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This article describes the vision and realization of the DEAF CULTURE CENTRE as a beacon of Deaf heritage contribution in Canada and internationally, with a focus on community-generated accomplishment and celebration. The authors highlight the unique historical role of the DEAF CULTURE CENTRE as a freestanding cultural space set in Toronto's Distillery Historic District, which is a hub of culture, arts, and entertainment. The center features the diverse ways in which the community influences both itself and society at large. This contrasts with other institutions that place themselves in tandem with Deaf schools or service agencies and/or focus on external impacts on the Deaf community. The authors reflect on the importance of the DEAF CULTURE CENTRE as the embodiment of Deaf self-determination in public history both in its institutional context and in its public exhibits. Together they provide an affirming message about the cultural contributions of the Deaf community in public history.
Abstract
This article describes the vision and realization of the DEAF CULTURE CENTRE as a beacon of Deaf heritage contribution in Canada and internationally, with a focus on community-generated accomplishment and celebration. The authors highlight the unique historical role of the DEAF CULTURE CENTRE as a freestanding cultural space set in Toronto's Distillery Historic District, which is a hub of culture, arts, and entertainment. The center features the diverse ways in which the community influences both itself and society at large. This contrasts with other institutions that place themselves in tandem with Deaf schools or service agencies and/or focus on external impacts on the Deaf community. The authors reflect on the importance of the DEAF CULTURE CENTRE as the embodiment of Deaf self-determination in public history both in its institutional context and in its public exhibits. Together they provide an affirming message about the cultural contributions of the Deaf community in public history.
Emergence of the Canadian Cultural Society of the Deaf
In 1970 Forrest Nickerson and Angela Stratiy from Western Canada, together with other Deaf leaders from across Canada, founded the Canadian Cultural Society of the Deaf (CCSD). As a nonprofit organization that receives money through private donations and was incorporated under a federal charter in 1973, the CCSD has preserved, encouraged, and advanced the cultural interests of Canada's Deaf population through the performing arts, language, literature, history, visual arts, and heritage resources. When the CCSD was first founded, Forrest Nickerson, the CCSD's first president, had another dream-to establish a Deaf cultural center to showcase the Deaf community, its heritage, and its arts. This dream became a reality in 2006.
A Collaborative Process within the Deaf Community
Under the direction of the CCSD, a Deaf board of directors, and the president, Helen Pizzacalla, Joanne Cripps, a Deaf leader, and Anita Small, a hearing sociolinguist, were charged with spearheading a feasibility study in 2000 for the establishment of the center. Having worked together to create sign language products and programs for the CCSD since 1998, we knew that of key importance was a shared vision, showcasing "a celebration of Deaf life" and working closely with the Canadian Deaf community first to determine priorities and then to design and establish the DEAF CULTURE CENTRE.
We interviewed museum and gallery directors, curators, strategic planners, architects, designers, multimedia producers, lease agents, educators, government agencies, lawyers, accountants, and members of the Deaf community. We worked with a design firm to produce the vision document, identity, and design for the center's marketing and exhibits. Bruce Mau, innovative international designer, advised us that such a center should be a place of visual beauty and be located in the core of the city-not cloistered in a school or out on farmland. This was a crucial point for us as our goal was to put the Deaf center on the map historically. Toronto's Distillery Historic District was chosen as the appropriate location since it was in the heart of Old Town Toronto in the culture, arts, and entertainment area.
We envisioned the DEAF CULTURE CENTRE through a very different lens. It is not a service agency for the Deaf community, which typically reflects a medical framework. This would be a stand-alone institution from the Deaf community in the context of an urban cultural hub of arts and entertainment. This provides an important framing of who we are. The DEAF CULTURE CENTRE's initial founding was based on financial support from the original Deaf visionaries, private (primarily Deaf) individuals, Deaf community organizations, and substantial grants designed by us (Canada Heritage and Ontario Trillium Foundation, among others).
Following acceptance of the feasibility study and initiation of the $1.4 million fundraising campaign, we conducted charrette sessions at the Deaf Canada Conference in St. John's, Newfoundland, in 2002. A charrette is an intensive planning session, and, in this case, Deaf citizens, designers, and leaders all collaborated on drawing up a vision and setting priorities. With the charrette outcomes firmly in mind, Quadrangle Architects then developed the site plans. The brainstorming and priorities established during those sessions thus became the foundation for the architectural design of a Deaf space. We viewed this context as an important backdrop for all of the center's exhibits (described later in this article).
