CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY, NORTHRIDGE A CULTURAL EVENT FOR THE DEAF A graduate project submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Art by Robert Irwin Roth May, 1983 The Graduate Project of Robert Irwin Roth is approved: California State University, Northridge ii Copyrighted by Robert Irwin Roth 1983 iii ~-------------------------------- ACKNOWLEDGMENTS My sincere appreciation and thanks to Paul Kravagna and Phil Morrison for their persistence and patience in guiding this paper to its completion. A special note of appreciation goes to Theresa B. Smith for her support during the Deaf Arts Festival, and since; and to my personal friends and family for their encouragement. iv I --------------------------------- TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNCMLEDGMENTS . iv LIST OF TABLES vii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS . • • viii ABSTRACT ix Chapter I. INTRODUCTION • • 1 II. PLANNING AND PROCEDURE 8 Brainstorming • 10 Research • • • • 14 Time Line . • • 18 Event Content • • • . .. 18 Contract Persons, Places, and Ideas • 23 Finalize Activities . • • • 25 Delegation of Responsibilities • • • • • • 25 Installation • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 26 Clean-Up • • • • • . • • • • • • • . • • 26 Evaluation • • • • • • • • • • 26 III. THE CULTURAL EVENT: 1980 DEAF ARTS FESTIVAL • • • • 28 Publicity and Participants • • • 28 Educational Components • • • • 29 Art Exhibition • • • • • • • • • • 29 Performances • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 31 Special Photograph Exhibit • • • • • • • 31 Workshops . • • • • • • 32 Lectures and Panel Discussions • • • 32 Special Performances • • • • • 34 IV. CONCLUSION • • • • 35 REFERENCES • 42 v APPENDICES A. PUBLICITY MANUAL AND OTHER PRESS RELEASES • • • • • . 43 B. REPRINTS OF NEWSPAPER CLIPPINGS 65 C. SPECIAL EXHIBIT HANDOUT • • • • • • 74 D. APPLICATION FORMS AND MATERIALS 76 E. EVALUATION LETTERS FROM GUEST SPEAKERS 83 F. EVALUATION QUESTIONNAIRE 89 G. STUDENT MERIT CERTIFICATE . 91 H. 1980 DEAF ARTS FESTIVAL SCHEDULE (in back pocket) . 93 I. MAY 1980 SPECIAL ISSUE OF THE TRUMPET (in back pocket) 94 J. SLIDES OF THE 1980 DEAF ARTS FESTIVAL • • • • . 95 vi TABLES 1. Planning Flow Chart . 8 2. Sample of Identified Audiences and Their Needs/Objectives . • . • . • . 11 3. Sample of the Translation of Program Objectives to Program Concepts • • . 20 4. Sample of Breakdown of Program Concepts to Basic Components . • . 21 5. Sample of Planning Diagram For a Deaf Cultural Event: From Proposed Audience to Basic Components . 22 6. Sample Evaluation Form for Speakers . 41 vii ILLUSTRATIONS Figure 1. Center House Conference Rooms Layout • • • • • • • 30 viii ------------------- ABSTRACT A CULTURAL EVENT FOR THE DEAF by Robert Irwin Roth Master of Arts in Art The building of knowledge and pride in the uniqueness of one's culture is important to the development of positive self­ concepts within any minority group •. For too long, deafness has been considered a medical condition: a loss of hearing. This paper argues for the need to recognize and document the unique qualities of Deaf culture and heritage. The 1980 Deaf Arts Festival, designed and organized by Robert Irwin Roth, is the basis for this project. The Festival was the first Deaf event to combine art exhibitions and perfor­ mances by deaf people with lectures and discussions in Deaf culture: Deaf history, Deaf art history, Deaf theatre history, Deaf literature, and the development of American Sign language. This event was extremely successful in providing knowledge and 'i, 'I , I ix l'. understanding of Deaf culture to the deaf community and to the larger hearing community. This graduate project is presented as a documentation of the planning, coordination, and evaluation procedures used for the 1980 Deaf Arts Festival; and as a manual in the planning and organization of similar Deaf cultural events. It is the hope of the author that this paper will assist and encourage the development of such events in the future. I. INTRODUCTION In recent years, various minorities have begun to discover themselves as a cultural entity. This process of dis- covery manifested itself through events, seminars, lectures, and parades. Members of these minority groups were being educated about their culture and heritage, their literature, art, and drama. For many, it was the birth of a keener awareness and pride in themselves. According to a survey taken in 1974, of a total American population of 20 million, there were 13,362,842 individuals that were classified as hearing-impaired. 1,767,046 were deaf.1 Deafness, in this survey, was defined as persons with the "inability to hear and understand speech."2 Deafness, currently and historically, has been defined as a medical condition. Usually, this is described in negative terms, e.g., "inability to hear," "hearing-impairment," or "hearing affliction.