(b. 1961, Philadelphia/USA) ~ I make radio art; organize and present other sound artists on various platforms; mentor radio art archivists; and teach online (sound culture and production courses through The New School for Public Engagement). I am mesmerized by sounds along the California West Coast, where I live and return to from other geographies.
Email Contact:
joanschuman4@gmail.com
Support for the design of HyperAcousia is provided by a 2017 Develop Grant, Arts Council Santa Cruz County
recent broadcasts | festivals
2024 | Sound of Anthropocene, New Institute for Contemporary & Sonic Art, curator, Wilfried Agricola de Cologne, The New Museum of Networked Art (feat. Ghost Wolf)
2023 – present | Electroacoustical Poetical Society (EAPS) commissioned for artist collective, curator, Marjorie Van Halteren
-“Entropy” (feat. Woolgathering) – June 2024
-“Disappearance” (feat. Ghost Wolf) – Dec. 2023
-“Time” (feat. Generative Engine) – March 2023
2024 | XMTR Radio Hour (ResonanceFM) ep. 27
(feat. Cicatrix and The Hitman)
2023 | XMTR (Transmitter), various audio curated by Social Broadcasts, UK
(Ghost Wolf; Generative Engine)
2023-2016 | Radiophrenia: A temporary art radio station, Centre for Contemporary arts, Glasgow
– shimmer & loop; Generative Engine, 2023
– A Map of Poetic Possibilities; how you treat them is what you are, 2022
– Woolgathering, 2020
– Radiation Day: Conversation with Anna Friz, 2019
– Ligature, 2017
– Flesh has turned itself to stone or dust, 2016
2023-2017 | Datscha Radio: A garden in the air, live radio festivals (back-yard garden, Berlin; island broadcasts, Finland); curator: Gabi Schaffner
– Generative Engine, 2023 (Harakka Island Radio, Finland)
– shimmer & loop, 2022
– Woolgathering, 2021 (Kaamos Day, Helsinki)
– Hyperacousia, 2020
– Ligature, 2019
– Flesh has turned itself to stone or dust, 2017
2022 | The Sound of Violence, curator, Wilfried Agricola de Cologne, international group show, The New Museum of Networked Art (“The Hitman,” from how you treat them is what you are)
2021 | shimmer & loop – a looped conversation about fear and creative practice with sound artists James T. Green & Adriene Lilly, with field sound from Anna Friz, part of Monsters & Ghosts, Earlid, fall-winter 2021
2021 | Afternoon Show – WGXC-FM, Wave Farm (how you treat them is what you are; Cicatrix)
2021 | framework radio, online and broadcast, ResonanceFM London, (excerpts, Woolgathering)
2021 | Kaamos Day, temporary radio art broadcast, the long night in Helsinki, Finland (Woolgathering)
2020 | Wave Farm Radio Art Archive, selected entry (Ligature)
2020 | The Lake Radio (Works for Radio #4/rotation), Koda Culture, Denmark (Woolgathering, excerpt)
2020 | Audio Stew, WGXC-FM, Wave Farm (The Dream Had Me)
2020 | Radio for Open Ears, WGXC-FM, Wave Farm (Woolgathering)
2020, 2018 | Long Live the New Sound, a podcast for makers and listeners to share and hear work that experiments in sound (Flesh has turned itself to stone or dust; Ligature; Radio Without Scaffolding, part 2; Woolgathering)
2020 | SleepTalker, Triple R 102.7FM, Melbourne, Australia, independent, community radio, program host, Bec Fary (Woolgathering; Taboo Box; and The Dream Had Me/Earlid)
2019 | PRX Remix (Cicatrix)
2019 | Your Voices, Your Stories: Temporary community radio station, Moonah Arts Centre, Tasmania (Flesh has turned itself to stone or dust)
2019 | Blind Tourist: DJ Adriene Lilly, WFMU-FM, episode “Going Inside” (excerpts, Residence Elsewhere)
2019 | Wayback Sound Machine – A Sonic Constellation of Sounding Time, Compilation Part 2, Sonic Field, an interdisciplinary network of sonic arts, sound studies and aural culture (Intermix and Cicatrix featured)
2019 | Radio Compost, a radio /podcast project that focuses on acoustic ecology, seeking sounds of changes in the environment (This Beautiful Carcass)
2018 | Intermix 3, invited collaborator to ongoing performance project developed by UK artist Seth Guy
2018 | Fair_Play 2, compilation of 90 international women artists, launched at the Lieu Multiple in Poitiers, France, through public listening sessions (Daniela Cascella, The Scream)
