Sonic Outreach

Sonic Outreach is a participatory arts project that explores familiar spaces, and celebrates and engages with rural and urban environments through sound with the use of audio technology and creative strategies.

Under the artistic and technical guidance of sound artist Renzo Spiteri, a cohort of people of any age fulfil the roles of project participants, collaborators, artistic creators and beneficiaries of this project.

Through on-the-ground, sensory-rich activities and artistic creation, participants discover and glean hidden sounds within their environment. The whole process is aimed at promoting increased mindful engagement with familiar spaces and phenomena, improve participants’ awareness and sensitivity to their surroundings, and to use the data collected as creative tools.

Experience in using audio equipment, or knowledge of sound is not required. Each session is introduced with information about the use of equipment, what to listen out for and best practices in field recordings.

Under Renzo's guidance, participants are asked to work in pairs to create their own sound art pieces using material gleaned during the practical session/s. In designing each work, through layering of recordings and placements of sounds, participants project the creative interplay that emerges from their engagement with place and sonic events, and the treatment of each location as a field of so many inventive possibilities.

Should you wish more information about Sonic Outreach, or to book a session, click on the link below.

Get in touch

Participant Feedback

"I really enjoyed the session I was able to attend."

"Aside from the beauty of exploring new sights and sounds, it was genuinely enjoyable and even therapeutic...an aural extension into the unheard; a revelation of sound, of a living and palpable presence."

"An enjoyable new experience, well worth taking part in. Thank you."

"It was a really enjoyable day"

"You did an excellent job despite the weather & thank you for allowing us to participate especially as my daughter was younger than the age suggested."

"Insightful and fascinating morning. Thank you."

"I loved taking part in the project, the kids got so much out of it too! Something we'd never done before although we have lived on an island all our lives! Sometimes you need a prod to look more closely at what's right there in front of you!"

"Thank you very much for a most enjoyable time. It was enlightening to focus on the sounds of the natural world, when normally I’m so visually driven. It was a great experience."

"What an incredibly intimate way to explore the rich tapestry of sounds the islands have to offer…so, so many we are unable to hear without aid, or which go unnoticed as sight overwhelms sound. And what a lesson in stillness, patience and obedience. Or “obedience” rather (ob-audire, “listen to”) to the natural world…listening to its multi-layered voice, as if speaking to us directly, so that we may, at last, listen."

"Brilliant initiative and so well delivered."

Past Workshops

Sonic Outreach (The Shetland Islands, Scotland)

Sonic Outreach (Shetland) explored, celebrated and promoted coastal areas in The Shetland Islands. Thirty nine participants in eight locations across Shetland engaged with this project, generating 468 audio field recordings the nature of which not only demonstrated their listening experiences of Shetland’s coasts and waters, but also a particular level of engagement with what the surroundings had to offer, often in a very playful manner. What unfolded from each set of recordings was a balance between natural sounds gleaned from the shores and the participants' interventions in those locations though the use of found metal, wood and plastic objects.

Sonic Outreach Shetland was delivered through Curious Pilgrims CIC and supported by NatureScot, through the Plunge In! The Coasts and Waters Community Fund. The fund was established by NatureScot to support 24 community projects across Scotland in engaging and connecting people with Scotland's coasts and waters with the aim of leaving a legacy from the Year of Coasts and Waters 2020/2021.

Sonic Outreach (Tórshavn, Faroe Islands)

Sonic Outreach (Tórshavn) was delivered at Glasir, the largest educational institution in the Faroe Islands. Music and audio engineering students took part in the project consisting of a series of workshops and field recording sessions in around Glasir, and which led to the creation of a new quadraphonic sound installation Glasir Walkabouts: A Journey in Sounds, Places and Reflections.

Sonic Outreach (Tórshavn) was supported by Arts Council Malta, as part of Nordic Music Days Festival 2021.