Think Outside the Vox MAY 2025

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THINK OUTSIDE THE VOX

May 2025 Newsletter

A white box with a capital letters in black V, a purple and square shaped O, and an X slightly overlapping

April was certainly a month for Advocacy for VOX and the Boston arts sector: presentations at Perkins and Berklee, amplifying DeafBlind Awareness Day, and continued support and facilitation at The Huntington and Urban Media Arts in Malden; Embrace Boston hosted the 60th anniversary of the 1965 Freedom Rally, Abilities Dance Boston presented its Intersections V4 performances, Disabled Stories Collective hosted its first storytelling night in Somerville, and Mass Creative hosted Creative Sector Day at the State House. What may May bring? Explore VOX’s newer partnerships with the Esplanade, National Arts Strategies, and upcoming projects and opportunities to engage with us.

All images have alt text embedded. All content on our socials have image descriptions, alt text, captions, descriptive transcripts and/or links to supportive access materials. Prefer a plain text version of this newsletter? Email Olivia@ThinkOutsideTheVox.org.

selfie of Voxers Sam Gould, Kwaku Darko and Dave Heard.

Bay State Council of the Blind Arts Access Information Day at Perkins

Vox Board member and AD mentor Dave Heard and AD trainee Kwaku Darko presented their experiences with Vox’s Culturally Competent AD workshop – a Blind-centric, “train the trainer” pipeline. Co-founder Sam Gould showed off a duo-mixing AD-ALD headset, where users get volume control of amplification and audio description in either ear. This groundbreaking technology is the result of a year-long exploration sparked by DeafBlind patrons at Open Door Theater. For the audio recording and transcript of VOX’s presentation at Arts Access Information Day, click here.

Tanja Milojevic and Olivia Reinebach present in a classroom at Berklee with a presentation slide behind them.

Vox’s Marketing & Communications Manager Olivia Reinebach and Vox consultant Tanja Milojevic of GetBraille.com presented a lightning talk on Accessible Social Media & Marketing at the ABLE Assembly at Berklee College of Music. Together they covered digital accessibility do’s and don’ts, marketing tips for music educators, and a live demo of how screen readers interpret content on Instagram. For a full-length version of this presentation, check out our previous webinar recording on Mosaic Lowell’s YouTube channel; a transcript is available here.

Voxers Christopher and Aimee Robinson, Ingrid O'Dell, Kristin Johnson, Mangos ASL team Ivy Velez, Juana Aguilar, Joe Toledo, Olivia Reinebach, Jessenia Kolaco, Mangos cast and Deaf community stand and sit on stage, smiling.

The Huntington’s Don’t Eat the Mangos was a huge success for Multicultural Disability Joy! Both the AD and ASL teams represented with strong Puerto Rican, Caribbean and Latiné roots and cultural competency in Spanish/English/ASL. The AD team had describers from all three of Vox’s AD Training Cohorts. Accessibility is richer when production and access teams work together! Click here to access team bios and the audio description recording and transcript of the set, costumes, characters and more.

Kwaku and Maria sit in the seats discussing the show.

VOX is partnering with The Huntington Theatre for its 2024-2025 season to provide quality AD/ASL performances and expand the pool of culturally competent and professional access providers by mentoring individuals and collaborating on onboarding procedures for Deaf, Hard of Hearing, Blind and Low Vision professionals. Experience the final ASL and Audio Described performances of the season:

The Light in the Piazza

ASL: Friday, May 30th at 7:30 PM

AD: Saturday, June 7th at 2 PM

The Light in the Piazza is a musical centering a mother and daughter’s trip to Florence while a romance flourishes fast between the daughter and a local boy. The ASL team is DASL Sabrina Dennison and ASL interpreters Letitia Bynoe and Josh Ayoub. Select May 30th and use promo code ACCESSASL to unlock ASL section seats. The AD team is Eddie Maisonet, Olivia Reinebach and Matthew Shifrin. Select June 7th 2 PM and use promo code ACCESSAD for discounted tickets. Wayfinding to the theater available here.

Photo credit: Marlene Mata Photography. More professional photos and website update coming soon!

Urban Media Arts in Malden (UMA) is working with VOX to design and facilitate focus groups to amplify disability community feedback and expertise. UMA wants to make their services, media, materials, spaces and marketing more accessible and relevant for Deaf, Blind, neurodivergent, disabled and nondisabled stakeholders. UMA’s Associate Director Anne D’Urso Rose and Director of Marketing Ose Schwab say, “We’re grateful for this opportunity to deepen our impact through inclusion. Thank you Sam Gould and Christopher Robinson for your invaluable guidance.”

Learning Out Loud: My Accessibility Journey with NAS and Think Outside the Vox by Jade Cintro Baez.

VOX is the official access partner of National Arts Strategies, an organization that trains and empowers arts and cultural institutions with cohort-based learning and professional development. Read about how VOX is developing a culture of belonging and baking in accessibility for Homecoming with NAS here.

Save the Dates:

Access Office Hour: Marketing & Communications – Tuesday, May 13th, 4-5 PM EST on Zoom

Vox’s Olivia Reinebach will co-present in the May installment of this conversation series hosted by Charles Baldwin at Massachusetts Cultural Council alongside folks at ArtsBoston and Center for Independent Documentary. ASL and CART will be provided. Register for the free webinar here.

Groundbeat Concert Series: Love Conquers All – Sunday, May 18th, 4-7 PM, Hatch Memorial Shell on the Charles River Esplanade

VOX is newly partnered with the Esplanade to identify, improve and expand accessibility across the board: wayfinding, programming, staff training, communications and physical accessibility to start. We will be observing the space and existing accessibility while tabling with ArtsBoston at this outdoor community day. More about the concert series here.

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Olivia Reinebach (they/she) aka Via

Marketing & Communications Manager, Arts & Accessibility Administrator

Olivia Reinebach thrives at the intersection of production and performance, taking on creative and technical roles in performing arts, education and community spaces in Boston and beyond. They found their niche by combining their skill sets in marketing, PR, social media and event coordination with accessibility consulting, disability advocacy work and arts administration. She has six years of experience in the arts and accessibility scene in Boston and NYC Metro areas. They’ve most recently presented on Accessible Social Media & Marketing for Massachusetts Cultural Council (Access Office Hours), Berklee College of Music (ABLE Assembly) and Mosaic Lowell Arts. Principal access work and arts credits include: pre-show/post-production Audio Description (The Huntington Theatre, American Repertory Theater, Open Door Theater); Access & Communication Lead for Into the Body, Into the Ground (Nelly Kate/The Boston Public Art Triennial); Caption Operator/Editor for Commonwealth Shakespeare Company; CPX ASL Instructor (Madison Park Development Corporation); PR & Social Media Director [and actor] in The Handless Maiden, or Here, All Dwell Free (NYU Steinhardt); ASL Consultant for The Raft of the Medusa, (Juilliard Theatre).
Via is a band geek turned theater kid and finds joy in creating inclusive experiences in arts and entertainment. She regularly presents music shows and live performances at the Museum of Science Planetarium and has produced variety dance showcases for The Dance Complex/Public Displays of Motion. She has freelanced as a choreographer/dance teacher (Sabor Latino BU, Apollinaire Play Lab, Edison K-8), and as an ASM/PA/carpenter (American Repertory Theater, Sanders Theatre, Frost Productions, Isenberg Projects). She earned her Bachelor’s of Science in Public Relations and Bachelor’s of Arts in Linguistics at Boston University. https://www.linkedin.com/in/olivia-reinebach/