Sonic Tapesty
In 2020 Covid 19 put our plans for The Making Way on hold. However, we had just received sponsorship from East Midlands Airport for a “pilot project” as part of Together Through Sound so we launched “We will Listen” – asking the public to record sounds and conversations around the village.
After lockdown sound artist Chris A Wright, supported by Melanie Wheeler, recorded interviews with people around Melbourne. Quotes from Chris’s interviews, along with some comments from our Little Memories windows were used to create a script for SONIC TAPESTRY - a socially distanced outdoor performance on 19 & 20 September – the weekend which would have been Melbourne Festival.
The performance was filmed and the final edited version of SONIC TAPESTRY was shown in Arts Melbourne Gallery, on our website and social media alongside GRASP in October just as we went into our second lockdown, an audio tour was also put up around Melbourne featuring some of the interviews.
Together through Sound
“Together through Sound” was the first in the series of public projects. We invited the local community to help paint a picture of lock down by recording their experiences through sound. We can’t bring the community together in person at the moment so this project aimed to create a platform to share a collective community voice! Using a collection of sound recordings we celebrated the history, heritage and culture of the area and its natural environment.
We are continuing collecting sounds of local woodlands, walks, streets, stories, critters and conversation that we will bring together to create a captivating portrait of the local area. We want to give residents the chance to slow down and listen to the people and places that surround them, as well as to tell their own stories to the world. We invite residents to take us on a journey of their local area by recording a couple of minutes each of the sounds that, to them, are the ‘the sounds of home’. These recordings will contribute to our online sound library.
The sound library will become an open resource for listening and creative projects. We will be commissioning a local artist to use this sound library to create a stunning and intimate audio portrait of Melbourne and the surrounding area. This audio portrait will be installed at listening points on a trail around Melbourne and will be accompanied by a map that will act as a guide for anyone joining the trail.
The first phase of “Together through Sound” was possible thanks to support by a grant from East Midlands Airports Community Fund and we will be starting phase 2 in the New Year thanks to a grant from South Derbyshire District Council.
Our “Together Through Sound” project is the first step of The Making Way - a series of public projects coming to Melbourne and the surrounding area in 2020 - 21, hosted by Arts Melbourne, alongside Melbourne Festival. Future projects - when public distancing ends - will help to create new commission opportunities for local creative professionals to lead a series of guided tours, performances and interventions. These are inspired by the pioneering travel agent Thomas Cook, and take place in and around Melbourne, Derbyshire, the place of his birth.
Each tour will invite the community to explore the local history and environment, will be open to the public, free to attend, accessible and (whenever possible) accompanied by a workshop designed and led by local arts practitioners. The “tours” will take place before and during 2020 and 2021 this project aims to celebrate the history, culture, heritage and landscape of the area.
28th October to 1st November - Sonic Tapestry weaving together the sights, sounds and words of the community. A collaborative exhibition showing the outcomes of two projects; Together Through Sound and Little Memories of Melbourne, exploring Melbourne’s community on 2020 - through sound! https://www.dropbox.com/s/eze1p0uv916al5a/Sonic%20Tapestry%20Event%20v%202.mp4?dl=0