What is Audio Description?

Christine Malec

Christine Malec is an arts and culture consultant within the blind community and co-host of the podcast Talk Description to Me. She offers culture and music programs to blind adults through the CNIB Foundation, and hosts a monthly segment on Accessible Media Incorporated, Kelly and Company called Curious Minds. She is a musician who is easing the pain of being unable to busk during the pandemic by posting music on her Patreon Page. She lives in Toronto, Canada.

www.patreon.com/ChristineMalec

JJ Hunt

JJ Hunt is a freelance writer, narrator and editor of described material with twenty years’ experience creating description-rich content for film, television, digital media, fine arts, live events, tours, podcasts, and interactive workshops. He has completed over 1500 projects for a variety of clients including CBC Television, AMItv, The Canadian Museum for Human Rights, The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, The Pan American Games, The Andy Warhol Museum, Cooper-Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum, the World Pride Parade, and the CNIB. His descriptions of the visual world can be heard weekly in the innovative podcast he co-hosts with friend and colleague Christine Malec – Talk Description to Me.

http://www.jjhunt.com/

Ramya Amuthan

Ramya Amuthan is the Cohost and Producer at Accessible Media Inc’s daily Entertainment and Lifestyle audio show, Kelly and Company.  Her work involves meeting fascinating people, hearing their stories, and facilitating conversations that bring out their voices and messages. Ramya is also the Co-creator of Adventures, a chapter of the Canadian Council of the Blind in Toronto, creating daring physical activity opportunities for blind and low vision individuals, encouraging participants to step out of their comfort zones. For Ramya, there’s always time for self-care and hobbies, including singing – for herself and sometimes others, movement – like dancing or downhill skiing, meditation, and the life-long journey of brushing up on her culinary skills.

Rebecca Singh

Rebecca is a seasoned Audio Description writer and voice talent. She provides this service to the Blind and partially sighted community and beyond, and is the founder of Superior Description Services. She writes and voices image descriptions for art, described videos for film and television, and provides audio descriptions for live theatre, shows and events in Canada and worldwide. Most recently at Digital Carnival Z, Buddies in Bad Times Queer Cab Transitory Present and for Opera Atelier’s Resurrection. Rebecca also performs on screen and stage. She has created and performed theatre spanning from solo pieces to large spoken choruses. She is a member of BANFF SPARK ACCELERATOR PROGRAM, BLACK WOMEN FILM! CANADA and Toronto ACTRA Women’s Committee (TAWC).

Teneshia T. Samuel

Teneshia T. Samuel (they/them) is a first-generation Caribbean Canadian multi-disciplinary artist, social activist, politician, scholar and writer. Born with 10% vision and 50% hearing, the subject of Teneshia’s work discusses intersectional identities, life in diaspora and paths to liberation for self and community.

Teneshia creates work that crosses multiple media from Visual Art, Literature and Fashion Design. In 2021, Teneshia was the first Black, Disabled and Transgender candidate to run for Federal office in Canada. As a freelance writer and scholar, Teneshia currently serves the Editorial Team at ByBlacks.com. Their 2023 forthcoming book, The Seven Seals of Black Power explores the topic of self-love, social justice and Black intersectional identity. 

Hani Habashi

Hani Habashi works as an audio technician and sound editor for Radio LUMI. He owned and operated a small recording studio in Montreal, as well as worked in a few community radio stations in Quebec and Montreal. He also works as a graphic designer, web developer and music mixer.

Mari “Dev” Ramsawakh (Producer)

Mari “Dev” Ramsawakh is a disabled and non-binary multidisciplinary storyteller. They produced the podcasts Cripresentation and Sick Sad World and edit the podcasts Leaders of Colour and Possibilities Podcast. They are also a writer, filmmaker, poet, and facilitator. They were the 2019 TVO Short Docs Contest winner and their short films have been screened at Toronto Queer Film Festival, ReelAbilities Film Festival, and North Bay Film Festival. Their work has been published on CBC, HuffPost Canada, Nuance, them, Xtra, and other publications. They also have been included in the Disability Visibility anthology edited by Alice Wong and the Rhubarb Festival 2021 publication, and their fiction has been published in Two Times Removed: An Anthology of Indo-Caribbean Fiction, Toronto 2033, and Hart House Review 2014. They also facilitate workshops independently and with a collective called CRIP about topics such as ableism, disability justice, media, storytelling, content creation and more.

Cathy Gordon (Producer)

Cathy is an artist, curator, and producer, currently working fulltime at Luminato. As the former Managing Director of The Theatre Centre, they had a key role in establishing the groundwork for the company’s current performance facility. While there, they conceived and produced the sprawling community-building art-party, Block In One Spot that brought together artists and neighbourhood personalities. They subsequently curated and/or produced the Live Art series and/or Off-Site series at SummerWorks while also volunteering as co-Artistic Director of hub14 art and performance works. Artistically, their work vibrates between theatre, live art, and performance art. They have workshopped and presented solo and collective performances across Canada, UK, Europe, and NYC.   

Radio LUMI is part of our Access Hub

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Radio LUMI podcast