Sound Art Innovation Lab

Based in St. Catharines, Ontario, S.A.I.L. focuses on experimentation to help sound artists, musicians, actors, producers, and film directors integrate sound into their workflows.

The organization brings together community participants, students, and scholars of all ages to foster interdisciplinary discussion. As an organization, S.A.I.L. aims to create social awareness and encourage underrepresented groups to participate in all aspects of sound studies and production. Within our collaborative environment, we are committed to diversity, equity, and inclusivity in all aspects of our governance and programming. We believe our strength is grounded in working with diverse groups, including gender- and sexually diverse communities, people with intersectional identities, disability artists, and Indigenous cultural practitioners.

If you have any questions about joining the lab or proposing collaborative projects, please email us at [email protected].

The Sound Art Innovation Lab is located on the traditional territory of the Haudenosaunee and Anishinaabe peoples, many of whom continue to live and work here today. This territory is covered by the Upper Canada Treaties and is within the land protected by the Dish With One Spoon Wampum agreement. Today this gathering place is home to many First Nations, Metis, and Inuit peoples and acknowledging reminds us that our great standard of living is directly related to the resources and friendship of Indigenous people.
Haudenosaunee – This name refers to the Confederacy comprising the Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, Seneca and Tuscarora Nations.
Anishinaabeg/Anishinaabek/Anishnabek/Anishnaabeg – this name the Ojibway, Odawa, Algonquin, Potawatomi, Nipissing, Mississaugas, Saulteau and all the Algonkian/Ojibwa Nations. "Inspired by the 94 recommended calls to action contained in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (now known as the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation, or NCTR), land acknowledgements are a necessary first step toward honouring the original occupants of a place. They also help Canadians recognize and respect Indigenous peoples' inherent kinship beliefs when it comes to the land, especially since those beliefs were restricted for so long." by Indigenous writer Selena Mills https://bit.ly/3xN1Sl0

S.A.I.L is currently exploring solutions to make our facilities more accessible and to create a website compliant with the W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 3.0. Please be patient as we work toward this goal. The Sound Art Innovation Lab Collective acknowledges the generous, unwavering support of the Niagara Artists Centre. Many of its members and administrative staff helped find a location, renovate the space and accelerate our growth at this crucial stage. To use the Sound Art Innovation Lab studio, you must sign up for a membership with NAC. This ensures our enduring partnership and helps extend our outreach activities.

Community Support

Production
In some sense, production is the easy part as long as there are facilities and equipment to support it, and that’s exactly what we offer. We procure equipment from various sources. We plan to build a field-recording library and keep on-hand hardware and software tools to dream up new sonic forms and variations.
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Learning
We focus on experimenting with how different components (dialogue, atmospheres, sound effects, and music) allow an audience to engage with sound as a form that moves and affects both the producers and the audience.

Because the S.A.I.L. studios follow an open, creative approach to learning, we support learners at all levels. This means you have the chance to explore your craft alongside other creative people working across various industries or independent creative enterprises.

You'll also benefit from guest lecturers brought in from time to time, depending on the community's needs.
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Artistry and Virtuosity
What good is a space for collaboration without the need to emphasize virtuosity? We believe that creative communities foster new forms and innovate from discussion and collaboration - in a post-pandemic world, these activities may live again.
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Collaboration and Community as a Focus
As a city, St. Catharines is a dynamic and resilient city - its local businesses and cultural centre is proof of this. Because we are located between two larger urban centres (Toronto and Buffalo) we can attract professionals working in various fields that feature music and sound production. These fields include: the film industry, Theatre and Drama, Music Production, Live Performance, Foley Work, Vocal Studies, Sound Art, Music for Live Events and much more.
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Experimentation
Our focus is on musical style, performance techniques, dramatic presentation, language, diction, and body awareness. We also listen to what makes up sonic environments and promote an understanding of how sounds mix within natural environments and more populated areas. From Environmental Sound Art to Synthetic and more improvised sounds the S.A.I.L. studio is ready to help create innovative sound productions in as many diverse ways as possible.
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Creative Play
What would any artistic creation be without a sense of play. Perhaps most important of all is the ability to test something out. No matter how outlandish or awkward sounding creative play gives new forms life and creates new forms of creative expression.