Our Story
Learn more about our organization!
The Blind Cafe is a fiscally sponsored organization under the 501(c)3 of The Boulder County Arts Alliance. A Boulder, Colorado-based organization, we deliver unique and inspiring experiences in the pitch dark nationally and internationally. Using the concept of darkness, we create innovative and imaginative events to challenge and to inspire people to become more of themselves. We are passionate about discovering new perspectives and innovating new ways of experiencing the world around us, and we want to share this with you.
We are a group of inspired artists, musicians & social entrepreneurs, sighted and blind, working together to strengthen community and create positive social change via the Arts & Business.
Rosh (Brian Rocheleau): Executive Director (Songwriter, Producer & Performer)
Gerry Leary: Blind Cafe Keynote Speaker (Blind Coffee Roaster The Unseen Bean)
Phil Norman: Master of Darkness, Music Director & Operations Manager
Rick Hammond: Blind Keynote Speaker, Spoken Word Artist & Blind Server
Richie Flores: Blind Keynote Speaker, Blind Server & President of National Federation of the Blind in Austin, TX.
Rosh (Brian Rocheleau): Executive Director (Songwriter, Producer & Performer)
Gerry Leary: Blind Cafe Keynote Speaker (Blind Coffee Roaster The Unseen Bean)
Phil Norman: Master of Darkness, Music Director & Operations Manager
Rick Hammond: Blind Keynote Speaker, Spoken Word Artist & Blind Server
Richie Flores: Blind Keynote Speaker, Blind Server & President of National Federation of the Blind in Austin, TX.
Rosh is a community organizer, entrepenuer and songwriter (Guitar/Vocals) from Boston, MA who now lives in Boulder, CO. While on tour in Iceland, he stumbled upon a blind cafe and got inspired to recreate that event for his community in Boulder, CO & around the world. He has designed it to be a community building experience that not only creates an amazing context for people to learn, grow and connect but also as a way to raise awareness to improve the lives of the blind.
Gerry Leary, has been blind since birth. Gerry was a car Mechanic for over 30 years and then started roasting coffee in 2004. He opened The Unseen Bean Coffee Shop in March, 2007. The Unseen Bean Inc. is a coffee roasting company and café in Boulder, Colorado. Order yourself coffee today at: www.theunseenbean.com
Leary, who is also an advocate for the disabled, is a keynote speaker at The Blind Cafe and travels around the world sharing his personal experience and leading a discussion in the dark with the audience at the The Blind Cafe events.
Leary, who is also an advocate for the disabled, is a keynote speaker at The Blind Cafe and travels around the world sharing his personal experience and leading a discussion in the dark with the audience at the The Blind Cafe events.
Rick Hammond, a blind spoken word artist, grew up in Portland, Oregon and now lives in Denver, CO. Hammond performs his original poetry in the dark at The Blind Cafe. He is also The Blind Cafe's main wait staff trainer, teaching blind servers on how to guide guests and public speak. Hammond travels with Rosh, Phil and Gerry around the globe to perform Blind Cafe's and raise awareness about community and blindness.
Phil Norman a.k.a. Master of Darkness is a dynamic and integral part of The Blind Cafe's manifestation. Phil and Rosh have been performing together for over 4 years as the band Rosh and One Eye Glass Broken featuring Phil's outstanding string arrangements to Rosh's songs & Phil's orginal compositions on the Cello. Phil travels with Rosh to create the darkness they perform in and rehearse the local string musicians. Listen to Phil Norman's original Cello music at: www.gravitycello.com
Richie Flores, is the president of the National Federation For The Blind in Austin Texas and Keynote speaker for The Blind Cafe. Richie is the Texas coordinator for the NFB BELL (Braille Enrichment for Literacy and Learning) program. The program targets those children with low vision, who otherwise do not receive Braille instruction because of their residual vision. Richie Flores travels across the country and internationally with The Blind Cafe supporting it's mission to create community and awarness.
The Blind Cafe's History
History of The Blind Cafe:
The Blind Café was founded in February 2010 when we first held our first Blind Café event in Boulder CO. Brian Rocheleau, known by Rosh, is a songwriter and community organizer who experienced a café in the dark in Iceland while on a music tour of Europe in 2007.
He discovered the opportunity to help people learn to relate with one another better through experiences music, food and social connection in the dark.
A student at a Tibetan Buddhist inspired college called Naropa, Rosh was inspired to find ways to help he and his community relate with one another better in hopes to build better more high quality relationships and interactions socially. He saw the café in the dark experience as a fresh new way to explore these endeavors.
After returning home to Boulder, he reached out to the blind community in Boulder County. Rosh met Gerry Leary, a blind man who had worked as a car mechanic for over 30 years and now owns a coffee roasting company and coffee shop in downtown Boulder.
Gerry and Rosh spearheaded the project as they reached out to friends and family to come together and set up their first ‘dinner in the dark’ event.
After receiving overwhelming feedback on how the event improved the quality of people’s lives in the area’s of empathy for blindness, community, self awareness and social change they felt compelled to continue developing their program.
