David Perry: July 08, 2008

e historic WWII Liberty Ship marks the 65th anniversary of her June 19, 1943 launch with an unprecedented array of cruises and special events. Home to the nonprofit National Liberty Ship Memorial, the S.S. Jeremiah O’Brien is the world’s oldest, most historically accurate World War II vessel still in Coast Guard-approved operation. Each cruise includes alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages, delectable appetizers, buffet meals, and desserts, music, entertainment, and dancing with full access to this amazing floating memorial including the bridge, engine room, cabins, museum, and gun turrets. Cruise duration is from 4 to 9 hours, depending upon the cruise, and tickets range in price from $100 to $175 per person. In addition, the S.S. Jeremiah O’Brien is also offering several popular dockside events, including the the San Francisco Brewer’s Guild ‘Brews on the Bay’ weekend.

The 2008 S.S. Jeremiah O’Brien Summer Cruise Schedule follows. Please check www.ssjeremiahobrien.org for any schedule changes or call 415-544-0100

July 23, 10am ‘til 2pm: Festival of Sail Visits San Francisco Bay Cruise ($100 per person)
When the great sailing ships travel around the world and converge on our fair shores we like to greet these amazing sailing vessels and their cadets with a Grand Welcome.

August 16, 10am ‘til 4pm: Visit to the Ghost Fleet Cruise ($150 per person)
Some call it the Reserve Fleet, others call it the Mothball Fleet, in any case these former proud vessels now sit in Suisun Bay waiting patiently on an unsure future. The S.S. Jeremiah O’Brien returns to visit her former resting place and to salute the ships of the Mothball Fleet. See the USS Iowa in her current location. Continental breakfast & catered picnic lunch. Natural Gas Jazz Band will be featured.
October 11, 9am ‘til 5pm: Fleet Week ($150 per person)
Join us in the Parade of Ships welcoming guest vessels to San Francisco, and enjoy the air show featuring the Navy Blue Angels! There is no better viewing spot on the whole waterfront than the decks of the S.S. Jeremiah O’Brien to see the pilots swoop around the East Bay hills, the city and the Golden Gate Bridge. Includes continental breakfast & catered lunch. Natural Gas Jazz Band will be featured on Saturday. (Departure Pier TBA)

October 12, 10am ‘til 5pm: Fleet Week Cruise ($150 per person)
Under balmy October skies, enjoy the air show featuring the Navy Blue Angels! There is no better viewing spot on the whole waterfront than the decks of the S.S. Jeremiah O’Brien to see the pilots swoop around the East Bay hills, the City and the Golden Gate Bridge. A not to be missed experience! Includes continental breakfast and catered lunch. Phirehouse Philharmonic is scheduled for Sunday (Departure Pier TBA)

NOTE: Those interested in booking the Jeremith O’Brien for a special event should contact the offices of David Perry & Associates, Inc. at (415) 693-0583 / news@davidperry.com or PR That Rocks at (415) 381-8647 / chris@prthatrocks.com

The S.S. Jeremiah O’Brien History in Brief:
During World War II, 2,751 Liberty Ships, constructed at 18 US ship yards, were meant to be built quicker than German U-Boats could sink them. “Built by the mile and chopped off by the yard,” as President Roosevelt said, they were to form a “bridge of ships” across the Atlantic. Winston Churchill wrote, “Without the supply column of Liberty Ships that endlessly plowed the seas between America and England, the war would have been lost.”

