Sound Walk September is the yearly global festival celebrating sound walks.
- SWS22 artist media pack (10 August 2022)
- Programme announcement (22 July 2022)
- Formal announcement press release (3 May 2022)
- SWS22 Open Call
- SWS22 events listing
- Sound walks created since September 2021
Works created after September 2022 and submitted until 30 September, 2023 will be eligible for the Sound Walk September Awards 2023. Submit your work to walk · listen · create.
When September rolls around, but also at any time before that, you can listen to stories, get closer to nature, travel to far away places, immerse yourself in different cultures, add your voice, record the ambience, learn how to make sound walks, and submit your own work, as well as participate in lively debates, and intimate café conversations. And, share your discoveries with experts from the world of sound walking.
What’s this all about? Check our FAQ and learn about what is a sound walk.
All sound walks created after September 30 the previous year, and all events occurring in September, are eligible for the Sound Walk September Awards. Read up on the judging criteria.
Submit your own events, and check out the full schedule (empty, for now), as well as all walking pieces eligible for the SWS Awards.
Want to go deeper? Check out last year’s open call for Sound Walk September 2022. An Open Call for 2023 will be issued in due course, however, you can apply at any time.
History
In 2017, the Museum of Walking, of which Andrew Stuck is the founder, sought a means to celebrate outdoor audio, geo-located, immersive performances, listening walks and sound walks. He has been podcasting since 2008 as Talking Walking, through which he has interviewed dozens of sound walk creatives who bemoaned the fact that much of their work had a very limited lifespan.
Sound Walk Sunday 2017, beamed a day to promote existing works and encourage these creatives to reprise older walking pieces or make new work. We then collected these works in an open access online database and archive. The event was given a boost by its inauguration in 2017 during the international walking arts encounters Made of Walking in La Romieu, in south west France, with participants from 17 countries, and 6 live sound walks events during the encounters, along with daily public Talking Walking interviews in English and in French during the week long event and podcasts.
Teaming up at the end of 2018 , with Geert Vermeire, the convenor of Made of Walking, writer, curator and a locative multi-media expert with a focus on the environment, and with Babak Fakhamzadeh, an award winning locative app developer, we reprised Sound Walk Sunday in 2019 as a global festival, with key institutional partners in Brazil, Australia, Greece, Spain, Germany and Poland, with the event quickly evolving into a month-long Sound Walk September 2019, becoming not only a showcase for innovation, but also a valued community-building resource, bringing practitioners together, many of whom are remotely working creatives who have previously felt isolated or ‘ploughing a lonely furrow’.
Due to the pandemic, the 2020 and 2021 editions of Sound Walk September started off on shaky footings, but, with extra experience, a supportive Advisory Board, financial support from multiple partners, and contributions from all over the world, SWS20 and SWS21 were a resounding success.
Participate
We are now accepting submissions for Sound Walk September 2022. You can read our open call, and submit a walking piece or event.
Attend an event
All upcoming events can be found in our events listing. We also have a dedicated event listing, just for SWS22.
Experience a walking piece
Visit our directory of walking pieces to discover sound walks to listen to or follow. Check out the submissions for SWS22.
Media enquiries
A Sound Walk Sunday 2022 Press Kit will be available soon. You can also read the FAQ. You can also join our group on Facebook and talk with other walking artists. Sound Walk September also has dedicated Twitter account.
You can download the logos below and use them as you see fit.
Support us
There’s a range of options available to you as to how you can work with us, including several options for sponsorship and financial support. Read up on how you can work with us.
And, if your heart is truly in the right place, consider becoming a supporting member.
Lots of individuals donate their time and effort to make Sound Walk September a success. If you are interested in becoming more involved or are able to support the project through a financial contribution or by volunteering time and effort, please get in touch.
Use the hashtag #SWSYY, with YY replaced by the last two digits of the year when publishing to social media. So, #SWS22 for Sound Walk September 2022.
How to create your own piece
Want to know how to make sound walk? Go to our FAQ.
Who is deciding on the shortlist?
The shortlist is decided on by a team of reviewers who score submissions against a set of weighted criteria. The highest scoring submissions make it to the shortlist.
Who’s on the team you ask?
Help is had
We’re very happy to work with Goldsmiths University and Goodsted, through which we participate in project placements for students. This year, we have the pleasure of working with Michael Woldemariam.
Past festivals
Mission statement
What we pursue as part of Sound Walk September, we try to do in a way that matches the mission we’ve set for ourselves. Read our mission statement.