History of Dinners In The Dark - Courtesy of the Lighthouse of Central Florida:
Dining in the Dark was pioneered in Zurich by a Swiss socialite and trendsetter who happened to be blind. He threw cocktail and dinner parties for his sighted friends in the dark to add flair and zest to the occasion.
He created a whole new set of sensations and experiences based on the combination of total darkness, social interaction, dining and drinking.
By 1999 the growing popularity of the concept expanded into becoming a fine dining restaurant and social club. Since then, the concept has spread to Germany, Paris, and London.
Story Of How The Blind Cafe got started:
The idea of The Blind Cafe began in Reykjavik, Iceland in 2006 while Rosh was a house concert tour.
Rosh discovered a ‘blind cafe’ in Reykjavik Iceland.
An Icelandic woman was standing at a table covered with laminated cards with Icelandic words and braile on them & Rosh asked her what was happening.
She replied, “It’s a blind cafe.”
He said, “A blind cafe? What is that?”
“Well all the waiters are blind.” She replied.
“Does it cost to get inside?” Rosh asked.
“No. But you’ll have to purchase your coffee or food out here. It’s pitch dark inside. You won’t able to see! And the waiters are blind!” The woman said.
Needless to say Rosh was intrigued. So he paid for a coffee and she gave him a laminated card with the icelandic word ‘kaffi’ on it.
She led him to a door and gave him a cane and sent him down a long dark hall way, closing the door behind him.
He had a moment of panic in his heart. He could not see but then the light from the creases in the door behind him came into focus adding a little bit of comfort.
Using the cane, like he imagined a blind person might do, he walked down the hall way where he found another door.
Opening this door it became pitch dark! He could hear a real cafe, people chatting away in icelandic and dish clanking everywhere.
Walking into the room it became pitch dark. He could not see at all. He didn’t know how to speak icelandic but non the less headed out to find a seat at table.
He bumped into a table of people and asked, “Are there any extra seats?” Someone from the table replied, “We don’t know!” Everyone laughed aloud at the absurdity of the statement.
Rosh, felt around with his hands and found an empty seat. Sitting down someone spoke from the across the table, “Where are you from?”
“I’m from Colorado.” Rosh replied. Then someone else from the table said, “Is your name Rosh?”
Hesitantly, Rosh replied. “Yes.”
The voice then said, “My name is Kali, we’ve been talking on Myspace. You’ve been writing me asking the distance between towns all across Iceland.”
“Wow” Rosh replied reaching out in to the dark to shake the mysterious faceless persons hand.
Rosh had been on tour for about a month hitch hiking across Iceland to perform ‘House Concerts’, intimate acoustic performances in people’s living rooms.
He would stay with the host for a day or two as a cultural exchange then hitch to the next village or town.
He had been contacting people in Iceland online to calculate the distances between towns to arrive on time.
While in the dark he made the video that he spoke in too. You can watch that video and hear him speaking into it while in the blind cafe in Iceland.
After years of contemplating using the context of a Blind Cafe to facilitate a community building experience, Rosh met a blind woman named Ruth Harrington at Naropa University.
Ruth encouraged Rosh to move forward with the project and soon there after Rosh was introduced to Gerry Leary and Rick Hammond currently The Blind Cafe's two main speakers/performers.
In February 2010 the first Boulder Blind Cafe was born. Proceeds from the event were donated to Boulder Guide Dog Puppy Raiser.
The event was such a hit, it sold out weeks ahead of time with a rather large list of eager guests joinng the waiting list. So one month later The Boulder Blind Cafe 2 happened. (See Documentary).
At this point Rosh had not fathomed traveling with the event. It was just a fun event to create and see what was possible. But after an incredible amount of positive feedback from guests, staff and friends in the blind community, Rosh decided to take it to the next level.
On a gut feeling, Rosh moved to Portland, Oregon in late May 2010, where he did not know a soul, to test out if traveling with the event could be emotionally and financially sustainable.
He came out the other end of the siummer with the show...a raving success! Portland's biggest newspaper, The Oregonian wrote an article on the front page and the event sold out 2 weeks in advance for 3 nights.
Even more important though is the event created a context where people sighted or blind could come together and have an experience that helped them more connected to themselves and their community.
The Blind Café was founded in February 2010 when we first held our first Blind Café event in Boulder CO. Brian Rocheleau, known by Rosh, is a songwriter and community organizer who experienced a café in the dark in Iceland while on a music tour of Europe in 2007.
He discovered the opportunity to help people learn to relate with one another better through experiences music, food and social connection in the dark.
A student at a Tibetan Buddhist inspired college called Naropa, Rosh was inspired to find ways to help he and his community relate with one another better in hopes to build better more high quality relationships and interactions socially. He saw the café in the dark experience as a fresh new way to explore these endeavors.
After returning home to Boulder, he reached out to the blind community in Boulder County. Rosh met Gerry Leary, a blind man who had worked as a car mechanic for over 30 years and now owns a coffee roasting company and coffee shop in downtown Boulder.
Gerry and Rosh spearheaded the project as they reached out to friends and family to come together and set up their first ‘dinner in the dark’ event.