The S.S. Jeremiah O’Brien was built in a blisteringly fast 56 days and launched in South Portland, Maine on June 19, 1943. She made four harrowing Atlantic crossings and eleven Normandy D-Day landings during WWII and also served in the Pacific Theater and Indian Ocean. Mothballed in 1946, she was laid up for 33-years in Suisun Bay before possession of the ship was taken over in 1979 to be restored. After countless thousands of hours of restoration work, the ship is on the National Register of Historic Places and a National Historic Landmark dedicated to the men and women who both built and sailed the ships of the U.S. Merchant Marine in WWII. The S.S. Jeremiah O’Brien proudly returned to Normandy as part of the 50th Anniversary of the Normandy D-Day Celebrations in 1994. She was the only U.S. ship from the original 6,939-ship armada to make the return. On June 17, 2008 the O’Brien hosted the world premiere of the new History Channel documentary Hero Ships: S.S. Jeremiah O’Brien. The documentary, from Lou Reda Productions, will air later this summer on the History Channel.

Television’s smash hit “Dancing with the Stars” has galvanized interest in Tango dance for American audiences, but the breadth and richness of Tango music has not received its due time under the lights – that is, until now. Ted Viviani, producer of Extreme Tango (www.xtango-sf.com) has made it his labor of love to remedy this situation with Tango x 3, the second installment of his popular Tango Trilogy. Taking place Friday, August 15 through Sunday, August 17 at San Francisco’s Palace of Fine Arts Theatre (3301 Lyon Street) Tango x 3 literally will extend Tango music performance into an exciting third dimension.

“Since the mid-1990s San Francisco has been the epicenter of the international Tango scene with much of the Bay Area having become fertile ground for some of the best Tango dancers in the world,” explains Viviani. “And yet, the Tango community here must develop a deeper appreciation -- and more active support – of the great riches of Tango music in order to be able to compete with the likes of Buenos Aires.”

According to Viviani, whose life passion is fostering, developing and presenting the best of Tango – from the Bay Area and beyond -- Tango x 3 is not only a serious step towards meeting this objective, but one which does so in the true Tango fashion of onstage experimentation.

“Tango is about breaking the rules,” says an obviously excited Viviani. “In Tango x 3 we are doing something unprecedented in bringing three world class pianists together for one evening of unequalled musical exploration.”

In fact, Tango X 3 will be the first time three pianists have ever performed Tango music together in a full concert format playing solos, duets, and trios. The artists comprising this world-premiere are two-time Latin Grammy nominee Jovino Santos Neto from Brazil; recording artist and cultural ambassador Polly Ferman from Uruguay; and Erika Nickrenz of the wildly popular two-time Grammy-nominated Eroica Trio. Special performances will include the world premiere of two new pieces for three pianos from Tango legend Daniel Binelli as well as offering composed and performed by Neto himself. Also featured in the program will be 2-3 piece suites for piano duet composed by Pablo Ziegler. One of San Francisco's leading Tango dancers/instructors, Christy Cote, and her partner Darren Lees will perform several dances as guest artists. This program is being presented as a benefit for the San Francisco Breast Cancer Emergency Fund.

One of the leading interpreters of Tango music, Polly Ferman, captivates audiences with her tremendous performances of works by Gottschalk, Nazareth, Gershwin, Villa-Lobos, Ginastera, Piazzolla and Golijov, among others. The Japan Times called her “the Musical Ambassador of the Americas” with extensive tours as a soloist with the Symphonies of San Francisco, Colorado, Vancouver, and Indianapolis, as well as the Tokyo Philharmonic, Philippines Philharmonic, Sâo Paulo State Symphony, the National Symphony of Argentina and Cuba’s Camerata Romeu.. Ferman is founder of Pan American Musical Art Research, a New York based non-profit dedicated to promoting new artists from all the Americas and she also played an instrumental role in the creation and production of New City's Latin American Culture Week, which now is in its third year.

Best known as pianist for the Eroica Trio, Erika Nickrenz is a native of New York, where she made her concerto debut in Town Hall at age eleven. Nickrenz received her B.M. and M.M. degrees from the Juilliard School as a pupil of Abbey Simon, and she is an active solo and chamber musician with more than eighty concerts per season. Erika has received the prestigious Rockefeller Award, the Naumburg Award and has been celebrated by Carnegie Hall’s as “America’s Rising Star.” As a member of the Eroica Trio, she has performed with many ensembles worldwide, including the Chicago, Atlanta, Seattle, Pittsburgh, Saint Louis, Houston and San Francisco Symphony Orchestras, as well as tours with the Budapest Symphony and Prague Chamber Orchestra.

