DEAF CULTURE CENTRE HOSTS MAGNIFICENT DONOR RECEPTION
AND REVEALS ITS VISUAL IDENTITY!!
On February 19th, 2005, the DEAF CULTURE CENTRE hosted a beautiful
evening reception to honour its donors at the Richmond Hill Country Club in Concord,
Ontario.
The DEAF CULTURE CENTRE will open at the historic culture, arts and
entertainment Distillery District in the heart of Old Town Toronto in the spring, 2006! A
project of the Canadian Cultural Society of the Deaf, it will feature a museum, art
gallery, gift shop, research and archives, state-of-the-art visually rich technology
highlighting Deaf historical artifacts, literature, ASL/LSQ interactive website/television
and multimedia production studio.
The DEAF CULTURE CENTRE is a symbol of the Deaf community celebrating
Deaf life. It will be a public forum both historical and forward-looking. The DEAF
CULTURE CENTRE will be contemporary; a fun gathering place that is open to the
public and rooted in the Deaf community. It will provide education, culture, visual and
performing arts.
The evening was electric with incredible energy from the 170 donors who attended.
Following hors d’oeurvres, wine, time to chat and for everyone to arrive from across
Ontario and other provinces in the country, the program began with a warm welcome from
Joanne Cripps, Director, Policies, Management and Public Relations for the Deaf Centre.
Joanne opened by referring to Canadian Cultural Society of the Deaf (CCSD) founder,
Forrest Nickerson’s dream from the early 70’s, stating that this centre is his
dream come true.
Director, Education, Research and Development for the Centre, Anita Small gave an
emotional appreciation on behalf of the Deaf Centre for the many organizations and
individuals that gave from their hearts. Alluding to CCSD President, Helen
Pizzacalla’s description of the Deaf Centre as a “lighthouse that will draw
people to celebrate Deaf life from around the world”, Anita shared that the
“sparks of light for this house”, originated with the Deaf community members and
friends. They gave honour by donating to it and believing in it from its inception. The
program book lists all donors of the DEAF CULTURE CENTRE.
President of CCSD and Chair of the Board of Directors for the DEAF CULTURE CENTRE,
Helen Pizzacalla revealed the visual identity of the centre and presented the significance
of the logo and name. Helen recounted the process of working with Bruce Mau Design Inc.
and members from the Deaf community to develop the name and logo of the centre. Highlights
from her presentation are as follows:
“This place is about Deaf Culture. What it was, is and will be. It
is a culture of creativity and open expression. It is the place to where the Deaf
community migrates and from which it emanates. It is in a place like this that culture is
made. It is a place where things happen.”
DEAF CULTURE CENTRE
“The single most remarkable feature of Sign - is its unique linguistic use of space.
(Oiver Sacks, Seeing Voices). Poizner did a 3-D mapping of sign in motion revealing its
visual depth, beauty and complexity. Unveiling the invisibles of Sign shows the depth,
complexity and dynamic nature of Deaf culture.”
Helen described how working with researchers at the University of Toronto, the team mapped
a library of sign language words that could show Sign movement through time, capturing the
many expressions of Deaf culture. And so, the logo of the DEAF CULTURE CENTRE is a
dynamic, fluid, evolving and creative embodiment of Deaf culture – who we are!