, shucks, we didn't have the budget for that. And that has happened before and again and again since. So now what? Remember, I was talking about universal design consultants. So who invented universal design? Ronald L. Mace. Really interesting. Who is this guy? Well, he was born a normal baby. But at the age of nine, he had polio. He stayed hospitalized for a year. Came home as a disabled person. Was a wheelchair user for the rest of his life. He went to North Carolina State University. Was studying design and architecture. Graduated with an architect's degree and worked at a firm for four years and realized, the design is for white people who can walk and without any disability. That had to stop. So he went back, started teaching at North Carolina State University in the 1970s. And that's when he began real deep dive into analysis of what is accessibility or how's is accessible? How brilliant was that? So universal design was made for humanity. Imagine that. That's when we decided it was about stopping those folks to design for us. No, we need to design for ourselves. That's the solution. So what is universal design? Well, you know, when you're out on the street, you see the sidewalk, right? Back in the day, there were no curb cuts. So wheelchair users were stuck having to hop up and hop down. How difficult is that? It's a challenge. And therefore led to complaints. So universal design came into play. People who worked in that realm, designing streets and sidewalks, thought, oh my gosh, what a pain. Why? So the people in the wheelchairs, I mean, how many people are there in wheelchairs? Like seriously are gonna be using curb cuts. One out of maybe 500,000 people? Oh no. Oh no. Think about it. How many people do actually use a curb cut? Mothers with strollers so they can travel with their babies. Oh, delivery folks that are bringing packages, bicycle users, many, many people use curb cuts. Oh, it was not meant to benefit just people with a disability. It benefits everyone. That's why we have universal design. Another example. Say you have the outdoor bank tellers. Regular drivers can drive through. Your car might be a little bit low, that's okay. You can roll down or open up your window, take your cash out. Cool, fine. But if you had a pickup truck that might be a little bit lifted off the ground, oh shucks. I can't reach the buttons. I can't get to the ATM. It's too far. So you have to open your door, step down so you can get your money. Well, there's a design where the actual ATM can be lifted or lowered. That's universal design. So he created a lab to help further analyze what things are needed to be considered in building a home. And the products involved. I did include a link here if you want to take a picture of it, screen save it and maybe I'll post it later a matter of fact. He designed for human diversity. Ronald L. Mase, Universal Design Institute is a non-for-profit organization based in North Carolina. Dedicated to promoting the concept and practice of accessible and universal design. That institute's work manifests the belief that all new environments and products to the greatest extent possible should and can be usable by everyone, regardless of age, ability and circumstance. What a beautiful mission statement. That's something that we all should strive for, including in the theater arts and arts in general. So Universal Design has seven principles. Principle number one, equitable use. Principle two, flexibility and use. Principle three, simple and intuitive use. Principle four, perceptible information. Principle five, tolerance for error, but still usable. Principle six, low physical effort. Principle seven, size and space for approach and use. These concepts are what we need to keep in mind when we come together to develop a design for our space. Well, another thing, oftentimes we rely on the internet to get information about the arts and dance and music and museums. We search, click, click, click and oftentimes that in and of itself is a challenge because everything nowadays is digital, but sometimes I'll look for something and I cannot seem to find it. Where is it? Oh, there we go. But it's not often that simple. Sometimes I have to change the contrast because my eyes cannot tolerate the brightness. Sometimes the website is not allowing that. Sometimes the website doesn't allow the change to audio for people who might be site impaired. It should be something very easy to change it to different colors, different contrast. That's where the UX slash UI design comes to play. Technology we need could be computers, whether it's desktop, laptops, smartphones, tablets and of course, you need to have your brain and your eyes and your ears to navigate, right? So how do we find this information? And like I said, with theater and arts, dance, using UX UI, that can help us to create a more friendly and intuitive setup in all of these areas for the dance companies or theater companies to allow the patrons to be able to easily find us and access the information. So what is UX and UI? UX talks about the user experience. How does it enhance their ability to feel that sense of satisfaction, improve the usability and accessibility and emotional impact of a product or service that they're looking for? And that's during any interaction, not only by a computer, but by things as well, like a loop system where they can connect to having the hearing