VEE-EVENTS: Brickfest

Brickfest | Deaf Utopia? | Gallery | Find out more

This week VEE-TV headed off to the US town of Rochester, near New York, for the Brickfest festival of Deaf culture. It's one hell of a party. Our reporters Matty Gurney and Yen Hai Lieu joined in the celebrations, and we talked to Matty about his impressions of Rochester – the most deaf-friendly city in the US.

Brickfest in full swing

Organised by members of Rochester's National Technical Institute for the Deaf and other deaf colleges, this year's festival is the thirtieth Brickfest. It's 36 hours of sport, art, food, chat, music and dance.

Matty plunged into the celebrations. 'During the daytime I chatted to some "wallyball" players – that's volleyball in a squash court! Then the Brickfest committee asked me to referee the women's soccer match between RIT [Rochester Institute of Technology] and Gallaudet. Gally won 5-1! In the evening, we all went to a bar in Rochester town. American deafies from both universities mixed so well – unlike in England! They don't drink alcohol either! They were on the dance floor all night with deaf DJs and dance competitions. It was awesome!'

Top