• "Professionals in the physical sciences 1Jerome D. Schein and Marcus T. Delk, The Peaf Population of the United States (Silver Spring, Md.: National Association of the Deaf, 1974), p. 16. 2 I Ibid., p. 133. i i 1 -------------------------- 2 and education of the deaf typically describe deaf people in 3 terms of their pathological condition: hearing loss." A different approach to defining the deaf was chosen by authors Stokoe, Croneberg, and Casterline in their book, A Dictionary of American Sign Language. 4 The text of their book was divided into two sections. One defined Sign language based on linguistic principles1 the second was a description of the "social and "cultural" characteristics of Deaf* people who use American Sign Language.S * I will use here a convention adopted by a number of researchers where the capitalized "Deaf" is used when refer­ ring to cultural aspects, as in the culture of Deaf" people. The lower case "~eaf," on the other hand, refers to non­ cultural gspects such as the audiological condition of deafness. Carol Padden noted that this latter description was unique in defining deaf people as a "cultural group" as early as 1965. She commented that • • • rarely had these professionals [in the physical sciences and education of deaf people] seriously attended to other equally important aspects of Deaf people1 the 3carol Padden, "The Deaf Community and the Culture of Deaf People," Sign Language and the Deaf Community: Essays in Honor of William C. Stokoe, Charlotte Baker and Robbin Battison, eds. (Silver Spring, Md.: National Association of the Deaf, 1980), p. 90. 4William c. Stokoe, Dorothy c. Casterline, and Carl G. Croneberg, A Dictionaey of American Sign Language: On Lin­ guistic Principles, new ed., (Silver Spring, Md.: Linstock Press, 1976). 5Padden, p. 90. 6Tbis paper will follow the same convention as described by Padden. 3 fact that Deaf people form groups in which the members do not experience "deficiencies" and in which the basic needs of the individual members are met, as in any other culture of human beings.? In their book, Sound and Sign, Schlesinger and Meadow stated: Profound childhood deafness is more than a medical diagnosis: it is a cultural phenomenon in which social, emotional, linguistic, and intellectual patterns and problems are inextricably bound together.8 Once American Sign Language {ASL) was established as a language9 it followed that "not only does the deaf community share a language, they also share attitudes, values, experiences, a history, art forms. In other words, they share a culture."10 It is then important for deaf people, as a community, to validate themselves as a culture by discovering their Deaf ancestors 1 legacy. Members of this community began to search for evidences of their cultural heritage, however, few resources were available. While many events, ~ectures, ~nd exhibits have occurred relating to Deaf cultural history, very few were actually documented. Deaf history has been traditionally an unwritten history, passed down from generation to generation. In schools where the deaf are taught, the history of the Deaf is 7Padden, p. 90. 8Hilde s. Schlesinger and Kathryn P. Meadow, Sound and Sign: Childhood oeafness and Mental Health (Berkeley, Cal.: !) University of California Press, 1972), p. 1. I 9Neil Glickman, "A Cross-Cultural View of Counseling with Deaf Clients," Journal of Rehabilitation of the Deaf 16 (January 1983): 4. 10Ibid. 4 not part of the curriculum. Few members of the deaf community 1 were being educated about deaf persons that had achieved r' notoriety, nor about the deaf artists that had earned the lI. respect of the larger hearing world or that depicted Deafness in I . J ;fl'II...'. their art, nor about the theatre form (Sign Language theatre) ~ E that was unique to the Deaf world. I Deaf theatre has been the best documented and most I I& durable form for passing on aspects of Deaf culture to l succeeding generations. Gallaudet College, the only liberal ' arts college specifically for deaf persons, has had various productions in Sign Language since 1892.11 Performances, including those that used American Sign Language in a variety show, or as a play translated from the original English to American Sign Language, or as a work originally staged in American Sign Language, have potentially reached the widest audiences. Dorothy Miles has detailed a history of Deaf theatre activities in her Master's thesis, wA History of Theatre Activities in the Deaf Community of the United States.w The National Theatre of the Deaf and various local Deaf theatre groups have continued this tradition. Literature by and about deaf persons has had little exposure. Large publishing houses rejected manuscripts