​This is a brief message to confirm our 2018 AGM will be held on Monday December 10th at 6:30pm AEST. Our AGMs are hosted on google hangouts and include members updates, committee voting and news from the WFAE. 

Please renew your membership for 2018-2019 to join the meeting and vote

Meeting links will be sent via email 
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Meeting times across Australia: 
6:30pm BRISBANE  
7:30pm MELBOURNE / SYDNEY 
7:00pm ADELAIDE 
4:30pm PERTH 
5:00pm DARWIN 

​Freshwater Listening is a national two day (free) event on November 17-18 in regional Victoria celebrating freshwater care and 20 years of acoustic ecology in Australia.
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The event is hosted by AFAE founding member Dr Ros Bandt and the Australian Forum for Acoustic Ecology. The program includes sound walks, hydrophone workshops, freshwater listening expeditions, presentations, performances and the Freshwater Listening exhibition featuring some of Australia's leading artists. 

Download full PDF program here

This is a free event, but please book for lunch by emailing FryerstownSchool@gmail.com (lunch bookings must be made prior to the event). 

The Fryerstown School, Tate Gallery and Acoustic Sanctuary is located approximately 1.5 hrs drive from Melbourne. 

​2018 ECOACOUSTICS CONGRESS
June 24-28, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

Organised by the International Society of Ecoacoustics (ISE) and endorsed by the World Forum for Acoustic Ecology (WFAE) – the aim of the 2018 International Ecoacoustics Congress is to bring together artists, scientists, natural resource managers and industry to explore the ways that sound can deepen our understanding of the environment.

The program includes six keynotes, scientific presentations and workshops, creative talks, concerts, installations, listening rooms and field trips. View the program online: https://ecoacousticscongress.org

The keynotes include acclaimed ecoacoustics researcher, composer and interdisciplinary artist David Monacchi. Monacchi has been developing the project Fragments of Extinction for 15 years, conducting field research in the world’s remaining areas of undisturbed primary equatorial forest. The recipient of multiple awards throughout Europe and North America, Monacchi is pioneering a new compositional and science dissemination approach based on 3D soundscape recordings of ecosystems to foster discourse on the biodiversity crisis through science-based sound art. He has worked for 25 years in cross-disciplinary contexts and produced works for contemporary music, art installation, cinema, video-art, site-specific public art, natural history, science and contemporary art museums, and is founding member of several artistic and scientific networks. 

​In December 2017, Biosphere Soundscapes and the Queensland Conservatorium Research Centre are hosting “Perspectives on Listening” an international symposium and workshop bringing together an interdisciplinary group of researchers to explore the role of sound in our environment.

Biosphere Soundscapes is an interdisciplinary research project investigating the creative and scientific possibilities of acoustic ecology through environmental field recording, biodiversity monitoring and a diversity of creative projects spanning four continents. The project works in partnership with multiple organisations to develop and deliver socially embedded acoustic ecology research in collaboration with the communities of UNESCO biosphere reserves across the world. Biosphere Soundscapes is part of an exciting portfolio of interdisciplinary collaborations across creative arts and environmental sciences emerging at Griffith University.

​Perspectives on Listening will introduce the interdisciplinary possibilities of acoustic ecology and ecoacoustics and highlight the value of listening in changing environments. The three-day program features keynotes from Steven Feld (USA) and Monica Gagliano (AU) in addition to panels, research presentations, live performances, immersive installations, sound walks and field trips across the rainforests of the Sunshine Coast and aquatic ecosystems in Noosa Biosphere Reserve. ​

​Steven Feld is a leading American ethnomusicologist, anthropologist, and linguist who will present the 25th anniversary edition of ‘Voices of the Rainforest’ – his composition of a day in the life of the Bosavi rainforest and Kaluli people in Papua New Guinea. The work has touched audiences concerned with ecological integrity, interspecies art, and cultural survival, and remains in popular circulation through Smithsonian Folkways.

