Call for student projects related to Asch Collection of Folkways Records
CASH PRIZES & PRESENTATION OPPORTUNITIES
The Moses and Frances Asch Collection of Folkways Records (Asch Collection) was donated to the University of Alberta in 1985 and is an unparalleled addition to the University’s sonic resources. The Asch Collection includes over 2100 records encompassing folk, roots, blues, bluegrass, jazz, spoken-word, and global music, and sound recordings of things like cityscapes and weather events. The Asch Collection is now fully digitized (including the extensive liner notes for each recording), and provides inspiration for ongoing research, creative performance and teaching projects. Folkways Records founder and curator Moses Asch (1905-1986) insisted that, for him, Folkways included “anything that is sound, from Indonesian folk music to James Joyce reading his own poetry.” This philosophy is in line with the Sound Studies Institute’s mandate to celebrate creative and scholarly research on anything sonic.
Under the stewardship of the Sound Studies Institute, projects inspired by the Asch Collection seek to connect people and cultures through sound by identifying, preserving and investigating the relationships of cultures through their visual, aural and material practices. On November 30, 2022, the Sound Studies Institute will host our third Moses Asch Day, celebrating the 117th birthday of Moses Asch, by showcasing student projects that engage directly with or are inspired by the Asch Collection. We will celebrate the diversity of submitted student projects with a public event featuring presentations by selected students (or student groups) and a display of all work submitted in SSI’s new Sound Art gallery.
We invite submissions by undergraduate and graduate students to be part of this exciting event. Projects can range from investigations (historical, critical, musicological, linguistic, etc) into specific recordings, to LP design projects, to creative sonic projects: please surprise us! Selected student projects will receive cash prizes of $100. All other works will be featured on the SSI website and in the SSI Sound Art Gallery.
Please feel free to contact resssi@ualberta.ca with any questions.
Deadline for submission:
November 15, 2022
Project Showcase:
Moses Asch Day, November 30, 2022
6:00 pm to 8:00 pm
In-person at the sound Studies Institute
Room 347 – Old Arts Building & Convocation Hall
Pizza and refreshments will be provided!
Resources:
Asch Collection page on Sound Studies Institute website
The Look of the Listen: Cover Art from Folkways Records
Folkways Records: Moses Asch and His Encyclopedia of Sound by Tony Olmstead
Sound Studies Institute 