Rio de Janeiro-born and Seattle-based pianist, flutist, and composer Jovino Santos Neto transcends the barriers between classical, jazz, and indigenous Brazilian music. A member of Hermeto Pascoal's legendary band from 1977 to 1992, Neto has built a distinguished reputation as a creative and inspired musician, producer and arranger. Neto relocated to the United States in 1993 after performing on Sergio Mendes's Grammy award-winning world music album, Brasileiro. Besides performing worldwide, he gives lectures and workshops on Brazilian music and continues to collaborate with his long time mentor Hermeto Pascoal as the music director of the Hermeto Pascoal Big Band.

“I am honored by the opportunity to collaborate both as a composer and as a musician in this project, said Neto. “I always enjoyed listening to Tango music, but my appreciation has grown by leaps and bounds since I have been playing these wonderful compositions by Piazzolla, Binelli, Ziegler and the other composers. I am also so very happy to be collaborating for the first time onstage with Polly Ferman and Erika Nickrenz, two truly outstanding musicians, that I have written a special composition for 3 pianos, Tres Sinas (“Three Fates”) to celebrate this unique series of concerts.”

Daniel Binelli’s “Golden Gate Fantasy” for 3 pianos was funded in part by the Composer Assistance Program of the American Music Center

About Extreme Tango:
Extreme Tango (xTango) was founded in 2004 by Ted Viviani to promote innovative and genre-challenging productions of dance and music emerging from the Tango tradition. xTango’s first event was in 2004 in association with Cal Performances at Zellerbach Hall. The program featured four world renowned soloists: Argentinean bandoneonist Daniel Binelli, Uruguayan pianist Polly Ferman, Argentinean guitarist Eduardo Isaac, and Chilean classical flutist Viviana Guzman. In addition, the performance featured two of the most graceful and talented tango dancers in the world, Pilar Alvarez and Claudio Hoffmann. Since 2004, xTango has presented events with Argentinean singer and 2005 Grammy nominee, Sandra Luna; the all-female world-premiere production in San Francisco of Leading Ladies of Tango in December 2006 with vocalist Silvana Deluigi; and this past April’s Tango Evolution featured once again Binelli and Isaac this time with the most sought after classical chamber music group in the world, the Eroica Trio; and dancer Miriam Larici from the 1998 Broadway cast of Forever Tango. For information on upcoming performances go online to www.xtango-sf.com

Performances of Tango x 3 are Friday & Saturday, August 15 & 16, 8pm; Sunday, August 17, 2pm & 7pm. All performances are at San Francisco’s Palace of Fine Arts Theatre (3301 Lyon Street, San Francisco). Tickets may be purchased online at www.cityboxoffice.com

It’s election year, so what better way to wax eloquent about democracy than asking the public who they would like to see preserved for posterity? That’s exactly what San Francisco's internationally-acclaimed Wax Museum at Fisherman's Wharf – celebrating 45 years at the City’s number one tourist destination – did today by announcing an online poll to select their new resident for 2009. The poll, available online at www.waxmuseum.com, asks members of the public – local, national and international – to select a new addition from the following names: Dale Earnhardt, Justin Timberlake and Tupac Shakur. At a luncheon at the City’s Boudin Restaurant yesterday, two additions for later this year were also announced: a new “age-accurate” Queen Elizabeth and the teen TV sensation, Miley “Hannah Montana” Cyrus. A team of Bay Area Celebrity Judges, led by “Mr. San Francisco Nightlife,” Harry Denton of “Starlight Room” fame, voted to include Mother Theresa, Prince William and Mariah Carey who will join the winner of the Online Poll as permanent Museum residents in 2009.