Monica Gagliano will speak about plant bioacoustics – a new field she has pioneered by demonstrating for the first time that plants emit their own ‘voices’ as well as detect and respond to the sounds surrounding them. Dr Gagliano is a Research Associate Professor in Evolutionary Ecology at the University of Western Australia and her research is radically transforming our perception of plants and more generally, nature.

The event is endorsed by the World Forum for Acoustic Ecology (WFAE) and will feature virtual contributions from across the world supported by Arts Front, including artists developing new technologies for live streaming audio in remote locations, scientists pioneering new research in freshwater ecoacoustics and artists from Vanuatu speaking about indigenous perspectives on listening and climate change.

​The creative program includes an immersive listening room and the Queensland premiere of Dr Leah Barclay’s new spatial sound installation “Migration Patterns: Saltwater” which features marine hydrophone recordings from the Great Sandy Biosphere Reserve. Perspectives on Listening concludes with sonic explorations through subtropical rainforests on the Sunshine Coast and a closing ceremony in the Noosa Biosphere Reserve.

​This is an intimate event with limited capacity, registration for the three days is $120 ($85 for students). Biosphere Soundscapes and the Queensland Conservatorium Research Centre are also encouraging virtual registration and are working towards measuring and minimising the carbon impact of this event as part of an initiative to encourage environmentally sustainable research practices. The virtual registration ($40) is open for delegates anywhere in the world and will enable participation from community collaborators in remote locations across Mexico, India, Indonesia and Vanuatu.

‘Perspectives on Listening’ is a dynamic participatory event encouraging dialogue and collaborations that continue to promote Queensland as a global focal point for acoustic ecology. The outcomes from this symposium will inform the development of Biosphere Soundscapes programs in 2018 and build momentum towards the International Ecoacoustics Congress, hosted in Brisbane in June 2018.

Explore the program and register here: 
​http://www.biospheresoundscapes.org/perspectives-on-listening-symposium 

A series of free one hour listening walks for all exploring our suburb and its surrounds throughout October.

Five artists explore the notion of a ​Soundwalk ​through their personal practice​s. 
Artists include:​
Anthony Magen (landscape architect)​
Ben Byrne (musician)​
Martin Kay (field recordist)
Polly Stanton (​AV artist)
Prithvi Varatharajan (Poet)​

check www.walkingbrunswick.com for dates and specific details of each unique walk.

Australian Wildlife Sound Recording Group 2017 Workshop and Conference
6th – 11th September, 2017
Camp Cypress, Baradine, NSW.

AFAE Members are preparing to venture deep into the Pilliga forest for a week of listening to the natural world – sharing the skills and experience of nature sound recording for a variety of purposes, ranging from scientific research, to artistic responses.

The event is hosted by the Australian Wildlife Sound Recording Group at Camp Cypress near Baradine, on the edge of the Pilliga forest, the largest expanse of contiguous dry woodland in inland NSW, and a wonderful area for birdlife and wildlife sound recording.

The workshop will be a week of expert presentations and discussion, covering all aspects of wildlife and environmental sound recording, including:

• equipment (microphones, recorders etc) and recording techniques
• fieldcraft and associated natural history skills
• editing, audio processing and archiving
• species identification and repertoire
• environmental listening and cultural responses
• Practical sessions of field tuition and recording opportunities will be scheduled in nearby Pilliga forest and other natural areas.

Workshop facilitators include AFAE President Dr Leah Barclay, AFAE founding member Dr Ros Bandt and AFAE board member Andrew Skeoch who is the president of the Australian Wildlife Sound Recording Group. The week will also feature presentations from  Jennifer Ackerman – science writer and author of ‘The Genius of Birds’, ecoacoustics specialist Michael Towsey and a range of other presenters you can explore here.  

The workshop and conference is suitable for beginners, field naturalists, student and professional researchers, artists/musicians and anyone interested in engaging with the natural world more deeply through listening and acoustic ecology.

Download the program here or explore further information about the program and registration on the Australian Wildlife Sound Recording Group website. 

