The Sound Art Winter Camp is a one day participatory workshop to explore listening, recording and turning those recordings into sound art. The theme we’ll be exploring is Winter, and we will be doing soundwalks, recording sounds, and collaborating on a finished work.

Participants are welcome to bring sounds and writing they’ve already done contribute to composition. For those who don’t have ideas yet, there will be many opportunities to expand their creativity on the day of the workshop through guided soundmaking and composition exercises.

Registration: $125 for the day general; $100 for CKCU volunteers (lunch included)
Maximum 8 participants, minimum 5.

To register, contact Victoria Fenner at vlfenner@gmail.com or 289-396-2742.
To find out more about Victoria’s work, go to www.magneticspirits.com

A Workshop by Victoria Fenner, artist and arts business consultant
Monday January 23, 7-9:30 pm
Hamilton Ontario

This workshop is aimed at artists who want to put together a grant application to the Ontario Arts Council or The Canada Council. Covering topics like: a) how the arts grant system works in Canada; b) defining your art and positioning it within the larger arts context; c) your first grant — creative strategies which will increase your chances of success; d) writing the application — understanding the application, writing styles that work, crafting a realistic budget.

About Victoria Fenner: Victoria is a broadcaster and media artist who is known as “The Grants Queen”. For over 25 years, she has created a successful career for herself and associated artists finding funding in unconventional places. She most recently worked with The Factory Media Artist as a commissioned sound artist for the SOS Project, a Canada Council and Ontario Arts Council funded project. She has also worked as an arts administrator, particularly in community radio, and was co-owner of Community-media.com, a business assisting non profit organizations with business skills and organizational development.

Registration fee: $50
Location: 165 Queen St. S. #903, Hamilton Ontario

Registration fee includes a workbook which can be used to plan project grants.

To register, email Victoria at vlfenner@gmail.com or phone her at 289-396-2742.

Be here …
Amidst the soughing of the trees
The clicks and whirls of summer cicadas
gentle swish of the waves
On the distant shore Be here
Not there
In the centre of metal upon metal
Low grumble of machine
Hysterical wail of sirens
responding back to the wails of the world

Be here now
With closed eyes
With ears opened
To the possibilities of a world which hears its own heart.

- Victoria Fenner 2003

One of the things that puzzles people on the Canada Council application form is where they ask how an applicant’s art work fits in terms of the tradition of their particular art form.

That’s the part of the application that I have the most trouble with but yet it’s a question worth spending some time on.

It’s about our place in the continuum .. who and what ideas have influenced our work the most. And it also gives us a chance to explore who we in turn may be influencing.

It’s a good opportunity to look at our work in the bigger picture. Artistic creation is a solitary art … what I like about this question is that it’s a place to explore our interconnectedness.

Present

GRANTWRITING WORKSHOPS

FOR ORGANIZATIONS & ARTISTS

Writing your first grant can be a daunting task, but it doesn`t need to be. Join Victoria Fenner, Community based media artist, to get some valuable tips on how to get started and increase your chances of success.

Two different workshops will be offered:

For organizations: Wednesday November 23, 7 pm -9:30 pm

This workshop will focus on how to position a project for funding from a general purpose fund like The Ontario Trillium Foundation or a community foundation. It will cover issues such as a) how to create a project with lasting value b) fitting your project within a funder`s mandate; c) creating community partnerships that work d) budgeting and much more.

For artists: Saturday, November 26, 10:00 am - 12:30 pm

This workshop is aimed at artists who want to put together a grant application to the Ontario Arts Council and The Canada Council. Covering topics like: a) how the arts grant system works in Canada b) defining your art and positioning it within the larger arts context c) your first grant — creative strategies which will increase your chances of success d) writing the application — understanding the application, writing styles that work, crafting a realistic budget.

REGISTRATION FEES

$45 for one workshop
$80 for both workshops

Pre-registration necessary. Should you wish to pre-register, email Victoria or phone her at 289-396-2742

I just wanted to write to you to say how much I love listening to your work. I first came upon it through Des’ Soundlandscapes site. I especially love “You Can’t Miss It” - field recordings usually help provide a sense of “exotic” space, but this piece helps provide a feeling of disorientation within that new space, making it much more physical than most recordings. The accents become as much a “sound” to disorient the listener as the music/birds/traffic etc. Love it!”

I replied: “I’m so glad you got the feeling of disorientation from “You Can’t Miss It”. It’s the way I felt the whole time I lived in Appalachia, and it was what I intended to convey in the piece. So I’m glad it worked.”

And it reminded me of one of my favourite field recordings. From the Appalachian mountains too .. A hot summer night. A traditional square dance, unamplified, in an old 1920s schoolhouse. Inside, the fiddles and voices of people dancing. Outside, the clicking, buzzing, popping and hissing of cicadas and other mountain bugs. They were much louder than further north here in Canada. I walked with my microphone in and out of the two ambiences creating natural fades.

I’ll post it on Soundcloud so you can hear it …

Thanks again Jaydea!