Subscriber Benefit
As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe Now
As a child of deaf parents, Kwani Young-Cornell says it’s especially meaningful to work as an American Sign Language interpreter when major concert tours visit Lucas Oil Stadium.
Last weekend, Young-Cornell helped to make memories for deaf and hard of hearing attendees at the biggest music road show in history: Taylor Swift’s “The Eras Tour.”
“I don’t think I can put into words how excited they were,” Young-Cornell said of fans seated on an ADA platform on the stadium’s floor. “I saw parents and their kids dancing and singing together. On Friday night we had a daughter and her mom, and the daughter was great. She signed to her mom all night long.”
Indianapolis-based company LTC Language Solutions provides interpreters for Lucas Oil Stadium events. LTC sent two interpreters, Young-Cornell and Lasheria Murphy, to each night Swift performed here.
Aside from the touring party and stadium employees, the interpreters were rare three-show attendees. The demand for tickets was dizzying, with 207,000 people on hand for the back-to-back-to-back sellouts. And 81% of ticket holders were non-Indiana residents.
“While Lasheria and Kwani are interpreting, they’re singing along and smiling,” said Makenzie George, president of LTC Language Solutions. “They’re able to create almost their own mini-show as they’re signing for the consumers. Everyone had a blast. The energy of those shows is contagious.”
Young-Cornell grew up in Colorado and earned an associate’s degree in deaf communications at Vincennes University. She has a full-time job at an insurance company, but her American Sign Language skills led to interpretation gigs earlier this year when Morgan Wallen and a double bill of George Strait and Chris Stapleton made tour stops at Lucas Oil Stadium.
For “The Eras Tour,” Young-Cornell spent about two weeks studying lyrics. She posted a video clip of her signing to “Shake It Off” on Facebook. Young-Cornell and Murphy did not have advance notice of what Swift planned to perform during the “surprise songs” segment of each show.
“We kind of teamed up and tried to hear over the screaming fans,” Young-Cornell said.
On opening night in Indianapolis, a member of “The Eras Tour” crew asked to record video of the ASL interpreters, Young-Cornell said.
“We’ve never had anybody from a crew approach us and want to put sign-language interpreters in the spotlight,” she said. “I don’t know what they will do with that footage, but it was nice to have that recognition.”
Young-Cornell said closing night of the Lucas Oil Stadium run featured the largest group of deaf and hard of hearing attendees, with about 12 people joined by friends and family members.
“Taylor Swift is very much a visual artist,” Young-Cornell said. “She has an entire show: the lights, the dancing, the outfits and all the different things she does. It made it even more fascinating, especially for the deaf consumers. That’s why they put the interpreters in front of the action, so [attendees] can see us and the stage simultaneously. They don’t miss any of that action that’s going on.”
George’s father, Martin George, founded LTC Language Solutions in 1993. The company, which has offices in Indianapolis and Orlando, Florida, provides services in language translation and training.
“Our whole goal is to bridge the communication gap for immigrants and refugees and make sure that everybody has an equal opportunity to get whatever access they need in terms of languages,” Makenzie George said. “That can range from a health care appointment to a parent-teacher conference to a Taylor Swift concert. Whatever their experience is, it can be similar to someone who understands the language.”
Please enable JavaScript to view this content.