Great Lakes Listening Series at Union Cinema

As a part of our Community Projects Initiative, MSAE is partnering with the UWM Department of Film, Video, Animation and New Genres to present the Great Lakes Listening Series. This brand new, experimental listening event will present multichannel sonic artworks within a cinema space. Our inaugural program will be hosted by the Union Cinema at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, for an all day event on May 5th, 2026.

This year’s open call is for new works of sound art, music and audio performance that respond to the acoustic ecology of the Great Lakes Region and that are designed for playback in a 5.1 cinema surround sound system. Artists are encouraged to consider the cinema space as a unique listening environment – one with a seated audience and a fixed orientation towards the speaker system – just as they are encouraged to consider the unique locale and ecology of the region in their composition.

Absolutely no entry fees.

Selected artists will be paid an honorarium for their work and offered technical support for 5.1 surround sound mixing in the cinema space.

We are especially interested in projects that consider the many natural, ecological and political complexities of the Great Lakes. Our intention is to explore the potential of the cinematic listening experience as a uniquely immersive and arresting means of engaging with these complexities. For this year’s selection, we will be prioritizing artworks that are anchored in the region.

Event date: May 5, 2026
Notification by: April 2026
Late deadline: February 16, 2026
Early deadline: January 31, 2026

Submission link: https://forms.gle/mE9BuiABDaJHirjQ9