Partners
About the Network
The goal of the CSN is to develop a mutual understanding among cultural communities through the creation, preservation, and dissemination of knowledge about their musical and cultural identities. Through teaching, research, and outreach, the CSN brings together researchers, educators, creators, performers, producers, and the public to promote areas of common interest in the promotion of the diversity and strength of musical cultures, in their many forms and locations, and to develop this collaboration in pursuit of those goals.
The Cultures of Sound Network is:
Smithsonian Folkways Recordings is the nonprofit record label of the Smithsonian Institution, the national museum of the United States. We are dedicated to supporting cultural equity and increased understanding among peoples through the documentation, preservation, and dissemination of sound. As part of the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage, through the dissemination of audio recordings and educational materials, we seek to strengthen people’s engagement with their own cultural heritage and to enhance their awareness and appreciation of the cultural heritage of others. See our website for more information.
Smithsonian Folkways Recordings works with the Cultures of Sound Network to provide a platform to amplify the voices of Canadian musicians and their communities, and to provide training opportunities for students in applied ethnomusicological settings. We believe strongly that in a more connected world, there are great benefits in collaborating with Canadian institutions in order to expand our collections and gain from the perspectives of Canadian universities and educational organizations.
The Canadian Centre for Ethnomusicology (CCE), founded in 1992 by Professor Regula Qureshi, aims to facilitate multicultural musical sound for the public good, through multiple ethnomusicological activities worldwide: musical archiving, performance, research, teaching, and community engaged outreach - all contributing towards human development: improving the world through music, building and sustaining community through expressive sound.
Located in Gatineau, Québec, the Canadian Museum of History is home to a vast collection of musical instruments, archival material, and field recordings documenting the diversity of cultural expression in Canada. This important collection supports the Museum in enhancing knowledge, understanding, and appreciation of the events, people, places, and objects that have shaped this country’s identity.
The Museum’s audiovisual holdings comprise more than 72,000 sound recordings, along with 18,000 films and videotapes produced during more than a century of research. These audiovisual holdings include thousands of hours of interviews, songs, stories, and other activities, recorded on a variety of media that range from wax cylinders to 16mm film to various digital formats.
In association with the Cultures of Sound Network, the Museum collaborates on projects aimed at enhancing public access to these collections. Together, the Museum and the Network are making it possible to expand awareness and understanding of historical recordings and material culture, while exploring and sharing the cultural context and traditions that make these collections an outstanding resource for scholars as well as the general public.
The Centre for Sound Communities is an arts-led social innovation lab at Cape Breton University in Sydney, Nova Scotia, involved in applying research through artistic practices (mainly dance, music, theatre & digital media) as well as standard research methods and strategies across a range of disciplines; providing training for students, faculty and community partners; working with communities to develop connections and access resources; and building skilled research teams and strong networks to meet partners’ needs.
The CSC addresses systemic inequities through a focus on research that serves the needs of under-represented and under-resourced populations. Working within the CSN, the CSC builds on its reputation for actively stewarding cultural diversity and community engagement, facilitating internships and other high-quality research training opportunities, provide artists and researchers with the infrastructure and support to develop projects, and working with communities to share knowledge about and celebrate diverse traditions and practices. The CSC produces studio recordings, films, and digital resources as well as programs for public education, engaging in critical questions about music and culture across Canada and around the world.
The Sound Studies Institute (SSI) at the University of Alberta supports research and creative activities that centralize sound in any way. SSI offers researchers opportunities to work collaboratively, discover new areas of convergent inquiry, benefit from collective administrative support, and provides a philosophical and physical locus for sharing, exploring, and celebrating collaboration and innovation across disciplines.
Funded by the Government of Canada’s Research Chairs Program and Memorial University of Newfoundland and Labrador, the Research Centre for the Study of Music, Media, and Place (MMaP) was founded in 2003 by Dr. Beverley Diamond to forward cutting-edge research on music and culture. MMaP’s facilities are home to Memorial’s M.A and Ph.D. programs in ethnomusicology, visiting scholars and postdoctoral fellows, a state-of-the-art audio restoration lab, a dance studio, and presentation and meeting spaces.
Under the current directorship of Dr. Harris M. Berger, the Centre hosts a wide range of events, including scholarly lectures, film screenings, and conferences and symposia, many of which are live-streamed and archived on our YouTube channel. Our Back on Track Audio Publication Series makes one-of-a-kind collections of archival and field recordings available to the public, with CDs and websites that showcase diverse music from Newfoundland and Labrador and around the world.
