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January 2000
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January 2000
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Blind Artists and Friends Concert
Sunday, October 10, 1999
To benefit:
The Foundation Fighting Blindness--
Maryland Affiliate
and
Maryland Arts AccessBlind Artists and Friends Concert
The annual event that showcases the talents and features some extraordinary abilities of those with disabilities.
Proceeds from this concert will go toward providing audio description for visually handicapped individuals attending theatre events and to help fund research and support programs of The Foundation Fighting Blindness.
The Foundation Fighting Blindness--
Maryland AffiliateWho We Are
The Foundation Fighting Blindness (the Foundation) is a national eye research organization headquartered in Hunt Valley, Maryland. The Foundation funds research projects to find the causes, treatments, preventions and cures for the retinal degenerative diseases that affect six million Americans who are going blind due to retinitis pigmentosa (RP), macular degeneration, Usher syndrome and other related retinal diseases -- diseases that know no boundaries of age, social class, race or geography.
The Foundation currently has 45 affiliates throughout the United States which are totally volunteer organizations that work to raise funds which are used to help fund the Foundation's research projects being carried on at major medical universities and research institutions throughout the United States, to further public awareness and to provide a support network for the victims of retinal degenerative diseases and their families. The Maryland Affiliate (the Affiliate) is one of the 45 active affiliates.
Our Cause
Most people with RP are legally blind by the age of 40. Children with Usher syndrome are born with varying degrees of deafness and later develop RP and become blind as well. Macular degeneration is the leading cause of legal blindness (due to center vision loss) in adults over 55. In fact, by age 75, one in three people will develop symptoms of macular degeneration.
Support and Awareness
One of our primary functions as the Affiliate is to provide a support group for individuals who are victims of retinal degenerative diseases and their families. We try to offer helpful suggestions and share knowledge about goods and services available. Through our meetings, special breakfasts and fundraising events, we offer an opportunity to share information, experiences and fun.
Fundraising
Another of our primary causes in the fight against blindness is to raise funds that will speed finding the treatments, cures and eventual prevention of these devastating diseases. We want to see an end to the life-altering course of lost vision. We want to see an end to those terrible days in eye clinics and ophthalmologists' offices when yet another person is told they are going blind or their child is going blind and that nothing can be done to stop it. We want to see; we want our children to see; we want our grandchildren to see. There is so much to see in this world of ours-no one should be denied the precious gift of sight!
The Foundation Fighting Blindness
Executive Plaza 1, Suite 800
11350 McCormick Road
Hunt Valley, MD 21031
(410) 785-1414The Foundation Fighting Blindness - Maryland Affiliate
Dave Nanney - President
(410) 785-1414 - voice mail extension 779Maryland Arts Access
Maryland Arts Access--making arts, recreation and cultural activities accessible throughout Maryland for all persons regardless of disability or the nature of disability.
Maryland Arts Access, Inc., 1 North Charles Street, Blaustein Building, Baltimore, MD 21201
(410) 347-1650Founded in 1997 by the Maryland Technology Assistance Program, MAAI is dedicated to making art and cultural activities more accessible to disabled patrons. Disabilities need not prevent enjoyment of recreational and cultural activities. We are educating and advocating in order to open the doors to arts and culture for everyone.
We are helping visually impaired patrons enjoy the arts with Audio Description, an exciting way of providing live descriptions at theaters and museums without any disruption to other patrons.
The Visual Artists
This year for the first time we are proud to have the visual arts represented by a fine display of sculpture, drawings, paintings, etc. The artists displaying some of their work are:
Aniko' Samu
Aniko' Samu was bom in Ho'dmezova'sa'rhely, Hungary, and came to the United States with her parents and sister in 1973 when she was 6 years old. She lost her hearing at the age of 3 and has always had a vision problem but was diagnosed at the age of 29 with Usher's syndrome (deafness and progressive vision loss). She has been an artist all her life. Aniko' is a graduate of the Maryland Institute College of Art with a degree in photography. Even though her major was photography, she is equally strong is other areas of art as well. She has exhibited widely in Maryland as well as in Jamaica. For three years she has also been a member of Maryland Printmakers. Due to her vision, Aniko' is currently not doing much photography but does continue to work with other media. She plans to have another show in the near future. Aniko' creates her artwork at her Baltimore home, and at this time most of her art is given to close family and friends.
