NPS Residency 2018

I was selected to be one of three 2018 Artists-In-Residence in the Santa Monica Mountains National Conservancy, a division of the National Park Service. As part of this residency, I planned and led monthy artmaking field trips for 175 young people from park-poor neighborhoods in LA. Our trips included workshops on field recording, active listening, livescoring, and animation, all with a focus on encouraging students to make art in/around/inspired by our National Parks. As the culmination of my residency, I composed a site-specific, quadraphonic piece for trumpet, bass, saxophone, and electronics in the abandoned pool at Peter Strauss Ranch. Directed towards the resonant capacity of the 10,000 gallon pool, my piece fostered interactions with the natural sounds of the space--birdcalls, insect noises, and the distant highway--rather than covering them up. I also curated and produced the other performances at the culmination concert, which included an improvisation by Ted Byrnes using only materials he found in the park the day of the show, and am incredible, dimension-warping electroacoustic piece by Burnt Dot inside an abandoned aviary on the park grounds.