Sounding Out Wells: sonic postcards for heritage and environmental engagement

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This project, 'Sounding Out Wells', will employ and develop an innovative art-based methodology to capture and represent the voices of coastal communities, articulating the issues they face and bringing these to the attention of policy-makers and the wider public with the aim of improving public engagement and consultation in environmental and coastal management planning. The project develops a series of sonic postcards reflecting the heritage and environment of Wells-next-the Sea past, present and future. Sounding out Wells (SoW) explores the sonic history and heritage of Wells next the Sea on the North Norfolk Coast. Sound artist Rebecca Lee and the SoW team will work with volunteers and school groups to produce a set of 'sonic postcards' for permanent exhibition in the newly constructed Heritage Centre at Wells Maltings. These will use existing oral testimony sound archive along with new recordings made specially for the project. SoW will contribute to building a distinctive role for the Maltings as a cultural hub and develop the environmental agenda at Wells Maltings which will create a public forum to debate local responses to climate change and sea level rise. Speaking to issues past, present and future, the Wells 'sonic postcards' will directly address this agenda of environment and coastal change.. Sonic postcards are created from segments of recorded oral testimony and interview material combined with environmental sound recordings, locally performed, created and relevant music and data transformed into electronic musical sound. These are woven into short compositions of 5-10 minutes as items of focused listening which tell a specific story, but also pose questions which encourage listeners to think and reflect on issues and themes. SoW will develop a new methodology enabling volunteers to work with a professional sound artist in order to create together new sonic postcard sound artworks.The North Norfolk coast consists of low-lying sandy cliffs, dunes, mudflats, creeks, fresh and saltwater marshes. It is subject to regular inundation from storms resulting in a vulnerable changing and increasingly volatile coastline and coastal margin. The consequences of climate change have resulted in increases in the incidence and power of storm events, rising average temperatures and rising sea levels. The Norfolk coast is an important bellwether in terms of coastal vulnerability in relation to sea level rises. The area has been called a major and significant UK laboratory in terms of coastal adaptation and climate change. Facing up to these challenges will concern people of all ages. SoW contributes to this developing environmental agenda by inviting volunteers and schools groups to think about how the coast is changing and how local heritage and experience can help us prepare and plan for the future. In summary the Sounding out Wells project will: - Develop a series of 'sonic postcards' reflecting the heritage and environment of Wells past, present and future; - Explore the potential of the existing Oral archive at Wells Maltings, enhance it with new recordings and create new sound-based displays grounded in issues of coastal change; - Develop a new collaborative methodology involving schools, volunteers, local groups, and facilitators working with sound artist Rebecca Lee; - Create debate and discussion relating to the human and environmental challenges faced by Wells in the future and which speaks to the Wells Maltings developing environmental agenda.