Update (July 2023): We are currently not pursuing this opportunity.

We are looking for partners to establish a Climate Sound Walk Award; an extension of the existing Sound Walk September Awards.

Support creative responses to the climate crisis

Be a part of setting up a new commission to support artistic responses to the climate crisis. We are a highly experienced group of organisations dedicated to sound walking – through walking art practice and geolocative audio walks. It is our intention to foster and support creation of impactful artistic projects. The Climate Sound Walk Award will recognise the best responses to our open call through micro grants and a prize.

What we are asking

A donation from you will support the creation and promotion of a number of sound walks, as well as the establishment of cutting edge artistic practice. We are asking for a minimum donation of €600.

We estimate the total budget of the Climate Sound Walk Award at 12000 euros.

Who we are

walk · listen · create is the home of walking artists and artist walkers, as well as Sound Walk September.

ECHOES is a platform for making immersive, interactive audio walks.

Previously, walk · listen · create has received funding from Soundtrails, guidemate, Echoes, Tonkin Liu and high-performance Vienna.

Micro grants and prizes

There are two stages to the Climate Sound Walk Award.

In the first stage we will award 25 micro grants of €250 to the best proposals. These are intended for the recipients to use towards the creation of their proposed sound walk. The format of the sound walks is completely open.
Recipients get access to a specialist to provide advice.

A top prize of €1000 will be awarded for the best sound walk, and €500 for a runner-up. The submission is open to all, not just grant recipients.

Expected outcomes

Individual grant recipients will be selected, in part, based on their intended objectives, and through that, our interpretation of their expected outcomes. We will look for proposals that expect to influence, or facilitate the following:

• Behavioral change with the consumers of the produced works, towards limiting climate change.
• Capacity building of the grant recipients, specifically in an improved artistic expression of the individual creators, and an improved level of technical skills.
• Usage of the created work as calls to action in favour of working against climate change, by the general public.

Come and make this happen

Funds will be administered by walk · listen · create, registered as a non-profit organisation in Belgium, with the name ‘walk listen create’, under enterprise number 0769.353.520.

Get all details in one shareable PDF.

Support the creation of this award, contact walk · listen · create at [email protected], or fill in the form below.

We are currently not pursuing this opportunity.

Background and logistics

This is an opportunity to communicate the urgency of the climate crisis through creative sound walks. We are looking for proposals to create a sound walk with a focus on the ongoing climate crisis.

The sound walks can be practical, whimsical, set in the present or in future times. Each sound walk should aim to:

• Raise awareness of the climate crisis.
• Create sympathy for local environments.
• Improve local ecology or stimulate people to take action.

This commission and award will run as an extension part of the Sound Walk September Awards.

There will be two stages, as described below.

Open call for proposals

We will put out an open call for proposals to create a sound walk.

Each successful proposal will be awarded a micro grant of €250 and will get access to expert consultation.

As examples, the proposals could focus on:

• Certain terrains or environments: eg. river sound walks, coastline sound walks, forest sound walks, moorland, farmland, etc.
• Certain types of fauna: insects, birds, underwater fauna, fauna by size, sound walks exploring micro-fauna, small animals etc.
• Animal calls and vocalisations such as bird calls and mammal calls.
• Rewilding.
• Hidden gems:  hidden green spaces in urban areas or less well known places in the countryside or perhaps something within ourselves.
• Symbiosis: species working together, humans and animals, or other combinations of organisms. 
• Threatened habitats, such as those at risk of deforestation, urbanisation, sea level rise etc.
• Change: How do you imagine a place to change in 20, 100 years? How do you imagine it was 100 years ago?

Proposals which feature a particular habitat that could be threatened should address how visitor numbers would affect it. If possible, the sound walks should be aiming to conserve habitats and raise awareness of ecological and climate issues.

Any method of delivery or technical realisation of the sound walk can be chosen. 

Prizes

A top prize of €1000 will be awarded for the best soundwalk, and €500 for a runner-up.

Submissions do not need to have received a grant in order to be submitted.

Judging

The WLC team establishes a panel, augmented with at least one specialist (climate scientist or similar), followed by the jury picking winners.

Each juror will receive €100 in compensation.

Supported by

ECHOES specialises in geolocative audio. Our free and open-access platform at https://echoes.xyz allows creators to make and publish incredible GPS-triggered walking experiences. We also design bespoke apps which focus on sound and location, including The Royal Parks and The Royal Academy’s collaborative ‘Music for Trees’ app.