Friday Field Study: Jack Straw Productions

Jack Straw Productions (JSP) is the Northwest's only non-profit multidisciplinary audio arts center. A community-based resource since 1962, we provide a production facility that is unlike any other in the region for local artists who work creatively with sound. Jack Straw focuses on annual artist residencies through our Artist Support Program, our Writers Program, and our Gallery Residency Program; art and technology education for all ages; arts heritage partnerships; and radio production. Our full-service recording studio is also available for a range of arts projects.

Mission

Jack Straw Productions exists to foster the communication of arts, ideas, and information to diverse audiences through audio media. We provide creation and production opportunities in audio media, including radio, theater, film, video, music, and literature.Dedicated to the production and presentation of all forms of audio art, Jack Straw Productions

1) produces high quality, innovative audio presentations;

2) commissions independent artists of all disciplines to create sound and audio productions;

3) provides arts and technology education programs for youth and adults;

4) collaborates with arts and heritage organizations to integrate sound and music into their programs; and

5) presents audio productions through events, exhibits, radio, film and the internet.

History

The Jack Straw Foundation was founded in 1962 by a group of educators, artists, and journalists with the goal of starting KRAB-FM, one of the first non-commercial radio stations in the country. The station's main purpose was to be a forum for the discussion and presentation of science, arts and public affairs programs. KRAB was formed at a time of progressing technology, when relatively few FM receivers existed and community radio was unheard of. The first day KRAB was on the air, its transmitter blew up and was rebuilt. Broadcasting from locales ranging from an old donut shop to an abandoned firehouse, KRAB struggled and thrived for twenty-two years. Its signature was unique and audacious programming. The Jack Straw Foundation also started KBOO in Portland, Oregon and KSER-FM in Lynnwood, Washington and assisted in the development of KDNA in Granger, Washington.When KRAB's frequency was sold in 1984, the Foundation continued to produce and present innovative and neglected sonic arts. In 1989 Jack Straw moved into its current facility on Roosevelt Way.

The Jack Straw Foundation was named after a leader of the English Peasant Revolt of 1381. These insurgent peasants traveled throughout southern England, gathering followers, opening prisons, killing lawyers and telling stories.

Jack Straw Productions' Programs for Artists

Jack Straw Productions' Artist Support Program was started in 1994 to support Northwest artists working creatively with sound. Today the program has expanded to include the Jack Straw Writers Program and the Jack Straw New Media Gallery.

The Artist Support Program has been assisting artists working creatively with sound since 1994. Artists of every genre and style have been represented, including writers, choreographers, multidisciplinary artists, theatre sound designers, radio producers, film makers, visual artists, and musicians and composers of all types. Every year, up to eight artists are awarded twenty hours of studio recording and production time with a Jack Straw engineer. An additional eight to ten artists receive matching awards for studio time as part of our Artist Assistance Program.

The Jack Straw Writers Program was established in 1997, and to date, the program has included more than 140 Pacific Northwest writers who represent a diverse range of literary genres.The purpose of the Jack Straw Writers Program is to introduce local writers to the medium of recorded audio; to encourage the creation of new literary work; and to present the writer and their work in live readings, in a published anthology, on the web, and on broadcast radio. Each year an invited curator selects 12 writers from a large pool of applicants. Participating writers receive training in vocal presentation, performance, and microphone technique to prepare them for studio recording and live recording at public readings. Their recorded readings and interviews with the curator are then used to produce features on our web site, for radio broadcast, and for internet podcasts.

Jack Straw New Media Gallery offers established and emerging artists of all disciplines the opportunity to create and present work involving sound and technology, with the option of integrating any combination of other disciplines including visual and/or performance art. Up to 3 artists/artist teams are commissioned to create new works that include sound as a major component.

Artists are encouraged to experiment and expand the artistic scope of their work by working with new technologies and artists from other disciplines. During the residency, artists work with a staff audio engineer to produce their work. Installations will be exhibited for up to 3 months and each installation will be accompanied by a reception and outreach programs.

WIRES
Eight-channel sound installation for tin cans, piezo loudspeakers, and steel wires

by Jason Kahn

January 31-March 28, 2008

Jack Straw Productions presents Wires, an eight-channel sound installation for tin cans, piezo loudspeakers, and steel wires, by Zürich-based sound artist Jason Kahn at the Jack Straw New Media Gallery from January 31-March 28, 2008.Wires, seeks to heighten the visitor's perception of space through sound intervention within the gallery environment. Walking through the installation space, visitors pass through shifting sound fields delineated by the vibrating wires. The sounds themselves will be difficult to localize but the sense of the room slowly "stretching" through the singing wires will be immediately apparent as one moves about the gallery space. Wires is Kahn's first exhibition in Seattle.

Jason Kahn is a sound and visual artist based in Zürich, Switzerland. His work includes sound installation, performance and composition.

Read Chris DeLaurenti's review of Wires in the The Stranger.