enhancement. And then UI, which is the user interface, designing the visual elements in an interactive component for product focusing on creating a visually appealing and user friendly interface. Again, this is why it's crucial to have them both included in design, universal design, UX, UI can help us create a best art experience for all. Here's the question. What are we waiting for? Definitely food for thought. Give me one moment. Okay. Thank you so much, Professor Holt. And thank you, Jenny, for everything you shared with us today. I would love to open up the space for questions. Would anyone like to ask anything to Professor Momo or share any thoughts that they had after this presentation? There were a lot of cool ideas presented. So I'd love to have a conversation about them. Feel free to raise your hand through the Zoom feature, or if you'd like to, you can also simply unmute and talk. Yes, please. In the meantime, while people think of their questions, I have a question for you, Professor Momo. I wanted to ask, I saw in your presentation that you'd mentioned artistic sign language and I was just hoping to learn a little bit more about that. That's something I've heard of before. So what is the relationship of that with Peter and what are the differences between, I guess like normal American sign language and artistic sign language? Right, well, funny you asked because right now I'm writing a book speaking about Dazzle, it's a handbook. So basically, well, most people don't realize that American sign language is currently what we're using right now, but ASL also does have regional signs. There are period signs, there's different rules. So when we're doing Shakespeare, we can't just use American sign language. We're gonna need to have a person who's generally a deaf person to do the analysis of Shakespeare and doing the translation from Shakespearean texts into signing Shakespeare. So that's one of my fields. And I would help an interpreter or help the actors prepare on how to sign in Shakespearean sign language. Also, for example, if we're doing a play by, say Craig Lucas with the light in the piazza, light in the piazza, he speaks in Italian, right? As part of his play, he speaks in Italian, therefore I will help the interpreter on how to sign it in Italian. We teach the actors how to sign in Italian or in French or in Shakespearean English. So it's almost like an accent coach. So a director of artistic sign language is a sign coach, translator, a script analyst, educator, does create videos, coordination. It's a very complicated job. That's what a dazzle does, a director of artistic sign language. Excuse the interpreter. Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you for answering that. I can see Holly has a question. So Holly, feel free to unmute and ask it. Sure. Thank you very much for your presentation today. I was wondering if you could give any examples of productions that you've seen or theater companies that do this access, the closest that you wish to be seen and also a website that has the UI interface as an example. Yes, I'm happy you asked this question. For example, the Metropolitan Opera in New York, they have all seats. So like at the airport, you have the seating chart where it's all available. So you can click on subtitles, you can turn them off, you can turn them on. So that means anyone anywhere can see the show at any time on any date. So why can't we allow that to have a screen on the back of every chair? Like seriously? And it's automated, it's already on. So that's one problem that I have with people talking about budgets. Many theaters complain, oh my gosh, we have to write a grant for that. We need to build that into our budget, the audio descriptions or visual descriptions or sign language interpreters or captioning operators. Well, why don't you just have something already ready? It could be automated, you have a plugin if you need the audio enhancer, but no. So why didn't you build that into the architecture? And that's why I'm talking about when we're looking at facilities, things should already be built in why do you have to bring in an option captioning device? If it's already there at your seat, all done. If you need a loop, you can just, like you do in those fancy airplanes where you can open up the side of your armrest, there's a loop already in there, you can pull it out if you need it. If not, leave it be, why not? We have enough loop systems or they'll complain, oh, we don't have any, we have to get some from another theater, et cetera, et cetera. I think if you do mass production, you'd get them cheaper. Can you imagine doing that for like every single theater in the United States? If they were to buy it by that volume, it would cost so much less. It's a no brainer, really. Thank you. Sure. Amazing, thank you so much. Any other questions in this case for Professor Momo? I do have one story I'd like to share. Please. I was working on my thesis and talking about universal design in theater productions. And the thesis committee didn't understand my paper. They're saying, well, we'd like to help you, but we don't know exactly what you mean. I said, well, explain, explain, explain, and they still didn't get it. So they ended up going to Poland for a theater conference in Gretowski Conference. And so they flew out to their conference and I was under a time crunch because I wanted to graduate in