Architectural Design: Founding a Deaf Cultural Space
Sensors were used to track the movement of signs to create beautiful designs throughout the space that reflect the identity of the community: INSPIRE, carved on the door handles by Dora de Pedery Hunt, a 92-year-old Deaf Canadian and sculptress; DIVERSE, etched on medallions along the glass stairwell with open sight lines; culture, on the glass panel at the entry; and PRESERVE on the donor wall. Upon arrival, visitors first view a white marble desk, reminiscent of the white marble on the entryway of the first provincial school for Deaf children in Ontario. Glass panels between offices create sight lines for communication, ledges throughout the center ensure that hands are free for communication, good lighting is installed throughout, and a central island in the kitchen opens to the gallery for social gatherings, while metal ceiling rungs and movable walls for exhibits make transformation from exhibit space to a large, open, social-event area an easy task.
Permanent Exhibits
Permanent and special exhibits at the DEAF CULTURE CENTRE are research based and driven by ideas from board members, Deaf leaders, and members of the Deaf community and are selected by Deaf representatives who serve on the exhibits committees.1
The permanent exhibits include stories of accomplishment, political leadership, community advocacy, resilience, Deaf heritage, examples of the complexity and beauty of ASL and LSQ, ASL and LSQ literature, and De'VIA art. Artifacts, photos, films, documents, and artwork are exhibited in ways that tell a story.
Permanent exhibits at the DEAF CULTURE CENTRE trace the history of sign language from France to the United States and Canada following the paths of French, American, and Canadian Deaf leaders. The history was featured on a movable wall for ten years and was displayed as a web that not only highlighted the intersection of these leaders but also visually traced their impact on society at large and the influence of world events on the community. For example, the web highlighted a seemingly unrelated confluence of historical events, each connected by a thread that had a lasting effect on the Deaf community. The web demonstrated how the cofounding of the first permanent American school for Deaf children by Laurent Clerc and Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet in Hartford, Connecticut, in 1817 affected the language and knowledge base of Deaf children, as well as their place in society. Many Deaf people from Martha's Vineyard came to study at the American School for the Deaf in Connecticut, bringing their own signed language with them. In doing so, they influenced Clerc and the development of American Sign Language. When they returned home, they took their knowledge and language with them and shared these with their Deaf and hearing communities on the island.2
The web also showed how Edward Miner Gallaudet, Thomas's son, later founded the National Deaf-Mute College (now Gallaudet University) in 1864. Also highlighted was Canadian David Peikoff, who attended Gallaudet in 1924 and returned to Canada, where he became a revered Deaf leader and Canadian activist and was a strong advocate of education and employment for the Deaf community. He defended the rights of children to accessible language and helped change laws to allow Deaf drivers. The web also illustrated that, despite the prevalence of arbitrary North American name signs in the Deaf community, Laurent Clerc's name sign is descriptive because it reflects a childhood burn on his right cheek. Similarly, on the Canadian scene, following the devastating 1917 explosion of a French munitions cargo ship in the harbor at Halifax, Nova Scotia, students altered their traditional, arbitrary name signs to reflect the scars they had received. Artifacts placed in the history web demonstrate the evolution of sign language as used in Canada, featuring, for example, a school plate (circa 1870) with the two-handed British fingerspelling and British signed words. This was later replaced by American Sign Language. A string connecting all of these seemingly disparate events illustrates that one event or individual can influence others, each playing their own role in public Deaf history.
Special Exhibits
Many significant international archives on Deaf sports remain hidden, shelved in Deaf organization libraries and boxes or archived online but not optimally used. Our approach to special historical exhibits is exemplified in the interactive exhibit titled Catch the Wave: Deaf Sports.
Goals of Catch the Wave: Deaf Sports Exhibit
The goals of this special exhibit were to create meaningful, memorable, and fun experiences, to engage visitors in inspiring stories of Deaf sports and community, to increase public awareness, appreciation, knowledge, understanding, and support of Deaf sports and Deaf athletes, to encourage participation in Deaf sports, and to celebrate provincial, national, and international Deaf sports organizations and activities.3
Design Approach: Unify and Transform the Space
The exhibit was to be aesthetically pleasing, clear and simple, and creative and thought provoking. Its interactive design unifies the display and transforms the space so that it is inviting, fun, and energetic. Catch the Wave: Deaf Sports was featured in the gallery of the DEAF CULTURE CENTRE in 2008.
The exhibit used bright colors and motifs from the Canadian Deaf Sports Association to encourage awareness of that organization. The presentation occupied both floor and ceiling space with strong graphic and photographic elements to create a sense of history, action, and achievement (figures 1 and 2).
Numerous sports stories were featured in a "locker room" by means of video footage, photographs, sports artifacts, and newspaper clippings all displayed from inside lockers, drawing the eye and imagination to these rich historical sports contexts (figures 3 and 4).
Engagement with Historic Deaf Sports Inventions: Inspiring and Entertaining Stories
Photographs and documents of momentous Deaf sports inventions were presented in ways that engage visitors in the gallery. For example, the photograph of Paul Hubbard's innovation of the football huddle (1894) was reproduced on the floor of the gallery with running shoes in a huddle formation, enticing visitors to form their own huddle while reading about his invention (figure 5).
