‘Earshot’, is a monthly series where contributor Selwa Abd points towards grant opportunities for musicians/artists, provides insight into the process of seeking opportunities and more.
Pick Up The Flow is an online resource and community, based in NYC, created and operated by musician and designer Selwa Abd aka Bergsonist. In our monthly series called ‘Earshot’, we invite Selwa to point towards grant opportunities for musicians/artists, provide insight into the process of seeking opportunities, plus profiling members from the PUTF community with the intent of educating you on how to find financial/communal support for your sound and music projects.
For this month’s installment, Selwa invites artist, composer and educator Matthew D. Gantt to talk about sound in virtual reality.
Based between NYC and Troy, NY, Gantt’s practice focuses on sound in virtual spaces, generative systems facilitated by idiosyncratic technology, and digital production presets as sonic readymades. He worked as a studio assistant to electronics pioneer Morton Subotnick from 2016 – ’18, and has been an active participant in the New York creative community, presenting or performing at spaces such as Pioneer Works, Issue Project Room, Roulette, Babycastles, SVA Visible Futures Lab, and countless DIY venues across the US, as well as abroad (IRCAM Academy, Paris, Koma Elektronic/Common Ground, Synthesis Gallery, Berlin). Gantt releases music with Orange Milk and Oxtail Recordings, and has taught experimental composition at both institutional and DIY spaces, including NYC non-profit/public media studio Harvestworks, CUNY Brooklyn, Bard College, Sarah Lawrence, and a variety of community workshops aimed at creating equitable access to developing technologies. In Fall ’19, he joined the Electronic Arts PhD program at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute/EMPAC, researching spatial sound in virtual reality and strategies for using experimental arts practice as a frame to refigure possibilities for immersive media futures.
Intro Music Credits: Matthew D. Gantt - Faded JX
Outro Music Credits: Matthew D. Gantt - Diagnostics
Where can people find out about you?
In lieu of website:
Some music:
Most recent sound art show with a slew of audio installations in Mozilla Hubs (explorable in 3D/VR/in browser):
Writings on virtual communities, mediated reality, me yelling at clouds
That NFT/ambisonic piece on Feral File
What other links or resources would you recommend us to check out?
WebVR resources:
In-browser 3D/VR with no software needed - all HTML/Javascript
Free ‘social webVR’ - no coding needed
WebVR art tools + community
Spatial Audio Resources
Potential resource: my fav ambisonic plugins (free) for Reaper
Another potential resource: ambisonic decoder for A-Frame: A-Frame Ambisonic Audio Component (datavized.github.io)
Great ambisonic/spatial max4live suite for Ableton (free)
Lots of mixed feelings re: RBMA/feel like this whole thing is pretty much just a 4sound paid ad, but a few nice links to a few ‘canon’ pieces if not on folks radar:
Misc
That blockchain article that came up in conversation Yanis Varoufakis on Crypto & the Left, and Techno-Feudalism (the-crypto-syllabus.com)
Earshot ==== Grant Opportunities
Jerome Hill Artist Fellowship | Jerome Foundation
Deadline: May 4th, 2022
Grant: $50K
Location: New York + Minnesota
Jerome Hill Artist Fellowships support Minnesota and New York City-based artists across 8 artistic fields who generate new work that takes creative risks in expanding, questioning, experimenting with or re-imagining conventional artistic forms. This Fellowship supports artists who embrace their roles as part of a larger community of artists and citizens, and consciously work with a sense of service, whether aesthetic, social or both. Support is directed to artists who are at an early point in their careers in creating such work, generally in their 2nd–10th year as a generative artist.
Fellows receive $50,000 over two consecutive years ($25,000 each year) to support their time and expenses for the creation of new work, artistic development and/or professional artistic career development.
Artist In Residence | The Latinx Project
Deadline: May 5th, 2022
Grant: $5-10K
Location: United States
The Latinx Project artist in residence is invited to be part of the NYU academic community for 4-6 months. A.I.R’s have a unique opportunity to shape the contemporary/historic dialogue surrounding Latin art & culture. In Addition, their A.I.R receives invaluable resources toward creating a solo/group presentation at NYU. Emerging or mid-career artists- living and working in the U.S can apply.
