History of The ASL Festival
The American Sign Language & Interpreting Education Program at Northeastern University hosted its first George W. Veditz ASL Festival in 1997. Since then it has grown to an event with over 600 people attending annually.
Today the ASL Festival is a three-part event starting on Friday morning with the Marie Jean Philip ASL Poetry, Storytelling and Deaf Art Competition Awards Ceremony. The celebration continues on Friday evening in Blackman Auditorium with incredible performances from nationally-recognized Deaf talent. On Saturday, all-day workshops are held on a variety of topics related to ASL, interpreting, and the Deaf Community.
Past performers include: Patrick Fischer (aka MrShineyhead), Mary Beth Miller, Patrick Graybill, Adrian Blue, PAH! Deaf Youth Theatre, Angela Straity, Evon Black Robinson, Matthew “Magic” Morgan, Bill Ennis, Clayton Valli, Manny Hernandez, Nathie Marbury, Ruth Moore, Ivy Velez, Elinor Kraft, and Janis Cole…just to name a few.
Past workshop presenters include: Patrick Fischer (aka MrShineyhead), M.J. Bienvenu, Sharon Neumann Solow, Angela Straity, Nathie Marbury, Clayton Valli, Patrick McCarthy, Matthew Moore, Patrick Graybill, Dennis Cokely, Manny Hernandez, Michael Schlang, David Del Pizzo, and many more.
Make sure to mark your calendar today so you don’t miss this incredible celebration of ASL!