Our Mission
Experimental Sound Studio is a Chicago-based nonprofit organization dedicated to artistic evolution and the creative exploration of sound.
As an international hub for sonic experimentation, ESS nurtures artists, cultivates new works, and builds a broad, supportive community of makers, enthusiasts, and creative partners through production, presentation, education, and preservation. Collaboration and resource sharing propel ESS’s activities. Our Edgewater facility is home to a full-service recording, mixing, and mastering studio; Audible Gallery, a small public space for exhibitions, meetings, workshops, performances, and artists’ projects; a beautiful garden for performances and gathering; and the Creative Audio Archive—an invaluable collection of recordings and ephemera related to avant-garde and exploratory sound and music of the last seven decades.
Core Values
- The artist is at the center of the creative process
- The past informs and inspires invention and innovation
- Experimentation requires both artistic rigor and risk
- Sonic-based expression has no boundaries and requires an inclusive environment that welcomes and values diverse perspectives and voices
- Collaboration activates growth
History
Founded in 1986, Experimental Sound Studio (ESS) was one of the first non-profit cultural institutions in the U.S. dedicated entirely to the sonic arts and remains the only one in the Midwest. Throughout its history, ESS activities have supported a community of artists from many disciplines who are experimenting with sound in new forms of artistic creation.
The organization began as a center for production, workshops, and presentation in the fields of experimental music and sound art, over the years establishing a number of significant cultural partnerships across sectors. In 2006, ESS moved to its current facility in Edgewater, adding Audible Gallery for smaller scale installation-based sound works. In 2016, upon the retirement of ESS’s co-founder and Executive Director Lou Mallozzi, ESS established a collaborative leadership model, with administrative duties and artistic direction shared among three directors.
ESS supports artists at every phase of the creative process. Ongoing and often intertwined activities include:
- Nurturing artists and the creation of new work: Affordable recording studios; rehearsal space; paid artist residencies; fiscal sponsorship; consultation; arts services; education via workshops/tutorials and internships
- Public access to art via in-person concert series, public programs, online platforms, and site-specific installations throughout Chicago (80+ events/year)
- Preservation: Creative Audio Archive stewards ten collections documenting experimental music from 1950-today
ESS’s emphasis on a multidisciplinary approach to sound across every stage of the creative process is key to its unique ability to foster innovative works—in contrast to organizations that deal solely with music or film, etc, ESS uniquely encourages an environment in which artists work, collaborate, and experiment across genres, working closely with others in Chicago’s experimental music, media arts, contemporary arts, video, film, and performing arts.
ESS also serves as a recording studio and sound consultant for Chicago’s art scene. ESS has long been an integral contributor to Chicago’s experimental cultural activities, helping to push exploratory art forms (e.g., sound in museum contexts) and cultural discourses (e.g., gender in music and sonic arts) that build towards changes in the field at large.