On July 18th, 2026 at 5 pm, Collide Arts and Phonography Austin will present an event at the Underground Rotunda of the Texas State Capitol, exploring a possible soundscape of the Capitol in 2116.
We will present a brief talk about World Listening Day, acoustic ecology, and dark ecology. As we conduct an ear cleaning exercise, we’ll review a short text describing what Austin could sound like in 2116. We’ll then break into small groups to listen for and record any harbingers of the future, and meet at Scholz Garten (a brief walk from the Capitol) at 7 pm to review our findings.
This World Listening Day will mark the tenth anniversary of Phonography Austin’s founding, and is our eleventh one.
Please see phonographyaustin.org for recommendations for free sound recording and SPL meter apps.
This project is supported in part by Austin Arts, Culture, Music and Entertainment, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Texas Commission on the Arts.
We’d like to open the call for entries for our eighth annual report compilation. Artists who reside in Texas are invited to submit field recordings (made anywhere) in 2025.
We've heard (and loved) your grackles, trains, cicadas and traffic. Send your favorite but we'd love to hear something unheard!
The deadline is November 28, 2025 at 11:59PM CST. The compilation will be released on our Bandcamp site on December 8, 2025, simultaneously with our annual report event.
If you would like to submit please follow the link
#phonography #fieldrecording
In celebration of World Listening Day, July 18th, 2025 at 6 pm, Collide Arts and Phonography Austin will present a workshop at Chicano Park, focused on documenting a soundscape that will change significantly through 2031.
We will present a brief talk about World Listening Day and acoustic ecology, describe the parameters of the project, describe possible documentation methodologies, then get to work. Phonography Austin members will be on hand to assist with documentation tech, as extensively as necessary. We are happy to celebrate World Listening Day with our tenth annual event.
Presented by Collide Arts with support from the City of Austin’s Elevate Grant Program and the Texas Commission on the Arts.
| WHAT TO BRING | Water, sturdy shoes, attentive ears, writing device/paper for sound maps |
| TECH TO BRING | Field recorder and/or sound pressure level meter (apps OK for both, see below) |
| WHERE | 2101 Jesse E. Segovia St, Austin, Texas 78702 |
| WHO | Free and open to the public |
| WHEN | July 18, 2025. 6:00 - ? |
For a sound pressure meter app we recommend Decibel X or NIOSH Sound Level Meter (iOS only).
For a field recording app we recommend the sound recording app you are most familiar with. If you haven't used any we recommend Voice Record Pro.
About World Listening Day
Since its inception in 2010, thousands of people from six continents have participated in World Listening Day. July 18th is the birth date of renowned Canadian composer, music educator, and author, R. Murray Schafer. With the World Soundscape Project he developed the fundamental ideas and practices of acoustic ecology in the 1970s. These inform the current, burgeoning interest in our changing acoustic environment. Thus, World Listening Day honors Schafer’s contribution to understanding our world.
World Listening Day is a project sponsored by The World Listening Project, a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt non-profit charitable organization devoted to fostering understanding of the world and its natural environment, societies and cultures through the practices of listening and field recording.
We are restructuring our monthly meetups.
Going forward they will be the first Tuesday of the month, 6:30 PM, at the Ralph W. Yarborough branch of the Austin Public Library, 2200 Hancock Dr, Austin, Texas.
We’ll discuss future events and projects, present works in progress, and share skills.
All are welcome.
About World Listening Day
Since its inception in 2010, thousands of people from six continents have participated in World Listening Day. July 18th is the birth date of renowned Canadian composer, music educator, and author, R. Murray Schafer. With the World Soundscape Project he developed the fundamental ideas and practices of acoustic ecology in the 1970s. These inform the current, burgeoning interest in our changing acoustic environment. Thus, World Listening Day honors Schafer’s contribution to understanding our world.
World Listening Day is a project sponsored by The World Listening Project, a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt non-profit charitable organization devoted to fostering understanding of the world and its natural environment, societies and cultures through the practices of listening and field recording.