Miamians Invited to Submit Sights & Sounds From the City, Helping to Create an Audio/Visual Symphony of Miami

Composer Ted Hearne and Filmmaker Jonathan David Kane to Lead Creative Team for the Audio/Visual Symphony of Miami.

MIT Media Lab and Composer / Inventor / Educator Tod Machover To Work With Miami Community on 'Project 305', a large-scale community effort funded by the Knight Foundation.

What does Miami sound like? Look like? What sounds and sights represent home? This January, Miami residents will be invited to share their impressions of and emotions for Miami by submitting audio and video clips to the New World Symphony, America’s Orchestral Academy (NWS), as part of Project 305. 

Those submissions will be used to compose an orchestral work and partner video reflective of the city as seen through the eyes of its people.  In capturing the visuals and sounds of Miami, residents will be asked to draw from their own personal experiences of living in the city, submitting creations of their own.

The collaborative project – a partnership between the New World Symphony, MIT Media Lab and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation - will invite all of Miami’s communities and cultures to work alongside composer Ted Hearne, filmmaker Jonathan David Kane, and MIT composer, inventor and educator Tod Machover through community events, workshops and gatherings for 100 days, from January 31 to May 12, 2017.  Hearne and Kane will work with NWS Artistic Director and co-founder Michael Tilson Thomas, who will be responsible for the overall artistic direction of the work.

The resulting audio & video work will be premiered on Saturday, Oct. 21, 2017 at the New World Center, with subsequent presentations in communities and neighborhoods throughout Miami.  The premiere performance at the New World Center will be a WALLCAST™ concert. 

Submissions can be made from January 31 - May 12.  Contributions for the final work can be made by:

• Submitting sound and video clips using the iPhone or Android app Project 305, designed by MIT Media Lab, or on the project website www.Project305.org.

• Hyperscore workshops – The Media Lab’s Hyperscore composition software will be used in schools and other educational settings, and at the New World Center, to encourage the public to create compositions that might be part of the final symphony.

• Web-based online applications: Media Lab apps such as Constellation, Cauldron, Repertoire Remix and others allow users to explore and influence different aspects / sections of the symphony during the creation process by shaping music created by the composer or other collaborators / members of the public.  

The project website will include tutorials and a toolkit for those who would like to explore specific themes and / or organize outings and workshops to capture and produce sound and video submissions for the project. “This project allows residents to participate in a creative experience using the tools they carry with them every day — their phones and mobile devices,” said Victoria Rogers, vice president for arts at Knight Foundation. “Living in Miami is always a sensory experience. We’re excited to discover which sounds and sites participants are moved to record.”

The New World Symphony will host an introductory “ambassadors” event at 8:00 a.m. on Monday, December 12, at the New World Center in Miami Beach for those who would like to learn more about the project and meet with project organizers (500 17th Street).  For information or to RSVP to the event, which will include breakfast and beverages, contact Stephanie Torok at 305-428-6722, or via email at Stephanie.Torok@nws.edu.

Additional project details, along with a call for submissions, will be announced in 
late January, 2017. More information about the New World Symphony, America’s Orchestral Academy, is available at www.NWS.edu.