December, but I was patiently waiting for them to return. They went to the conference and came back and she says, oh, I get it. I know what you're trying to say now. Go ahead and write your paper. And I thought, hmm, what happened? So she explains. So when they get there, they have to decide which show to see. So they selected a German one woman show. Now they had German translations to English, which was fine. So they sit down to watch the show and the person stands up. One person, nothing special, really. Simple lighting and just ranted for an hour and a half. That was it. Boring, nothing exciting. Okay, next show that they wanted to see. They had heard a lot of people talking about it and was saying, oh my goodness, this Polish guy. He's an amazing performer. Problem is they didn't wanna see another solo performance again. They wanted to see an ensemble. So they passed on that one and saw a very interesting one. The four Farsi speaking women performing. Well, that sounded interesting. Definitely decided to go watch that show, sat down and realized there's no translation. Okay, well, maybe we can understand. We'll see. Four women come on stage in black hijab, can only see their eyes. So they're standing there with music stands and spoke all the way. No movements, no music, no lighting, no costume change, nothing. She was lost. Everything was not accessible, not universal. That moment was when she understood the importance of having the lighting, costume changes, the sound, everything brought together to make that universal accessibility there, to be able to follow along. Maybe captions would have been challenging, but maybe some kind of movement to try to figure out what might be going on. You could hear a language, but you don't understand. So that whole concept of loss in translation, that was a perfect example. And it's about pushing to have universal accessibility incorporated in the design. Now this is a theater presentation, but what I'm talking about is facilities in my presentation. We have seen many new buildings coming up right now. We have a new one, the Perlman Art Center in New York City. And so I did see the video talking about, the facilities and I was very impressed, but I always ask the question, how accessible is it? I need to go check that space. Again, how did they come up with the design? Did they include all those people that I mentioned? Were they all part of the consideration? I don't know. And I did get my MFA degree. And you clearly deserved it with all of these ideas. That's awesome. Thank you so much for sharing that, Professor Momo. Again, if there's any questions in this space, please feel free to ask them. In the meantime, I did have another thing that popped up into my head when you're talking about facilities. CSAL works with children. That's our main thing where we put on theater sensory experiences with children. And I know a lot of us are future educators, future counselors who wanna work with children. I wanted to ask what could universal design look like in spaces where children are involved, especially in school spaces or other arts education programs or camps where children, many of whom could be disabled or deaf or deafblind are a part of, our main stakeholder in the process. Wow, yes, yes. Wow, that's an excellent question. I remember a person talking to me about a deafblind school and they set up a running track, which is basically like a clothesline. And so a blind person could be involved in exercising. They hold on to the clothesline as they're running. And it's a guide and there's a cushion where if they do bump into something, they're not harmed. So why couldn't we include that into acting spaces where blind folks want to learn how to act? I understand it's the fear of getting hurt. So when we're looking at the environment, think about ways of how we can make it safe enough for the environment to be that much inclusive. It's really not asking too much. And I think it's really important when people need to travel and experience various facilities, visit different facilities, see if you can trigger ideas and borrow some from a place that you may be visiting and create a similar environment in other places in the country. That's such a beautiful answer. Thank you so much, Professor Molo. Amazing, we also have some online viewers who said that this session is a great presentation and some awesome ideas and they learned quite a bit. Great, if there are no other questions, that means we can thank Professor Molo for the wonderful presentation today. We're so grateful to learn about this from you. If you could drop the link that you shared in your slide in the chat, that would be awesome. No problem, I will do that. Again, thank you so much for having me and giving me a chance to talk about this concept with you all. Thank you so much. Thank you, Professor Molo, thank you so much. We've loved having you. Amazing, so to everyone to the audience, our next presentation is at 11.45 a.m., so we do have a little bit of time before it. You can take the next 30 minutes as a break. Please be back by 11.40, so we are in time for our next presentation. This one's a little more interactive. We're gonna be doing some exercises on storytelling. So if you can have something to write with, a paper and pen or just your phone, something to type things with, that would be awesome. Thank you, everyone, and I'll see you at 11.40.