Conrad Nathan
Conrad was bom in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1925. His interest in working with clay stemmed from a very early age but he never followed through until 5 years ago. He now pursues his interest in working with clay and enjoys creating pieces for family and friends. He claims the greatest sculpture he has ever seen was "Moses" by Michaelangelo. He creates his pieces and works at the Baltimore Jewish Community Center and the Senior Center in Pikesville. Conrad was diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa 15 years ago. He resides with his wife in Baltimore.
D.
D.
Susan Scott
D.
Susan was born in Calumet, Michigan. She loves to create all kinds of arts and crafts, usually for her own pleasure. Before Susan lost her sight about 3 years ago, she enjoyed doing embroidery, beadwork and cross-stitch. Upon losing her vision, she now enjoys the challenges of painting. Despite her creative background, Susan has never showed her work before. She attended Catonsville Community College where she received her AA degree and was working on a second one in interpreting for the deaf. She hopes to one day continue her study on becoming an interpreter for the deaf. At this time, she is learning to deal with her blindness and is learning to work on a computer at the Maryland Rehab Center. When she finishes training at the Maryland Rehab Center, she is eager to return to her home in Owings Mills.
John Tullis will be on hand to describe the artwork on display to those who are visually impaired. John is one of the describers for Maryland Arts Access who skillfully describes plays, theatre productions, museum art, etc. for the visually impaired. John will be using some of his enhancement equipment.
D.
D.
Our Master of Ceremonies
MC'ing this afternoon's performance will be Meteorologist Lori Pinson from WBFF.
Lori is the familiar TV personality who brings us the weather forecast daily from FOX-45 News at Ten and WB-54 News at 6:30.
Check out the website at www.wbff45.com for some interesting weather trivia and "Lori's Spacelink" to get some "way out" weather reports on Mars.
Serving the community since 1971, WBFF has been Baltimore's "home-grown" television station.
The Performers
(In order of appearance)D.
Vy Pham is a sophomore at Maryland School for the Blind and also attends Parkville High School. Vy is originally from Vietnam and has been in the United States for five years. She has played the piano for one and a half years. This summer, Vy went to Connecticut to the Music and Arts Center for a summer camp and learned Braille music and music theory. Vy likes to listen to Vietnamese music and sing.
D.
James King is a freshman at Maryland School for the Blind and also attends Parkville High School. He has enjoyed singing since age four. James enjoys swimming, running track, playing goal ball and playing the piano.
James will be accompanied by Rebecca Lindsey, music teacher and music therapist at Maryland School for the Blind.
D.
Jermaine Gardner, a classical, jazz and contemporary pianist was born on May 17,1983, in Baltimore, Maryland. A highly acclaimed and recognized child prodigy, Jermaine has been performing locally', nationally and internationally since his public debut at age 3. Jermaine has won numerous lst Place Honors in prestigious competitions, including the Mozart Concerto Competition, which afforded him the opportunity to perform with an orchestra. He has appeared on numerous local and national network TV shows and in a host of publications. He performed with Stevie Wonder at age 4, at the White House for both Nancy Reagan and Barbara Bush and at the Budakan Arena in Japan in 1996. Now 16, Jermaine attends the Baltimore School for the Arts where he currently studies piano under Allen Good, an accomplished pianist.
D.
Page Trammell has been playing the flute for over 30 years in numerous school, college and community orchestras and has sung with many choirs. She currently plays flute with the Baltimore Symphonic Band and participated in a band festival in Switzerland during this past summer.
Dave Nanney enjoys playing country and bluegrass music and describes himself as "an average Joe who likes to play and sing music." He will be sharing the mike with his son, Dave, an accomplished guitarist, singer and song-writer, for this afternoon's performance.
Tony Tyree has sung at the Apollo Theater in New York. He has opened for Ronnie Milsap and performed at the White House for President Reagan. Tony was featured on a special produced by the Cable channel at Dundalk Community College and also performed as the Lion in "The Whiz."
Lou Smith is music director for a contemporary worship group at Bethesda United Methodist church in Baltimore. He has written and performed music for commercials, jingles for WBAL, and performed on albums for local Christian artists. He has also written and performed music for productions by the Maryland Science Center. This afternoon, Lou will also be accompanying Page Trammell and Tony Tyree during their performances.
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