In recognition of May’s Better Hearing & Speech Month, the Good Vibrations Music & Arts Festival (GVMAF) will host the first fully-encompassing deaf and hard-of-hearing accessible concert on May 20, 2017 at the 1850 Settlement in San Antonio, Texas, GVMAF announced. Ticket sales and festival commissions will benefit Texas-based nonprofit, Aid the Silent, an organization affiliated with the deaf/hard-of-hearing community.
The festival will include eight hours of music featuring Ben Rector, Matt Wertz, Penny & Sparrow, Ryan Proudfoot, Brad Blackburn, and Miss San Antonio Emma Faye Rudkin. Fun for the entire family, festivalgoers can shop artisan’s booths, partake in crafts and games, and delight in good grub from area food trucks. GVMAF’s vibe is unique to the South Texas area, highlighting a free-spirit ambiance complete with custom-made photo ops, flower crowns, handcrafted creations, and hours of fun, according to GVMAF.
The event, open to hearing and non-hearing alike, is designed to promote inclusion and unity within the hearing and deaf/hard-of-hearing worlds. Presented by industry leaders in hearing solution technologies Cochlear Americas, Ear Institute of Texas, and GN ReSound, the festival will include accommodations for those who were born deaf or those affected by hearing loss through a series of efforts that will enhance and assist deaf/hard-of-hearing persons in experiencing music through visual, tactile, and auditory enrichments.
The concert will showcase real-time captioning; sign language interpretation; t-coils; SubPacs, a transformative wearable audio technology that converts sound into high-fidelity vibrations; and a synchronized LED dance floor that will harmonize to the beats of the music.
To hearing persons, these additions might go unnoticed, but for those who are deaf/hard-of-hearing, it is said to be a huge step in accommodations—a leap forward not previously accomplished to this magnitude in other music events in the area. The GVMAF’s mission is to educate the local community about hearing loss prevention, early intervention opportunities, and ways to accommodate deaf/hard-of-hearing persons at events.
For information or to purchase tickets, visit the GVMAF website here.