2022 Small Grants For Individual Artists | NOMAA
Deadline: May 9th, 2022
Grant: $2.5-5K
Location: Washington Heights, Inwood and West Harlem (NYC)
NOMA will provide small grants, ranging from$2500 to $5000 to individual artists residing in the neighborhoods of Washington Heights, Inwood and West Harlem to support original work in the disciplines of the visual arts, playwriting/screenwriting, media, theater, music composition and choreography.
OVERTONES | The Rising Artist Foundation
Deadline: May 13th, 2022
Grant: $4.375
Location: Los Angeles, US
OVERTONES is a grant program and workshop to reduce barriers to electronic music production, nurture creative exploration and provide music industry education. The in-person, 8-week program consists of 2 workshops per week; One on electronic music production with Ableton live 11 led by Nicolas Jaar, the other providing tools to navigate and demystify the music industry led by the rising artist foundation, Jaar and guests. Open to Los Angeles residents aged 18-32. Duration: From Mid-July to Early-September 2022.
Theoria Writers Residency | Theoria Foundation
Deadline: May 15th, 2022
Grant: $750-$4k
Location: Woodstock, NY
The inaugural Theoria Writers Residency is offering free 7-10 days stays and project stipends for writers, creatives and other literary artists in Woodstock NY.
They are seeking applicants whose work explores themes of sustainability and environmental consciousness across a variety of writing disciplines including poetry, screenwriting, fiction, music composition, non-fiction writing and more.
Gary’s Electric Studio Residency | Mexican Summer
Deadline: May 15th, 2022
Location: Brooklyn, NY
Mexican Summer is thrilled to announce that they are accepting applicants for a three day recording studio residency (July 2022) at their home studio, Gary’s Electric in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. Residents will have the opportunity to workshop, develop, and record their own material, taking full advantage of the studio facility and engineering services at no cost. In addition to the studio time, the residency will include a pre-production meeting/zoom and engineer introduction.
Residents will have the opportunity to workshop, develop, and record their own material, taking full advantage of the studio facility and engineering services at no cost. In addition to the studio time, the residency will include a pre-production meeting/Zoom and engineer introduction. Residents will also retain 100% ownership of everything they produce.
BIPOC applicants will be prioritized, but all are welcome to apply. No prior recording experience is required. Applicants should be based in or able to travel to New York. They will accept applications through May 15th, and then work with the selected applicant to schedule three days of studio time in July, 2022.
Open Call For Artists 2022-2023 | Creative Time
Deadline: May 17th, 2022
Grant: $10k
Location: US
Proposals for speculative concepts (public art projects) are welcome, if selected, you will work with Creative Time to translate a version of the idea that can be realized. The project will take place on land of the Musee Lenape, Canarsie, Lekawe and Wappinger or so-called New York City. The production budget is separate from the artist fee ($10K).
Anonymous Was A Woman Environmental Art Grants | NYFA
Deadline: June 14th, 2022
Grant: $20K
Location: United States
The Anonymous Was A Woman environmental art grants program, administered by NYFA, will distribute a total of $250K in funding to support environmental art projects led by women-identifying artists in the US.
Media Arts Assistance Fund For Artists | Wave Farm
Deadline: July 1st, 2022
Grant: $7.5k
Location: New York State
The Media Arts Assistance Fund For Artists provides support of up to $7,500 directly to individual new York-based artists for the completion and/or public presentation of new works in all genres of sound and moving image art, including emergent technology.
Funding assists artists in completing new work, reaching public audiences, and advances artistic exploration and public engagement in the media arts. Women, gender non-comforming people, and people of color are encouraged to apply.
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Selwa Abd is a Moroccan-born, New York-based producer, DJ, curator, and activist. She runs Pick Up the Flow, an online resource and community, based in NYC.
