In late March and early April, the Center for Deep Listening at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute will hold a series of three online workshops in Deep Listening and well-being that are open to the university community.

The first, on March 31, is reserved for students. The second, which is open to faculty only, will be held on April 7. The third workshop, on April 14, will be open to all Rensselaer students, faculty, and staff. All workshops will be held virtually from 4:30 to 6 p.m.

The workshops are free, but pre-registration is required through this link.

Participants in the workshops will have the opportunity to contribute to a research project investigating the impact of Deep Listening on well-being in a virtual environment and in the context of the intersecting crises of the COVID-19 pandemic, isolation, and racial strife.

“Even in the digital space, Deep Listening practices nurture mindfulness and creativity while cultivating a sense of connection,” said Stephanie Loveless, a lecturer and director of the center. “At a time when a sense of connection with ourselves, others, and to the broader world around us is so needed, we are happy to offer these events free of charge to the campus community.”

Established in 2014, the Center for Deep Listening serves as the archival repository for the groundbreaking work of Pauline Oliveros, who died in 2016. A central figure in the development of electronic music and a distinguished research professor of music at Rensselaer, Oliveros pioneered the concept of Deep Listening, a practice she described as “listening with your whole body.”

The center continues to be a global leader in the development and delivery of Deep Listening training and certification and a prominent research center fostering innovation in the world of sound. The upcoming workshops, which are being offered with support from the School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences, are part of an expansion of the center’s outreach spearheaded by Loveless, who was named director in July 2020.

Loveless recently created the Center for Deep Listening Advisory Board to ensure that the center is attuned to a cross-section of voices and to provide recommendations and support relating to the development of Deep Listening. The board is comprised of leading scholars in the field, including Brian Pertl, the dean of the Lawrence University Conservatory of Music, and Claire Chase, the first flutist to be awarded a MacArthur Fellowship.

A scholarship fund has also been created to increase accessibility to the Deep Listening training programs. The Equity Scholarship is intended to serve populations currently underrepresented in Deep Listening, sound art, and wellness spaces. To date, the program has awarded two full and eight partial scholarships for the three-month training courses.