Ways of Listening: A Global Creative Project with Cities and Memory
29 January 2026
What does listening mean to you?
Ways of Listening is a global creative callout inviting people everywhere to reflect on one simple yet powerful question: “What does listening mean to you?”
Developed in partnership with Cities and Memory, the project aims to shine a light on the value of listening in all its forms — and the many ways more attentive listening can enrich our lives.
We’re gathering imaginative and personal responses from around the world that explore listening through sound, music, movement, image, words and more. By placing creativity at the heart of this conversation, we hope to spark deeper awareness of how listening shapes connection, understanding and shared experience.
Watch Dame Evelyn Glennie and Stuart Fowkes, founder of the global sound project Cities and Memory, in discussion about the project:
How it Works
You’re invited to respond in any creative medium that helps express your interpretation of listening. This might include:
- Sound compositions or musical pieces
- Field recordings
- Short videos
- Photography, drawing, or visual artwork
- Written responses such as poetry or prose
For sound, video or visual artworks, we ask contributors to share a short note explaining the story behind their piece — how it captures their personal understanding of listening. Submissions will be mapped globally to show how people everywhere experience and define listening.
How to Take Part
The open call welcomes anyone, from anywhere in the world.
Submissions are accepted until 19 June 2026, via the online form provided by the project. The full collection will be revealed on 18 July 2026 for World Listening Day as an interactive online exhibition, with additional showcases planned. Sound responses will also feature in Cities and Memory podcast episodes, with a curated album highlighting standout works.
Join a worldwide community of artists, thinkers and listeners by contributing your own creative response. Whether through sound, image, movement or words, your voice adds to a growing global map of how we listen — and why it matters.
Submit your response today and be part of the Ways of Listening project launching on World Listening Day, 18 July 2026.
About Cities and Memory
Cities and Memory is one of the world’s largest collaborative sound projects, bringing together field recordists, sound artists and musicians to explore and reinterpret the soundscapes of our world.
At its core, Cities and Memory is a community built on curiosity about sound — how we capture it, how we reshape it and how attentive listening can transform our understanding of the world around us.