After receiving overwhelming feedback on how the event improved the quality of people’s lives in the area’s of empathy for blindness, community, self awareness and social change they felt compelled to continue developing their program.
History of Dinners In The Dark - Courtesy of the Lighthouse of Central Florida:
Dining in the Dark was pioneered in Zurich by a Swiss socialite and trendsetter who happened to be blind. He threw cocktail and dinner parties for his sighted friends in the dark to add flair and zest to the occasion.
He created a whole new set of sensations and experiences based on the combination of total darkness, social interaction, dining and drinking.
By 1999 the growing popularity of the concept expanded into becoming a fine dining restaurant and social club. Since then, the concept has spread to Germany, Paris, and London.
Story Of How The Blind Cafe got started:
The idea of The Blind Cafe began in Reykjavik, Iceland in 2006 while Rosh was a house concert tour.
Rosh discovered a ‘blind cafe’ in Reykjavik Iceland.
An Icelandic woman was standing at a table covered with laminated cards with Icelandic words and braile on them & Rosh asked her what was happening.
She replied, “It’s a blind cafe.”
He said, “A blind cafe? What is that?”
“Well all the waiters are blind.” She replied.
“Does it cost to get inside?” Rosh asked.
“No. But you’ll have to purchase your coffee or food out here. It’s pitch dark inside. You won’t able to see! And the waiters are blind!” The woman said.
Needless to say Rosh was intrigued. So he paid for a coffee and she gave him a laminated card with the icelandic word ‘kaffi’ on it.
She led him to a door and gave him a cane and sent him down a long dark hall way, closing the door behind him.
He had a moment of panic in his heart. He could not see but then the light from the creases in the door behind him came into focus adding a little bit of comfort.
Using the cane, like he imagined a blind person might do, he walked down the hall way where he found another door.
Opening this door it became pitch dark! He could hear a real cafe, people chatting away in icelandic and dish clanking everywhere.
Walking into the room it became pitch dark. He could not see at all. He didn’t know how to speak icelandic but non the less headed out to find a seat at table.
He bumped into a table of people and asked, “Are there any extra seats?” Someone from the table replied, “We don’t know!” Everyone laughed aloud at the absurdity of the statement.
Rosh, felt around with his hands and found an empty seat. Sitting down someone spoke from the across the table, “Where are you from?”
“I’m from Colorado.” Rosh replied. Then someone else from the table said, “Is your name Rosh?”
Hesitantly, Rosh replied. “Yes.”
The voice then said, “My name is Kali, we’ve been talking on Myspace. You’ve been writing me asking the distance between towns all across Iceland.”
“Wow” Rosh replied reaching out in to the dark to shake the mysterious faceless persons hand.
Rosh had been on tour for about a month hitch hiking across Iceland to perform ‘House Concerts’, intimate acoustic performances in people’s living rooms.
He would stay with the host for a day or two as a cultural exchange then hitch to the next village or town.
He had been contacting people in Iceland online to calculate the distances between towns to arrive on time.
While in the dark he made the video that he spoke in too. You can watch that video and hear him speaking into it while in the blind cafe in Iceland.
After years of contemplating using the context of a Blind Cafe to facilitate a community building experience, Rosh met a blind woman named Ruth Harrington at Naropa University.
Ruth encouraged Rosh to move forward with the project and soon there after Rosh was introduced to Gerry Leary and Rick Hammond currently The Blind Cafe's two main speakers/performers.
In February 2010 the first Boulder Blind Cafe was born. Proceeds from the event were donated to Boulder Guide Dog Puppy Raiser.
The event was such a hit, it sold out weeks ahead of time with a rather large list of eager guests joinng the waiting list. So one month later The Boulder Blind Cafe 2 happened. (See Documentary).
At this point Rosh had not fathomed traveling with the event. It was just a fun event to create and see what was possible. But after an incredible amount of positive feedback from guests, staff and friends in the blind community, Rosh decided to take it to the next level.
On a gut feeling, Rosh moved to Portland, Oregon in late May 2010, where he did not know a soul, to test out if traveling with the event could be emotionally and financially sustainable.
He came out the other end of the siummer with the show...a raving success! Portland's biggest newspaper, The Oregonian wrote an article on the front page and the event sold out 2 weeks in advance for 3 nights.
Even more important though is the event created a context where people sighted or blind could come together and have an experience that helped them more connected to themselves and their community.
Visit Us On Facebook
The blind cafe has partnered with...
Boulder Guide Dog Puppy Raisers | Boulder, CO
PAWS Pups At Work For Sight | Portland, Oregon
Austin, TX National Federation For The Blind Cafe BELL (Braille Enrichment Program)
The Blind Cafe has partnered the BELL (Braille Enrichment for Literacy and Learning) program. The goal of this program is to provide children ages 4-12 with two weeks of intense Braille instruction through fun, hands-on learning and activities. The program targets those children with low vision, who otherwise do not receive Braille instruction because of their residual vision.
http://www.nfbaustin.org/bell/
http://www.nfbaustin.org/bell/