“We think our collection is really the bee’s knees, and literally it’s the bees that do most of the work” quipped Wax Museum owner Rodney Fong, noting that his grandfather, Thomas Fong, got the idea for the Museum having seen the wax figures at the Seattle World's Fair. “Everyday people visit the Wax Museum at Fisherman’s Wharf and say ‘how about adding this person’ so we’ve taken them up on the offer and are asking them to decide who will be our star attraction for 2009.”

The museum started with 150 life-sized figures in front of black curtains on the first floor and opened as one of the largest wax museum in North America. Now the exhibit incluces over 200 figures in elaborately staged scenes, with costumes, props and lighting, carefully constructed to authenticate people at the peak of their fame. Many scenes were designed and sculpted by Thomas Fong's son Ronald, who co-directed the family business in partnership with his father from its inception. Over the years, the Fong family has added a collection of gift shops and attractions adjoining the museum to form the Wax Museum Entertainment Complex. The Haunted Gold Mine fun house opened in 1979, and the Medieval Dungeon, a museum of ancient European history, opened in 1989. These attractions were closed in 1998, when the old building was demolished to make way for the construction of the all new, 100,000 square foot, state-of-the-art building to replace the century old Fisherman’s Wharf structure and house a bigger and better than ever Wax Museum.

As one of the world's largest wax museums, the Wax Museum at Fisherman’s Wharf continues to show all aspects of life from the ignoble Chamber of Horrors to the inspiring Hall of Religion, including the historic Library of U.S. Presidents, the spectacular Recreation of King Tut's Tomb and the unique Palace of Living Art, where the world's most famous masters, and their masterpieces come to life through the magic of wax artistry. Among both foreign and domestic visitors, the most popular part of the wax museum tour is The Gallery of Stars. Artisans are busy continually producing a galaxy of brand new stars, such as Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, who will join such classics as Humphrey Bogart, Marilyn Monroe and John Wayne.

For more information to go www.waxmuseum.com

In this election year of presidential candidates pictured with the stars and stripes waving behind them, the Museum of Craft and Folk Art presents American Symbols: From the Flag to Lady Liberty, an exploration of the graphic history of the flag, the eagle, the union shield, Uncle Sam, and Lady Liberty as used in craft, folk art, and design as well as Native American art, trade and popular art. These symbols are sewn into quilts, carved in wood, and painted on metal; they are beaded, woven, stitched, hammered, and printed. From a Victorian crazy quilt to a flag made of dollar bills, all of the 75 fascinating items on display are drawn from the collection of San Francisco resident Kit Hinrichs, an internationally renowned graphic designer and partner in Pentagram Design. American Symbols: From the Flag to Lady Liberty will be on view at the Museum of Craft and Folk Art at 51 Yerba Buena Lane in downtown San Francisco from May 9, 2008 through January 27, 2008. For more information call (415) 227-4888 or visit www.mocfa.org.

American symbols—especially the flag—are so prevalent in our visual culture that we often fail to notice their presence or think about the roles they play. Now, as candidates for office openly debate US military involvement abroad, it is especially appropriate to contemplate how such symbols have been used in the past and present to express the sentiments of Americans in times of war and peace, and in situations of celebration and protest. In addition to conveying overt or subliminal messages, they have been used as graphic elements to adorn a wide variety of decorative and utilitarian objects and—in the spirit of American entrepreneurship
—to market goods. Above all, these symbols have been used as concrete representations of the artist’s or maker’s identification as American and as markers of patriotism and national pride—or righteous indignation. Contemporary artists in particular have integrated these symbols into works that present provocative interpretations, encouraging thoughtful dialogue.

