First deaf-led video podcast to share trail blazing career journeys (BSL)

UK social enterprise, co-founded by Cindy Sasha and Academy Award winner Rachel Shenton, Hear Art has announced the launch of Shaping Tomorrow, a brand-new deaf-led video podcast created with a 90% deaf production team to amplify the voices of the deaf community.

The Shaping Tomorrow series embraces British Sign Language and is the very first deaf video podcast to focus on the careers of deaf professionals in the creative, sports and entertainment industries while unearthing the challenges they have faced along the way and how things have changed over time.

The first instalment of the four-episode series sees designer and entrepreneur Wayne Hemingway MBE have an open and honest conversation with deaf architect Christopher Laing discussing their comparative experiences and journeys through the same industry.

Christopher speaks of the limitations faced by deaf architects and founding the DAF (Deaf Architecture Front) and its support for young people looking to follow in his footsteps:

“When I’m fighting and advocating for people, I’m just imagining a deaf person needing that support from someone that has the knowledge to help them so they can switch off and focus on what they need to do for their education.”

Episode two sees make-up artist Caroline Barnes sit down with deaf make-up artist Nicky Weir to chat about how Nicky being profoundly deaf yet incredibly visual helped her on her journey. She also discusses how ruthless the makeup world can be for deaf people, and what improvements can be made:

In episode three, deaf mountaineer Michael Woods chats to adventurer and solo expeditionist James Aiken about the obstacles he is facing in achieving his dream of climbing Mount Everest. He discusses the hardship of navigation during mountain climbing when you need to sign BSL in foggy conditions or read it with a headlight in your face, or to call 999 in case of an emergency.

Episode four sees actress Maxine Peake speak to deaf actress Sophie Stone how she was always told that she won’t be able to make a living as a deaf actor, how she was always given the subdued roles and deaf characters, whilst she longed to have roles full of life. She chats about learning how to speak for different roles, the doubts she had in herself, and the fact that she has to work twice as hard as her peers:

“I wanted to play hearing roles, scripts that didn’t necessarily have a deaf storyline, characters that fall in love, have an amazing sex life, or gun down loads of people, hold up a bank or whatever. I was never given those roles. I was given the vulnerable, sad, the pathetic, the lonely, the weak woman. I was fed up with that. I was given the subserving roles, the roles to be pitied and I was really frustrated throughout that time.”

Sam Arnold, who was recently a producer on the award-winning film Name Me Lawand, directs series one of Shaping Tomorrow, bringing together a talented deaf crew. He comments:

“I know that many talented deaf voices have been neglected or overlooked by all industries. Cindy at Hear Art and I shared the same vision to create a platform for them. As a deaf director, I am passionate about enhancing the video podcast experience to immerse deaf and hearing viewers.

It is particularly important for deaf viewers who are disadvantaged and unable to access many podcasts that are audio only or end up watching unengaging shots of two people talking.”

An award-winning Community Interest Company (CIC), Hear Art was co-founded in 2020 by Cindy Sasha and Rachel Shenton, who won an Academy Award for her short film The Silent Child in 2018, both of whom have deaf family members and who wanted to support the creative talents within the deaf community.

It has already successfully produced four deaf-led short films that gained commercial success in the short film festival circuit, and saw podcasting as the next step. Rachel Shenton says:

“Shaping Tomorrow’s conversations are so exciting as it’s our first independent venture. As ever, we are committed to encouraging the deaf and hearing community to work together and learn from each other and these conversations are a perfect way of doing that.”

The Shaping Tomorrow video podcast is fully accessible to all deaf and hard of hearing audiences, featuring inclusive British Sign Language (BSL), captions/subtitles, and complete transcripts to ensure an engaging and inclusive experience for all.

The first episode is exclusively available on YouTube, with the rest to be released every two weeks, and each episode will follow on Spotify, Audible and Apple Podcasts at the start of November:

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_FXPJBNacw

For more information follow @shapingtomorrowmedia on Instagram

Photography credit Hear Art