Every season of the year NAISA offers a 3-4 day sound art workshop where the local Northern Ontario soundscape plays a role. The workshops will offer you ample opportunity to develop and expand your audio and listening skills, immersing yourself in natural soundscapes, and widen your community of supporters and allies.
All levels of experience with sound and creative practice are welcome. The mixture and diversity of participants is what makes the experience memoreable for NAISA and for the participants as well. Participants for the workshops have come from a wide variety of creative disciplines and practices and have travelled for the workshops from around North America, but mostly from different regions of Ontario. Many of them have returned multiple times.
The workshops are facilitated by NAISA Directors Nadene Thériault-Copeland and Darren Copeland who live on the property and are deeply familiar with the soundscape of the region. From time to time there are special guest presentations by invited artists, local ecologiests and researchers to add insight into areas that touch on specialized knowledge and insight on the local geography and history.
Location
The workshops take place in a rural natural getaway in Northern Ontario called Warbler’s Roost, which has provided restful escape for artists through its year-round hosting of artist and writer residencies and for the general population who book it for family getwaways. It offers comfortable private room accommodations with shared bathrooms and full kitchens. The 14-acre property includes lake frontage on Deer Lake and all season road access. There are Kayaks and Canoes available for guests to explore the lake. Breakfast is provided each morning.
Warbler’s Roost is located 22 KM west of the village of South River in the unorganized rural Township of Lount. It is in the same biosphere as Algonquin Park equidistant between the cities of North Bay and Huntsville and in area known as the Almaguin Highlands, or the eastern part of Parry Sound District in Ontario, Canada.
Tools
Workshop participants should bring clothing suitable for the local weather conditions at the time, easy to prepare food for lunch, dinner and snacks as well as a laptop, headphones and any personal audio recording equipment.
Participants can also access NAISA equipment and resources such as a 2nd order Ambisonic recording rig, Geophone and Hydrophone microphones. Instruction in editing and mixing is taught using the Reaper Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) which runs on Windows and Mac computers, but participants are welcome to use alternative DAW applications. Multi-channel playback systems are usually available for each workshop, either 8-channel or 4-channel depending on requirements and equipment availability.
Registration
Advance registration is required as there are only limited spots available and they do fill up regularly. Prices vary per workshop but are highly affordable considering they come with accommodation. There are also lower rates for those not requiring accommodation.
48 Hour Sound Art Challenge
Next Dates – October 16 to 18, 2026
Register Here
Amidst the beautiful backdrop of late autumn in Northern Ontario, this weekend intensive invites artists to create a sound art miniature in a 48-hour period. Particpants work along side each other in a supportive environment of shared learning and creative exploration. The schedule of the weekend is open-ended in order to accommodate individual work and learning needs. The ground cover of leaves, the opening up of space and light in the forest, and the last preparations before winter sets in all come together to influence the soundscape at this time of year. But it is also a great time to delve into editing and composing, even revisiting and developing recordings made at some of the other Workshop Intensives offered by NAISA.
Winter Sound Stories Workshop
Next Dates – February 5 to 7, 2027
Register Here
Tell your story about winter in Northern Ontario through a weekend of collecting recordings of ice on the lake, snow barried clearings and forests, and activating a frozen outdoor piano. The workshop combines practical recording and audio production/creation experience with a curated listening session of Radio Art works, in order to consider the evocative potential of sounds to convey a sense of winter in Northern Ontario.
Spring Soundscape Intensive
Next Dates – April 30 to May 2, 2027
Register Here
The beginning of May is a special time of the year in the Almaguin Highlands when the first signs of warmer weather can be enjoyed without battling mosquitos and black flies. The natural soundscape is at its peak in variety and density, highlighted by the mysterious low frequency drumming of the Roughed Grouse and the chorusing of peeper frogs.
This immersive 3 day recording, editing and composing workshop invites participants to explore a natural soundscape at the peak of its richness through attentive listening, field recording and creative composition. Activities encompass soundwalking, recording and editing of field recordings, and finally, composing a short soundscape composition.
Participants will also be introduced to the Reveil livestream taking place in parallel to this workshop which broadcasts the sounds of daybreak traveling westward from London (UK) time zone by time zone. NAISA Radio is a broadcast partner and will be broadcasting the 24+ hour
livestream. Warbler’s Roost is one of the sites hosted on the locusonus streaming platform and annually appears in the Reveil broadcast.
Sound Travels 4-day Creation Intensive
Next Dates – July 15 to 19, 2027
Register Here
Be inspired by a place in one of the forested or lakeside locations or the weathered piano at Warbler’s Roost to create either a fixed media work or a sound art work in situ during a special 4-day Creation Intensive. This is a creative and very personal way to celebrate World Listening Day, an occasion to reflect on the sound-making of all organisms that inhabit the soundscapes we have the privilege of experiencing.
Participants should bring any portable materials or equipment they wish to use. Audio Playback equipment and technical support will be provided. To provide added inspiration and opportunities for learning the Creation Intensive also features guest presentations by local ecologists, artists and researchers.