Residency with James Ash/RayCam

To support the residency of James Ash to develop a working knowledge of 4DSOUND technology with the goal of sharing the learnings with the community at RayCam.

Funding was requested for an initiative that will make Lobe and 4DSOUND technology more accessible to our local community. James Ash works in Family Programs at RayCam and coordinates music programs at the Centre. He will complete a 2-week residency at Lobe to learn 4D Sound with the purpose of integrating it into RayCam’s programming for 10 sessions in the Fall of 2022. RayCam will deliver trial programming at Lobe with both youth music production/creation/storytelling and engagement with Elders and community members who want to share stories that are important for them to record and be passed on to future generations. 

RayCam Cooperative Centre is a centre for the old and young, a place for recreation and social activity where new skills can be learned.  It provides family support services and has 2 daycare centers and out-of-school care for school-aged children. It’s a place where old friends meet and where new friends are made. It has a gym, a games room, a music room, after-school programs, evening programs, a senior’s lounge, and family programs. 

Part of the program plan includes up to two showcases where participants can invite family and friends into the space to learn about the participants' experiences and projects they have been working on. 

It is in Lobe’s mandate to promote storytelling, language preservation, and the direct amplification of traditionally marginalized voices in a community-integrated way. Recording technology of this capacity is inspiring in its ability to affect mono-lithic dominant narratives and cultural expressions by changing who is sharing their experiences and stories, and how those voices are imprinted for documentation.

Lobe is a meeting place for generative exchanges between practices, intentions, and modalities. The incentive to produce more opportunity for engagement with spatial sound and to promote new ways of social listening comes from the profound and enthusiastic responses we have received to the room and its technology. Lobe has responded to growing interest in spatial sound by creating this artist residency program that provides access to innovative artistic technology as a modality of expression and artistic practice. 

Strathcona Spatial Sound Society has partnered with James Ash and RayCam because this program is a strong step towards making spatial sound technology accessible as a creative outlet in the community. We are motivated by a shared belief in the potential of spatial sound, and to provide opportunity for equity-owed voices to collaboratively discover its therapeutic and artistic applications.