KINSHIP LISTENING FUNDRAISER: SOUNDWALKS 23-24

We’re launching a campaign to fund our 23-24 Soundwalk Series. 

Soundwalks fall under our new branch of community programming, Kinship Listening.  This branch of programming includes our immensely popular soundwalk series, as well as an outdoor community performance project planned for Spring 2024.  We’re also introducing a couple of public workshops, on topics related to sound and the more-than-human environment.  

We’re aiming to fully fund our 23-24 Soundwalk Series through listener/walker support.  Read on to learn more!

SOUNDWALKS

Our outdoor Soundwalk series is one of our most popular programs, as music lovers, families, and walking enthusiasts of all kinds enjoy guided listening excursions at various locations around Calgary.

This past year, we hosted 5 soundwalks, each facilitated by a different local artist.   For the 2023-2024 season, we aim to offer a soundwalk each month of the year, September through May.  Our walks have taken us exploring Chinatown, Inglewood, the Bow River Pathway, and other Calgary neighborhoods.

As a non-profit, charitable organization, New Works Calgary relies on the donations of community members like you to keep bringing unique listening experiences to Calgary.

Further Information

What is ‘Kinship Listening’?

Since 2020 we have created a steady stream of ecologically-focussed programming alongside our musical presentations.  Since 2020 this programming has included The Drop & The Turning podcast, our Soundwalking series, and in 2023 the newly commissioned outdoor public sound event Device for Listening to Snow Falling by Caitlind RC Brown and Wayne Garrett.

In 2023-2024 we are officialising this programming as its own unique branch at New Works Calgary.  We are calling this branch of programming KINSHIP LISTENING, to reflect the breadth and diversity of practices that might be included under this umbrella.

What is ‘Kinship’?

In recent years this term has grown in popularity in artistic, scientific, and philosophical spheres.  While words like ‘nature’ and ‘the environment’ can alienate the non-human natural world from our roles and responsibilities as humans, the notion of ‘kin’ offers an entryway towards building more meaningful relationships with the nonhuman sentient others we live amongst.  Kinship also moves beyond nonhuman ‘others’ to encompass feminist, decolonial, and antiracist practices that form a fundamental part of ecosystemic action.  

How might we work with our ears to ‘make kin’?  How might the receptive act of listening transform the ways we relate within vital ecosystems?  

We need your help!

As we expand our programming, we strive to offer equitable, higher-than-average fees to the artists we present.  To sustain this practice while keeping our Kinship Listening projects free for all to attend, we need some additional financial support from community members.  

In 2023-24 we aim to fund our Soundwalks through community investment.

We’ve set our goal as $2000, which will cover artist wages for each of our 8 soundwalk facilitators ($250 per artist per walk).  

Any amount is appreciated, but to help meet our goal we've set donation tiers at five levels (listed below).  Simply name the tier you'd like to be listed under when you fill out the donation box!

Pinna: $25.00

Cochlear: $75.00

Vestibular: $150

Amplitude: $300

Supersonic: $500