A homegrown and high-tech way to bring theatre to the masses — no matter what language they speak — has just received a boost of more than $120,000.
Barrie-based Talk Is Free Theatre (TIFT) recently received an Ontario Trillium Foundation capital grant for $122,400 to help fund the purchase of 60 pairs of TIFT’s proprietary Augmented Reality for Immersive Accessibility (ARIA) glasses — a language translation tool built in that allows for immersive and interactive productions for all.
Translations appear in each patron’s personal view by using small binocular screens embedded in smart glasses. The technology can self-detect more than 96 different source languages,which can then be discreetly translated into one of more than 40 languages chosen by the audience on their device.
TIFT producer and CEO Arkady Spivak said the funding will allow them to build 60 additional units.
“We’ve realized the glasses can be used in so many different ways in the community. For example, they can of course be used to interpret work across the language barrier and dismantle the language barrier in theatre for the first time. It can also be used in non-traditional spaces,” he told BarrieToday.
“We are getting into things like using the glasses to allow learners of a language to attend a rehearsal and observe the development of a show where they can hear and read the text repeatedly. Then their comprehension and vocabulary retention would increase," Spivak added.
Barrie-Springwater-Oro-Medonte MPP Doug Downey had the chance to try out the high-tech glasses during the recent event and told BarrieToday he was impressed.
“It was incredible,” he said. “The ability to watch the play and read the text was not a barrier at all. Arkady is just a really innovative individual. This is an accessibility feature. I can think of all sorts of cross features outside of theatre that it would be fantastic for,” the MPP said.
“For theatre itself, it is certainly going to make it more accessible.”
The Ontario Trillium Foundation has granted approximately 1,000 different grants across the province this year, Downey said, noting the local initiative “checks a lot of boxes” in terms of making things more accessible as well as supporting the arts community.
“It’s helping move forward something that will impact (the arts) across Ontario,” he said. “I encourage people to take the opportunity to come and see what he does with it. It will be a unique experience.”
While use of the software, which Spivak noted was created during the pandemic, is currently focused on improving access to the arts locally, the hope is other communities will see the success and want to implement them there once TIFT is able to expand its inventory.
“Right now, we just have enough to run our own shows ... but that’s the idea,” he said, adding it allows people who would not have comfortably ventured to the theatre in the past to come enjoy it. “If you half speak English you may attend a conventional theatre, but if you’re asked to participate you don’t want to be on display.
"Instead of saying, ‘hi, I don't speak the language' … instead you’re saying, ‘hi, I speak a different language and I am using technology to help.' It empowers the audience in ways that’s never been done before, and I think that is important.”
