The Blind Youth Audio Project, begun in 1997 by Jack Straw Cultural Center and Arts and Visually Impaired Audiences, is an annual workshop series run in conjunction with The Washington State Department of Services for the Blind (DSB)’s Youth Employment Solutions (YES) program. Blind and visually impaired students from across Washington state are housed at the University of Washington for 6 weeks while participating in job placement programs all around Seattle. As a component of the program, students are invited to attend a series of 8 workshops (twice weekly for four weeks) at Jack Straw’s studios. Students ages 9-13 take part in a summer camp for independent living, known as SKILLS. Youth Employment Solution (YES) students work in two groups, ages 14-15 (YES 1) and 16 through high school graduation (YES 2).

Blind Youth Audio Project Pages
Two people in a recording studio, playing drum kit and synthesizer

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A student wearing glasses and a baseball cap sits holding an ukulele, a microphone in front of him.

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Grid of 12 screens in a Zoom session from Blind Youth 2021

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A visually impaired girl is recording vocals in front of a microphone

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Student in the 2016 Jack Straw Blind Youth Audio Project

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Recent Posts About This Program
Happy Birthday ADA!

July 24, 2020

The Americans with Disabilities act turns 30 on July 26th! In celebration of this landmark piece of civil rights legislation, we’re sharing this flash drama and song we made with our 2015 Blind Youth Audio Project students to mark the ADA’s 25th anniversary. We hope you’ll enjoy and share, in recognition of this important anniversary. […]

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Happy Birthday ADA

Categories: Youth Education Programs

Keeping Art, Culture, and Heritage Vital from a Distance

July 10, 2020

Blind Youth: Telling Your Story: After 23 years working with blind and visually impaired youth in our studios every summer, this week we started our first online program for blind and visually impaired high school students. Working with a team of ten Jack Straw artists, teens are creating original radio theater and music projects. We […]

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Categories: Writers Program, Youth Education Programs

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