This technique is used as well to showcase William Hoy's (18621961) invention of baseball signals, displaying his biography and photographs in colorful contexts. In addition, visitors can spin an interactive wheel and then respond to the signal they select.
In the presentation of James G. Kyte's story (National Hockey League, 1983-1997), a glass reflects off the display to demonstrate how Kyte used the glass reflection from around the hockey rink to observe the players who were coming up behind him.
The history of Team Canada is summarized on a large panel. Adjacent to it are a red tie and a green tie to highlight a humorous story about Team Canada in 1965, which was before the advent of TTYs, pagers, and the Internet. All of the members of Team Canada ordered their team attire from Eaton's, but half of the team decided they needed red ties, while the other half bought green ones! The story humanizes the history.
Interactive Exhibits and a Living, Breathing Space
Interactive exhibits keep visitors of all ages engaged and interested. We provided a photo opportunity with a life-sized cardboard stand-up photo of Deaflympic champion Marc Couture, captain of the Canadian Deaflympic hockey team in Sundsvall, Sweden, in 2003, when it won the gold medal. It is accompanied by handmade Deaflympic chocolate medallions for purchase, hockey dress-up, original artifacts such as coach Roy Hysen's hockey jersey signed by the winning Deaflympic team (2003), photographs, original medals, and news clippings.
At the reception to mark the opening of the exhibition, Jo-Anne Robinson, multiple Deaflympic award-winning swimmer, Canadian ambassador to the Deaflympics, and author of The History of Deaf Sports in Alberta, presented a lecture on her book. School tours, lectures, workshops, and social events regularly take place in the gallery, making it a living, breathing exhibit.
Art Gallery
The DEAF CULTURE CENTRE also features an art gallery with permanent and special art exhibits. The process for selection is the same as that for the historical exhibits. Selections of group and solo exhibits are also based on their relationship to special historical displays and on the variety they provide for ongoing engagement with the Deaf community and other audiences. Every year the Deaf center hosts around ten thousand visitors, both new and repeat.
Challenges
The first items that individuals wished to donate to the Centre were old TTYs! However, these, we believed, did not represent the cultural heart of the Deaf community. Our focus was on Deaf achievements, heritage, and arts as representations of empowerment.
Our continued challenge has been to maintain financial support for the center. Individuals eagerly donate to establish a historically significant institution but are less enthusiastic about maintaining it. We have sublet our second floor and have moved to a smaller space in the Distillery District to conserve financing for the second phase of our existence. Small stepped down as codirector in 2013 and now serves as a consultant to the center on matters of content (special exhibits, awards programs, publications, and project grants), while Cripps continues to run the center.
Morphing
In its second phase, and as a result of support from Social Enterprise, the center is opening an intimate tearoom, Def-T, in our new location. Visitors will naturally be exposed to sign language, literature, De'VIA art, and history when they come for tea and relaxation, acquiring ASL and Deaf heritage through interaction.
What was essential in the founding of the center remains true today. It is crucial for the Deaf community to be engaged in all of the planning related to the use of space, as well as the choice of topics, exhibits, and approaches to the promotion of Deaf public history through empowering interactive experiences. When asked, we maintain that Deaf historical displays must be presented from a Deaf perspective. This is not an external view but rather an internal view that sees the light of day. Exhibits highlight a celebration of Deaf life from insiders' perspectives with interactivity and cultural experiences. Culture is not a spectator sport.
Notes
1. Barry Lord and Gail Dexter Lord, The Manual of Museum Exhibitions (Walnut Creek, CA: AltaMira, 2001).
2. Nora Groce, Everyone Here Spoke Sign Language (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1985).
3. Description of Catch the Wave: Deaf Sports (exhibition) is adapted from Joanne Cripps and Anita Small, Effective Deaf Sports Collections on Exhibition and On-Line, presentation at the Deaf History International Conference, Edinburgh, Scotland, July 17, 2015, and Joanne Cripps and Anita Small, Effective Deaf Sports Collections on Exhibition and On-Line, in Proceedings of Deaf History International Conference (working title) (Edinburgh, Scotland, in press). All photographs from the section Catch the Wave: Deaf Sports are the property of the DEAF CULTURE CENTRE.
4. Photograph of football huddle (1894) reproduced with permission from Gallaudet University Archives.
Joanne Cripps, renowned Deaf leader, author, and advocate, is executive director and cofounder of Toronto's DEAF CULTURE CENTRE, which promotes Deaf arts and heritage, and author of Quiet Journey: Understanding the Rights of Deaf Children. Anita Small, sociolinguist, educator, and researcher, is a leading expert in bilingual Deaf education, cofounder and past codirector of the DEAF CULTURE CENTRE, and owner of small LANGUAGE CONNECTIONS, which works with communities to create empowering educational content and cultural environments.
Copyright American Annals of the Deaf Fall 2016