Blind Youth Audio Project 2024
For this year’s Blind Youth Audio Project, we welcomed blind and visually impaired students from across the state into our studios for a series of in-person music and radio theater workshops.
During the opening session of the 2024 Blind Youth Audio Project, a group of 26 students worked with Jack Straw’s artist team of audio engineers, musicians, vocal coaches, and writers to create two flash dramas and learn about the program. After all participants introduced themselves, the group listened to past Blind Youth drama and music productions. Then, the group divided into three teams to record two PSAs, as well as original music to accompany the PSAs.
The first group produced “Handshake Translator” in Studio 1 with engineer Ayesha Ubayatilaka, producer Carlos Nieto, writer and drama coach Jesse Minkert, and vocal coach Meg McLynn. The second group worked on “Which Is True?” in Studio 2 with engineer Daniel Guenther and vocal coach Stephanie Roman. The third group worked with musicians Bill Horist and Jessica Lurie and engineer Erin Shellman to compose original music to accompany the two PSAs.
For the rest of the program, students broke into two groups to work with our radio theater team and music team.
Tori and Mackenziegh created the radio play “The Blind Time Traveler” in collaboration with Jesse, Daniel, and Carlos, and with music by Bill and Jessica.
Jake, Justus, Alexander, Vivienne, Eleven, Lilly, Li Ling, and Angie combined to form the band The Seven Melodies, and created the song “Light the Future” in collaboration with Bill, Jessica, Erin, and Ayesha.
The Blind Youth Audio Project 2024 was produced by Jack Straw Cultural Center and Arts and Visually Impaired Audiences, in partnership with the Washington State Department of Services for the Blind. Our production team included Jack Straw audio engineers Daniel Guenther, Ayesha Ubayatilaka, and Erin Shellman; producer Carlos Nieto; writer and drama coach Jesse Minkert; vocal coaches Meg McLynn and Stephanie Roman; musicians Bill Horist and Jessica Lurie; web designer Levi Fuller; and Project Director Joan Rabinowitz.
Special thanks to Emily Barahal, Janet George, and Matthew Hines with the Washington State Department of Services for the Blind, and Jesse Minkert with Arts and Visually Impaired Audiences.
Our programs for youth with disabilities are made possible with support from the Rodrigues Fund, ArtsWA, Seattle Office of Arts and Culture, 4Culture/King County Lodging Tax, and individual contributors.
Artists
Bill Horist
Seattle-based guitarist Bill Horist has played on dozens of records and has performed throughout North and Central America, Europe and Japan; collaborating with numerous leading lights in a beguiling…
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Jessica Lurie
Seattle and Brooklyn-based Jessica Lurie is an award-winning multi-instrumentalist, composer, and improviser, performing on saxophones, flute, voice, accordion and electronics. She calls on a wide range of…
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Jesse Minkert
Jesse Minkert’s work has appeared in about fifty literary journals including the Cream City Review, Confrontation, Mount Hope, the Floating Bridge Review, the Minetta Review, Poetry Northwest, Common Knowledge…
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Meg McLynn
Meg McLynn is a Seattle-based actor, vocalist, and teaching artist who loves sharing her passion for performance with students of all ages. She is a member of the vocal…
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Stephanie Roman
Stephanie Roman (they/them) is a Mexican American actor and teaching artist based out of Seattle. Their training began at PCPA – Pacific Conservatory Theatre in California, and they later moved…
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