2018 | Constellations, international experimental storytelling podcast, Toronto (Walking in Bad Circles)
2017 | Deep Wireless Festival of Radio and Transmission Art & the TransX Transmission Art Symposium, NAISA, Toronto (Flesh has turned itself to stone or dust); Making Waves, Wave Farm/NAISA broadcast
2017 | Martian Gardens, modern classical and experimental music podcast (Walking in Bad Circles)
2015 | Spirit of the Forest, podcast of audio drama (Walking in Bad Circles)
ongoing curating
Founder | Earlid
Grassroots online ‘museum’ of sound- and media-makers; themed, quarterly exhibits; contextualized essays; sonic portraits/interviews/dialogues; annual open submission calls; CMS management
2015-present
digital media collaborations
2024 | Guest Curator, XMTR (Transmitter), Hubris & Humility: A Conversation (ep. 27, Jan. 2024 / Social Broadcasts, UK)
winter 2023-2024 | Director, Earlid’s co-curating series (Story Is ...) features guest curators, guiding artist selection and written introductory essays
2021 | Curator – Earlid’s Monsters & Ghosts participates in EXTRACTION: Art on the Edge of the Abyss, a multimedia, multi-venue, cross-border art intervention
2019-2024 | Mentor – Radio Artist Fellowship: Along with Gregory Whitehead, Neil Verma and Anna Friz, selecting, guiding, and evaluating Artist-Fellows in multi-month engagement, Wave Farm/WGXC-FM, Radio for Open Ears; voiced introductions offered into the archive.
Spring 2020 | Guest Critic, Sound & Space, Parsons School of Design, 5.1 surround works, freshman on-site/online hybrid semester.
Spring 2020 | Continued Engagement: Tips for Online Teaching; developed and led webinar for on-site faculty shifting to remote learning, Parsons School of Design and New School for Public Engagement (NSPE).
2018 | Organizer-moderator for Radio Without Scaffolding, Earlid’s second online gathering, with invitational presentations (improvised, mixed, composed, written) by eight experimenters exploring podcasting as a platform for creative, sonic ingenuity. Open-comment period, July 2018.
2018 | Intermix 3 (propositions for performance installation), an ongoing, collaborative performance project developed by artist Seth Guy; as invited collaborator, I responded aurally to what I saw through a voice-only composition.
2017 | Coordinator for Radio’s Art, an online gathering at Earlid, curating invitational presentations about critical media discourse on new and early forms of aural arts followed by open-comments, summer exhibit. Co-moderated with Gregory Whitehead; session presentation at Megapolis Audio Festival, Philadelphia; broadcast, WGXC-FM, Wave Farm, Acra, NY
2016 – present | Annual Online Juror, apexart: participant along with my students in Sound Culture and the 400-person international online curating selection process engaging in contemporary critical curatorial practices
2014 | Curator-Producer, The WHY Conversations, six international artist interview-portraits commissioned for 5-year Trickhouse retrospective, online curating arts space
2013 | Guest Curator, Listening as a Form of Activism, Trickhouse, featuring sound-artists Kevin T. Allen, Tessie Word, Maile Colbert Costa
2009 | Co-curator, Lo-Fi Radio @ NEXUS/Foundation for Today’s Art, with radio artist Cambra Moniz-Edwards (Philadelphia, remote sync in California)
2007 | Sound Editor, rural healthcare series, California Center for Rural Policy, KHSU-FM, Humboldt State University public radio
2004 | Curator, The Sound Lounge, artist headphone installation, Dinnerware Gallery and live performance event, Tucson, AZ
2003 | Story Editing Consultant, Laramie: Inside Out, Beverly Seckinger, Video Producer, Tucson, AZ
2003 | Sound Designer, Tokyo Equinox, Yuri Makino, Film Producer, Tucson, AZ
2000-2004 | Contributing Producer, Outright Radio, documentary series, David Gilmor, executive producer, KUSP-FM, Santa Cruz + PRI – Public Radio International
awards | grants
2018 | Radio Art Residency, (one of 8 finalists out of 150 applicants), invitational, international fellowship, Radio Corax, Halle/Saale, Germany, in collaboration with the Goethe-Institut.
