Listening to Country is offering a series of masterclasses across 2025-2028 with a focus on capacity building for First Nations artists and scholars. We are providing opportunities to learn new skills in acoustic ecology, field recording, audio production, arts health and Indigenous research methodologies. Participation in these programs will offer direct pathways to collaborate on Listening to Country in the future which could involve field work (recording the sounds of Country across Australia), workshop facilitation and collaborative audio production with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander participants in prisons, hospitals or Elders/seniors in care off Country. The 2025 program will launch soon.
Listening to Country Background
‘Listening to Country’ is an interdisciplinary research project initiated to explore the value of acoustic ecology in promoting cultural connection, maintenance and wellbeing among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women in prison. Acoustic ecology is the study of the relationship, mediated through sound, between human beings and their environment. In 2018-2019, an interdisciplinary team of researchers worked with women in Brisbane Women’s Correctional Centre (BWCC) to produce a 1-hour immersive audio work based on field recordings of natural environments (of Country) for the purpose of stress relief and relaxation. Listen to a sample of the final work below:
The project was funded by the Lowitja Institute for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Research and used principles and processes from acoustic ecology, Indigenous storywork, dadirri (deep active listening), and arts-led inquiry to explore notions of cultural connection and maintenance for the participants, and the effects of the project on their wellbeing.
The pilot research has seeded various opportunities which will require expanding our team in the future. It is anticipated that the ‘Listening to Country’ model is transferable into a number of wellbeing contexts, including with at-risk youth, Elders/seniors in care or off Country, women transitioning from prison to the community and programs in hospitals that are currently under development. This masterclass series will introduce the project and methods and forms part of our capacity building and knowledge translation commitment to the research.
The pilot research has seeded various opportunities which will require expanding our team in the future. It is anticipated that the ‘Listening to Country’ model is transferable into a number of wellbeing contexts, including with at-risk youth, Elders/seniors in care or off Country, women transitioning from prison to the community and programs in hospitals that are currently under development. This masterclass series will introduce the project and methods and forms part of our capacity building and knowledge translation commitment to the research.
Listening to Country Introductory Masterclass
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The Listening to Country Introductory Masterclass (online) will share the value of acoustic ecology practices, methods and techniques with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and sound artists seeking to expand their skills in cultural connection, arts health, maintenance and wellbeing programs.
Through a storytelling approach the presenters will explore the relationship between sound, listening and wellbeing and how engaging with acoustic ecology and deep listening practices can impact our lives. You will learn about the research background and various opportunities emerging for the future. The Masterclasses will be conducted online – once registered, participants will be sent a link. You will need to have a computer with internet access and quality headphones for participatory listening activities. Masterclass registration is free, and will be offered twice in 2025, please check back soon for program updates and dates. |
Masterclass Facilitators
This masterclass series is facilitated by the Listening to Country research team. We are an interdisciplinary, intercultural team of artist-scholars investigating listening to country as a methodology and technology for health and wellbeing among institutionalised Indigenous peoples. We are united by common values around the centrality of Country in Indigenous cultural strength, agency, and wellbeing. Listening to Country opens up the role of the arts in Indigenous health research, recognising that the arts are key to a relational methodology. The first relationship is the relationship to Country.
Dr Bianca Beetson |
Dr Vicki Saunders |
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Dr Bianca Beetson (Gubbi Gubbi/Kabi Kabi) is a visual artist, curator and arts leader with a background in community engaged arts practice. She is Director, First Nations at Queensland Museum and is a member of QAGOMA board and Indigenous Advisory Panel.
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Dr Vicki Saunders (Gunggari) is a public health researcher who uses arts-led and poetic enquiry in the fields of child protection and family wellbeing. She is a Senior Research Fellow in the Centre for Indigenous Health Equity at Central Queensland University.
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Dr Leah Barclay |
Dr Sarah Woodland |
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Dr Leah Barclay is a sound artist, designer and acoustic ecologist whose work investigates the value of acoustic ecology as a socially engaged interdisciplinary practice. She is a Senior Lecturer in Design at the University of the Sunshine Coast and VP of the World Forum for Acoustic Ecology.
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Dr Sarah Woodland is a practitioner-researcher who has been developing creative projects with incarcerated adults and young people for the past 20 years. She is a Senior Lecturer in Theatre at the Faculty of Fine Arts and Music, University of Melbourne.
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