Beginning with the flag made by his great-great-great aunt Ida Peppercorn in 1865, Kti Hinrichs has spent over 40 years seeking out intriguing objects to add to his remarkable collection. As a member of a profession where creating graphic symbols is an important aspect of his work, he appreciates the challenge of coming up “with visual icons that evoke immediate recognition, emotional power, and universal meaning.” As a collector, his passion is the joy of discovering new and wonderful examples of American symbols that deepen his appreciation of our history, and the resourcefulness of the “designer” that resides in all of us, from artist to average citizen. The Museum of Craft and Folk Art is proud to be able to share a portion of Hinrich’s collection with the public in this exhibition.

For 25 years, the Museum of Craft and Folk Art has provided the Bay Area with unique exhibitions and educational programs that inspire a variety of ethnically diverse communities. As the only folk art museum in Northern California, The Museum of Craft and Folk Art is known for its rich offering of focused and unique exhibitions of traditional and contemporary folk art and craft from around the world, its highly regarded Folk Art in the Schools program that reaches 10,000 elementary and middle-school students per year, and its support for contemporary craft and folk artists through its exhibitions, educational programs, and publications.

The Museum of Craft and Folk Art is a private, non-profit 501(c)3, membership-driven museum that receives support from members, donors, foundations, and the City of San Francisco. The Museum’s move to Yerba Buena Lane has received support from Millennium Partners and the San Francisco Redevelopment Agency.

The Museum of Craft and Folk Art and the Museum’s Gallery Store are located at 51 Yerba Buena Lane, connecting Market and Mission Street between 3rd and 4th Street in San Francisco’s Yerba Buena Gardens arts district. The Museum and Store are open Tuesdays through Fridays, from 11am to 6pm; Saturdays and Sundays, 11am to 5pm. Admission to the Museum’s galleries is $5; $4 for seniors; children under 18 are free. Museum members enjoy free admission; free admission is offered to everyone on Tuesday. Admission to the Museum’s Gallery Store is always free for all visitors. For more information call (415) 227-4888 or visit www.mocfa.org.

15 years after renowned dancer, choreographer and director Michael Smuin started Smuin Ballet (www.smuinballet.org), a company reflective of his bold, unique style – and a year after his untimely passing – Smuin Ballet Artistic Director, Celia Fushille today announced plans for the company's 2008 / 2009 season. The company is firmly in place as “one of the nation's top contemporary ballet companies” (Sacramento Bee, 10/4/07). Opening the fall 2008 season will be the Smuin Ballet Premiere of Carmen choreographed by Emmy award-winning choreographer, Robert Sund, the return of Smuin’s crowd-pleasing Dances With Songs and a World Premiere of new work by long-time Smuin dancer Amy Seiwert. Seiwert will be leaving her position as a dancer with the company at the end of the current season in order to assume her new role as Choreographer in Residence. The holiday season will be marked by the annual Christmas Ballet; Spring 2009 will feature a suite from Smuin's St Louis Woman: A Blues Ballet, the West Coast Premiere of The Naughty Boy! choreographed by Trey McIntyre and the early Michael Smuin work Bouquet.

“Our special 15th Anniversary Season reflects Michael’s innovative style which has become a signature of the Company and introduces the work of several talented choreographers, some new to Smuin Ballet,” said Celia Fushille. “From the fiery passion of Carmen to the sentimental favorites of The Christmas Ballet to the cool sensuality of St Louis Woman ,you’ll experience the full range of emotions and the variety of dance forms which are the hallmark of Smuin Ballet. After assisting Michael on St. Louis Woman, which he choreographed on Dance Theatre of Harlem, it brings me great joy to present a suite from this entertaining ballet - Michael's last narrative work. Next season I plan to present a varied repertoire that continues to challenge and excite our gifted and versatile artists as well as our audience."

In 1993 when Michael Smuin was asked ‘what do you want’ by his closest friends and patrons, he answered, “I want my own company.” His dream became reality 14 years ago with the birth of Smuin Ballet. The company was born on the belief that original works of dance of the highest quality could be accessible to a wide audience. Taking this belief to heart, Michael began choreographing for a Company of dancers that he personally selected for their exceptional talent and personality. Michael created more than forty beautiful, joyful, theatrical, and sexy ballets that are the lifeblood of the Company.

