On February 8, 2009 the Chicago-based members of the World Listening Project (WLP) agreed to establish the Midwest Society for Acoustic Ecology (MSAE), an affiliate of the American Society for Acoustic Ecology and the World Forum of Acoustic Ecology. Individuals, groups, and institutions residing in the Midwestern United States are encouraged to join. The future website of the Midwest Society for Acoustic Ecology will be at http://mwsae.org.

It was agreed that the WLP would be a project supported by the MSAE. In a sense the WLP is giving birth to its parent organization, and over time it is expected that the MSAE will clarify its relationship to the WLP and and future iniatives over a large geographic region comprising the Midwestern United States.

Historically The World Listening Project (WLP) is a not-for-profit organization that formed by Brett Balogh, Chad Clark, Noé Cuéllar, Daniel Godston, Eric Leonardson, and Jayve Montgomery in 2008 to promote a better understanding of the world and its natural environment, societies, and cultures through the varied listening practices and field recording. Through workshops, forums, lectures, and festivals the WLP seeks to encourage worldwide opportunities for collaboration, education, research and experimentation across the disciplines of the arts, humanities, and the social and natural sciences. This effort draws much of its inspiration from R. Murray Schafer, the Canadian composer, author, and founder of the field of Acoustic Ecology. Its first organized efforts in acoustic design were lead by Schafer in the Vancouver-based World Soundscape Project.

The WLP has earned the interest of and gained momentum from the growing participation of an international group of individual sound artists and phonographers who are collaboratively defining its mission with regard to Internet sound mapping, field recording, and other web based technologies. West Coast founders include Steve Barsotti (Seattle) and Bernie and Katherine Krause (Glen Lake, CA). Through its professional links and the WLP’s Internet discussion forum the founders quickly connected and grew into an international community. The WLP enjoys the particpation of Anna Friz (Toronto), Linda O’Keefe (Dublin), Jerome Joy (Nice), among many others beyond its base in Chicago. The WLP’s relationship with the New York Society for Acoustic Ecology has also been instrumental in establishing the MSAE.

The WLP welcomes new subscribers to its discussion forum. Subscribing offers an opportunity to join in the WLP’s process of defining how diverse listening practices and field recording can be explored. Among the initiatives under development are the WLP web site and an online journal for presenting research, techniques, recordings, and theories of field recording.

For more information about becoming a member of the Midwest Society for Acoustic Ecology (MSAE), please contact Eric Leonardson: eric@ericleonardson.org.