Brand New Nationwide Project Sees Local Venues Unite To Train Young People To Create Music Inspired By Nature
EarthSonic Local is a brand new nation-wide project from In Place of War’s global initiative EarthSonic that will recruit 400 18-30 year-olds to document and create music telling the stories of climate change.
Funded by Arts Council England and in partnership with Roland, the initiative comes from In Place of War’s climate organisation EarthSonic and will offer sound recording equipment and samplers, workshops and a series of live events at eight venues across England, helping them to develop their skills, record sounds of nature and create brand new music.
Recordings made by participants in the project will also contribute to EarthSonic’s Sounds Archive, an open and accessible archive of nature recordings made by scientists, nature sound recordists, indigenous communities, and others around the world.
EarthSonic Local aims to increase awareness of climate change and biodiversity by providing new opportunities for young people to take action, building a network of local venues that can work together to create change. Participants will be primarily young people, musicians, sound engineers, and local activists, recruited by the venues to reflect the diversity of the communities.
Working in partnership with eight local arts venues and Music Venue Trust, EarthSonic Local will culminate in major national takeovers of museum spaces in Manchester and London, where the participants will share their music, journey and experiences. Following these live events, music created throughout the project will be released in a brand new album through EarthSonic’s record label.
The venues taking part in EarthSonic Local were selected based on Arts Council England’s Priority Places plan, which aims to focus investment and engagement where cultural and creative opportunities are underdeveloped. They include:
● Bootleg Social, Blackpool https://bootlegsocial.co.uk/
● The Bunker, Sunderland https://bunkeruk.com/
● The Cornish Bank, Falmouth thecornishbank.co.uk
● Future Yard, Birkenhead https://futureyard.org
● The Hot Tin, Faversham https://www.routestock.org/
● The Parrish, Huddersfield Parishpub.co.uk
● Exeter Phoenix https://exeterphoenix.org.uk
● The Sugarmill, Stoke-On-Trent https://www.thesugarmill.co.uk
At the end of the projects participants who have completed the course will receive a certificate of completion from Music and Sonic Studies at Manchester Metropolitan University. Original research and course evaluation will be conducted independently by researchers from Manchester Metropolitan University, University of Hull and the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine.
For those interested in taking part, see the EarthSonic website here.