“Celia has assembled a great season for our 15th Anniversary,” said Dwight Hutton, Smuin Managing Director. “Beginning with the ballet that started it all Dances with Songs to a Smuin Ballet premiere of Michael’s St. Louis Woman’she has continued to demonstrate our beloved Michael’s brilliance. These works combined with a World Premiere by Amy Seiwert and a West Coast Premiere by one of the hottest choreographers today – Trey McIntyre – will only enhance the vibrancy of this unique company. It’s an honor to partner with Celia and our dedicated Board of Trustees as we continue to grow and bring joy to our faithful audience as well as new ones.”

The current Smuin Spring 2008 season continues with the glory of Gershwin as Michael’s classic Dancin’ With Gershwin makes a welcome return. Broadway meets Ballet in this award-winning production richly costumed by Willa Kim under a glittering skyline designed by Rick Goodwin and brought to life in lights by Sara Linnie Slocum. Michael’s “eclecticism is again apparent in Gershwin, stylistically inspired by classical ballet, Broadway and Hollywood musicals, tap, ballroom dance and vaudeville…no doubts arise about the versatility of Mr. Smuin or his dancers.” ( The New York Times).

“Michael Smuin gave me so much, as a mentor, a choreographer, and a great boss - to be able to continue choreographing and having a relationship with the company he began is an honor,” said Seiwert, commenting on her new role with the company. “In the nine years I've danced with Smuin Ballet one thing has never changed: the dancers have always been a diverse group of different talents, body types, energies, and strengths. By establishing such a company Michael made a place that is a choreographer's dream, a unique place to risk, grow and develop one's vision.”

Smuin made the San Francisco Bay Area his home since he was a Principal Dancer with San Francisco Ballet, before going on to dance on Broadway, and appearing in film and television. He was Principal Dancer and Resident Choreographer for American Ballet Theatre before returning to San Francisco as Co-Director of San Francisco Ballet (1973-1985), and was instrumental in raising that company's profile in the international arts community, including many “Dance in America” programs on PBS. He directed ABT's 50th Anniversary Gala. Broadway credits include Sophisticated Ladies, Anything Goes (Tony Award for Choreography), Shogun and Canciones de Mi Padre. Feature film credits include Rumblefish, Cotton Club, Dracula, and The Fantasticks. Television credits include Ira Gershwin at 100: A Celebration at Carnegie Hall. His productions on PBS of Romeo and Juliet, The Tempest, and A Song for Dead Warriors won several Emmy Awards. His ballets are currently in the repertories of major dance companies around the country. Smuin died on April 23 of this year, suffering a heart-attack in his San Francisco studio as he was beginning a rehearsal with his company of dancers. His long-time protégé, Celia Fushille, was named Smuin Ballet Artistic Director by unanimous vote of the Board of Directors in October 2007.

“14 years after Michael’s vision took shape and a year after his death,” said Fushille, “we continue with a season reflective of his legacy and his commitment to encouraging new talent.”

For more information on Smuin Ballet call (415) 495-2234, extension , email info@smuinballet.org or go online to www.smuinballet.org

Following Are Details of the 15th Anniversary 2008 / 2009 Season for Smuin Ballet.

2008 Fall / Winter Program
Carmen: Smuin Ballet Premiere: Robert Sund choreographer
World Premiere: New work by Amy Seiwert, Smuin Ballet Choreographer in Residence.
Dances with Songs: Michael Smuin, choreographer
Smuin Ballet’s 15th Anniversary Season kicks of with the company's opening program in 1994 -- Dances with Songs. This signature Smuin work, a marvelous and colorful medley set to songs by popular singers, is as fresh and appealing today as it was when it debuted. Robert Sund, former San Francisco Ballet principal, has created his Carmen to the music of Miles Davis’ “Sketches of Spain”-- a jazzy interpretation of the classical story of romantic competition. Amy Seiwert, Smuin Ballet Choreographer in Residence, will debut her seventh new work for the Company. Called a “rising star” by Michael Smuin, Seiwert has been recognized by the dance world as a chorographer to watch”. Her 2007 – 2008 work Objects of Curiosity was a hit with critics and audiences alike.

