Welcome to the Audio Description Project!

ADP Convention Agenda

This year's ACB Conference will be held as a virtual conference (via Zoom) from 9:30am to 9:30pm daily starting July 3.  The ADP Conference will be held each afternoon Mon-Fri at various times, plus some pre-conference specials.  If you did not preregister, the one-time cost to attend the ADP Zoom sessions (and all the ACB sessions) will be $35 during the Conference.  Registration will open on Thursday July 2 from noon to 5:00 PM eastern time.  To register please have your credit card available for payment and call (612) 332-3242.  This is the only way for you to register, you cannot register online.  Here is the agenda (or read the detailed agenda, including the ACB Radio sessions):

• Fri Jul 3, 6pm:  2020 Academy Award Winner for BEST PICTURE, Parasite.  The catch is that this film is NOT available in the USA with audio description, but WE HAVE A COPY WITH DESCRIPTION!  Audio only.
• Sat Jul 4, 7:30pm:  Disney's Pick of the Litter, with one of the participants present to answer questions.  Audio only.
• Sat Jul 4 9pm:  Described 2019 Fireworks from the Mall in Washington, DC.  Audio only.
• Mon Jul 6 4:30pm:  Features and Functions of the ADP Website
• Mon Jul 6 7:30pm:  Entertainment and Media Industry Update with panelists discussing their audio description offerings
• Tue Jul 7, 12:30pm:  AD Achievement Award Winners
• Tue Jul 7, 3pm:  FCC Legislative Update
• Wed Jul 8 4:30pm:  The National Park Service and Audio Description
• Thu Jul 9 3pm:  Strategies for Cord-Cutting or Do You Stream?
• Fri Jul 10 3 pm:  Audio Description and Quality Control-the Hiring of Description Producers/Describers and Audio Editors
• Fri Jul 10, 8pm: ACB "Banquet" speaker:  Roy Samuelson, a leading Audio Description Narrator.  Roy will be sharing how his firm informs, inspires, and recruits relevant organizations into a new initiative in blind audience empowerment.
• All week: Various audio described tours on ACB Radio, replayed at 9am, 9pm, and 3am.  (Updated Jun 30)

One Small, Easy Way to Make the Oscars More Inclusive

A recent article on the daily news site Slate reinforces (and references) the ACB's point made in a March letter to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (home of the Oscars) that any nomination for Best Picture must be accessible via closed captioning and audio description.  Read One Small, Easy Way to Make the Oscars More Inclusive.  See also a June 1 article:  Oscars: audio description brings film to life for blind people, it deserves an award too.  (Posted Jun 23)

Winners of the 2020 ADP Achievement Awards

The American Council of the Blind proudly announces the 2020 Achievement Awards in Audio Description, an initiative of the Council's Audio Description Project.  Read the full awards announcement.  Formal presentation will be Tuesday, July 7.  Summary (Posted Jun 19):

• Achievement in Audio Description – Performing Arts: Broadway Sacramento
• Special Recognition Achievement in Audio Description — Performing Arts: Mary Hanks
• Achievement in Audio Description – Media: Disney+/The Walt Disney Company
• Achievement in Audio Description – Visual Art/Museums/Visitor Centers: Michele Hartley
• Achievement in Audio Description – International: VocalEyes (U.K.)
• Special Recognition Achievement in Audio Description – International: Audio Described Aotearoa Ltd. (New Zealand)
• Dr. Margaret R. Pfanstiehl Memorial Achievement Award in Audio Description – Research and Development: United Airlines
• Barry Levine Memorial Award for Career Achievement in Audio Description: Matthew J. Kaplowitz

AD Narrator & ADP Staff Podcasts

The ADNA (Audio Description Narrators of America) website has recently added podcasts with AD Narrators, the professional voice-over artists who read the audio description for movies and TV series.  As a bonus, site owner Roy Samuelson (a narrator himself) has interviewed a number of us at the ADP and will be rotating in those interviews clearly identified as "BONUS" content!  Give "us" and the real AD Narrators a listen at TheADNA.org “Know Your Narrator” Interviews.  You'll need to bookmark the page and return weekly to hear new podcasts.  (Posted Jun 16)