CymaSpace: Inclusive Music, Visible Sound

Air date: 6/15/2018 
**Read the transcript of the feature: CymaSpace Transcript

CymaSpace is a non-profit performance venue & technology incubator in Portland, Oregon. The organization is dedicated to making the arts accessible to Deaf and Hard of Hearing communities by providing technological accommodations and educational support, through art through cymatics,  the science of making sound visible. Located off SE Milwaukie Avenue in Portland, they share the industrial space with other organizations.

The work of CymaSpace has been featured nationally on Jimmy Kimmel Live, as well as at festivals like What The Fest?, PDX Winter Light Festival, Kentucky DeaFestival and in prominent local institutions such as Portland Art Museum and Oregon Museum of Science & Industry (OMSI).

CymaSpace founder, Myles de Bastion, is also a multi-media artist who shares a love of music and technology with Chris. His interest in cymatics began with collaborating with hearing musicians to make his art accessible. Special Events Coordinator Chris Balduc shares this passion for music. Embracing his deaf culture and language, he also aims to promote experiencing music and sound from a different perspective.

This year, CymaSpace is hosting the Portland’s first-ever Northwest Deaf Arts Festival, with renowned deaf artists – role models in the community – including rapper Sean Forbes, poet Raymond Luczak, dancer Antoine Hunter and the Urban Jazz Dance Company and Portland’s Myles de Bastion. This festival also challenges mainstream venues to consider what it really means to be fully inclusive and accessible.

For KBOO Community Radio, I spoke with Myles and Chris at CymaSpace and produced this feature. Check out the podcast and transcript above!

**Stay tuned for the video feature!**
**Super thanks to Kara de Giovanni for volunteer interpreting!
**Special thanks to Jenn Chavez and Jenka Soderberg for their help!