The Christmas Ballet 2008 Edition
The Christmas Ballet, an eagerly anticipated part of the Bay Area dance season, returns with its usual fun and frolic set to both classic and contemporary musical selections that reflect the magic of the season. Both sacred and sentimental, the Classical and Cool Acts offer something for everyone, including the quintessential “Santa Baby.” From Bach’s “Magnificat” to Handel’s “Messiah”, klezmer to carols, the Classical Act resonates with beauty and elegant, while the Cool Act features hula girls, tapping trees and the world’s longest feather boa. The Christmas Ballet is a magical treat for audiences of all ages. The 2008 edition will feature new works by guest choreographers as well as returning favorites.

Spring 2009 Program:
Suite from St Louis Woman: A Blues Ballet
Smuin Ballet Premiere. Michael Smuin choreographer
The Naughty Boy! West Coast Premiere, Trey McIntyre, choreographer
Bouquet: Michael Smuin choreographer
St Louis Woman: A Blues Ballet, was premiered at Lincoln Center in 2003 by Dance Theater of Harlem, who commissioned the work. Hailed by the New York Times as “gorgeous entertainment”, St. Louis Woman is a work that exemplifies Michael’s genius at “mixing ballet’s classical idiom with period social dances.” Trey McIntyre, renowned choreographer and founder of his own company, Trey McIntyre Project, set The Naughty Boy! to Mozart’s “Violin Concerto in G Major.” The ballet is a neo-classical loose narrative of Cupid’s effects on four couples. Michael Smuin created Bouquet to the music of Shostakovich. A set of two pieces, the Pas de Deux is a sensual expression of love, and the romantic Pas de Quatre, depicts a woman and her three adoring suitors.

LightHouse for the Blind and Visually Impaired, a non-profit headquartered in San Francisco, California, launched its completely redesigned and fully accessible website: www.lighthouse-sf.org. The new site closes the gap between easy navigability for blind and visually impaired users and visually appealing content.

San Francisco-based consultants Allen Ashton of Ashton Abeck and Brian McNitt of TrendMedia were enlisted to customize a site that would streamline business processes yet conform to stringent accessibility requirements. The design and engineering duo created the new LightHouse site to exceed key accessibility standards, while the LightHouse team provided concise, organized content to engage the full range of blind and visually impaired users coming to the site.

People who are blind access the Internet by using screen-reading software such as JAWS. But many websites do not take into account blind visitors and customers. For example, photos and graphics that are not labeled and Flash clips may be totally inaccessible.

"Accessibility and usability are two different things. Put it this way: you can technically make a building accessible by putting in a water fountain that's the right height and restrooms that are wide enough for someone using a wheelchair. But if you put those things on the 10th floor with no elevator, the building isn't really usable." said McNitt.

The new LightHouse website allows JAWS screen reader user and LightHouse tech associate Shen Kuan to navigate directly to a heading, like the Main Navigation bar or the search tool, to find information on local happenings “like tandem bicycling or Goalball events.”

Other features for low vision users include high contrast text and page colors, and the ability to modify text size and contrast. User-controlled display options “remember” an individual’s display preferences, making the LightHouse site a friendly place to return to again and again.

The LightHouse promotes the independence, equality and self-reliance of people who are blind or visually impaired through rehabilitation training and relevant services, such as access to employment, education, government, information, recreation, transportation and the environment. For more information, call 1-888-400-8933 or visit www.lighthouse-sf.org.

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