AFAE founding member and internationally renowned Australian sound artist Dr Ros Bandt has created a stunning 2 CD set of original  sound works fusing old and new,  east and west influences with her cross-cultural modern Australian spike fiddle, the tarhu. This extraordinarily resonant instrument probes 6 world heritage sites in Europe and the Pacific, accompanies poetry in ancient Greek,  Persian and Maltese, and connects with artists from China, Vietnam, Thailand, Turkey, the US, Greece, Crete, Germany,  Australia, Thailand, and Samoa. She investigates the environmental issues of global warming in the arctic, water usage, fishing and farming ethics, and the biosphere reserves of America. The connections trace back to the worlds oldest bird, the lyrebird and the longest continuing culture on earth in Australia. Ros Bandt is at once a composer, sound artist and skilled musician, as at home in the concert hall, the gallery, the electro-acoustic studio, the internet or the bush as these CDs show. The works created over a decade interpret each acoustic space individually, from improvised solos and duets to elaborate electro-acoustic symphonies and award winning multi- channel works remixed.  But it's the sonorous worlds she creates that are so worth the deep listening they invite.
 
Tarhu Connections launched on May 19th 2016 at the 14th century Venetian Sabbionara Gate in Hania, Crete at the opening of the collaborative exhibition Listening through the Walls, one of the tracks on the CD. It is in Hania that the Bandt developed her unique style on the tarhu informed by 30 years of performing , recording, sound research and acoustic ecology practice. Seven tracks were made at this incredible location.  Purchase the double album online via the Hearing Places website. 

In support of the project Bandt produced the ABC Radio Feature ‘Listening through the walls’ commissioned for Soundproof in 2016 which can be streamed online here. This radio feature explores one of the most ancient city states, Hania in the northwest of Crete, where walls have been built, destroyed, reformed and recycled according to its chequered history. It's one of the most contested morcels of land—changing hands from the Greeks, to the Christians, the Ottomans and Venetians, all before the two world wars. In this radio piece, Bandt collaborated with two local Haniot artists to take the people of Hania on an acoustic walk and discover through listening the changing identity of this fascinating town.

Ros Bandt began making multi-channel sound works in 1972 and has been a pioneer in the interdisciplinary possibilities of acoustic ecology both in Australia and internationally. 

INVISIBLE PLACES 2017
SOUND, URBANISM AND SENSE OF PLACE
7-9 APRIL 2017
SÃO MIGUEL ISLAND, AZORES, PORTUGAL
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​Many studies engaged with acoustic ecology have focused on urban environments, motivated by increasing concerns about the sensory impoverishment related to the dominance of anthropogenic sound associated with traffic and other types of transport, machinery from industry or construction, alarm signals and other sounding activities, which often mask and interfere with our living environment. These anthropogenic sounds have tended to be linked to a lack of environmental quality, as they inhibit the perception of other natural sounds. The sounds of the wind, the water, the voicing of certain animals originating from natural landscapes often contrast with human sounds in urban landscapes. They often share the same physical characteristics as measured by volume, duration, frequency or tone, but are experienced by humans differently. Beauty is in the ear of the beholder, we could say.

Soundscapes are part of any ecosystem and a fundamental manifestation of life. Every individual and species contributes and responds differently to a given sonic context with its own perceptual mechanism and will use diverse communication strategies. Development processes and urbanization have directly influenced the environment, often in negative ways that eliminate or diminish unique sounds, causing loss of social identity and cultural diversity.

The aim of this conference is to bring together scholars, artists and theoreticians on soundscape art and ecology and encourage them to present new perspectives that will further interdisciplinary research and practice. We still know little about the complex relationships between landscapes and soundscapes or the significance of acoustic ecology for all living organisms including ourselves. Focused study and intentional stewardship of our sound heritage for the holistic evaluation of landscapes is fundamental to the evolution of all species, and will have a great impact on the survival of many. 

More information at www.invisibleplaces.org