2018 | USA Fellowship, finalist (anonymous nomination)
2017 | Arts Council Santa Cruz County – Develop Grant, support for web portfolio re-design, HyperAcousia
2017 | Distinguished University Teaching Award, The New School, Provost’s Office, one of 13 semi-finalists (out of 189 nominations)
2010 | Sloan Foundation Development Grant, online technologies and pedagogy, The New School
2008 | Part-Time Faculty Development Fund, The New School, travel grant to attend Third Coast Audio Festival
2000 | Golden Reel Award (first place), National Federation of Community Broadcasters, producer, Becoming a Man, Outright Radio
press + commissions
“The Dream Had Me,” review by Ann C. Collins, Brooklyn Rail, June 2020
“Joan Schuman, Audiophile,” Public Radio Remix, PRX, curated hour of nine pieces, posted by Emily Corwin, Jan. 12, 2011
Lo-Fi Radio @ NEXUS/Foundation for Today’s Art, conversation and co-curation, Cambra Moniz-Edwards (Philadelphia, remote sync in California), 2009
“Radio~Sound~Art,” by Joan Schuman, Transom: A showcase and workshop for new public radio, March 1, 2001
“Residence Elsewhere,” commission, half-hour documentary, Inside Housing – series, , WBEZ-FM, Chicago, 2002
Outer Ear Festival of Sound, Experimental Sound Studio, Chicago, project commission, inaugural festival, 2000
New American Radio, independent radio art commission, Conversations With Jane, 1992-93
teaching + advising
2004-present | The New School for Public Engagement-School of Media Studies, New York
Part-time Associate Professor (online faculty) – full semesters fall/spring; condensed summer session
Annual teaching in MA graduate program and undergraduate liberal arts; online seminars and production courses in sound culture and radio experiments; full course development (four taught annually, 10 courses total); student advising (independent study, prior learning, thesis reader); distributed education platform management (Canvas, 2014-present; Blackboard, 2006-2014; Dial, 2004-2006)
2010-2013 | Prescott College, Prescott, AZ
Graduate Adviser – Low-Residency Program, Environmental Studies/Humanities – mentored graduate student throughout his MA program
2004 | Association of Independents in Radio (AIR)
Mentor – new radio producer, building skills in interviewing, story development and production
2003-2004 | University of Arizona – School of Media Arts, Tucson, AZ
Guest Faculty – “Sound for Film,” Summer intensives, 3-credit production courses for BFA students learning Pro Tools production skills
2002 | Outright Radio, Tucson, AZ
Internship Coordinator – Mentor to three university-based students to create features for national LGBTQ radio series; guidance on narrative development, field recording, interviewing and post-production
print | reporting | arts writing
2002-2006 | Writer/Editor, Tucson Weekly, Tucson, interviews with artists, writers, filmmakers, community activists; selecting, writing, editing calendar listings
2005 | City Reporter, Bisbee Observer, weekly articles covering US/Mexico border and government issues in border town, Bisbee, AZ
screening committees + panelist
2004 | Wingspan Film Festival, Wingspan Community LGBTQ Center, Tucson, AZ
2004 | Arizona Commission on the Arts, grants review panelist, Phoenix, AZ
2003 | Lesbian Looks Video Festival, University of Arizona, Media Arts
2000 | Haas Foundation, grants review panelist, San Francisco, CA
programming committees
2001 | Third Coast International Audio Festival, Chicago – inaugural year panel organizer, “Taking Risks in Radio” with Scott Carrier/PRI and Priya Ramu/CBC
2000 | KUSP-FM, Santa Cruz, on-air programming committee
membership
2021-22; 1999-2005 | Association of Independents in Radio (AIR)
2008-present | World Listening Project
2006-present | Public Radio Exchange (PRX)
education
2000 | Masters of Fine Art: CADRE Laboratory for New Media
School of Art & Design, San Jose State University, San Jose, CA
1983 | Bachelor of Arts:
Temple University, American History, Philadelphia, PA
