7:00 – 9:00 PM
By Donation
Limited capacity
All ages
This is an active workshop that includes a walk and being on your feet for over an hour. The spaces are not wheelchair accessible. As sundown approaches we'll walk around the treed area of the golf course, so please wear suitable footwear and be prepared for mosquitos.
Bats are fascinating crepuscular creatures, producing sounds in the ultrasonic frequency range to navigate and find their nightly meal of flying insects. Specialized technology, known commonly as a bat detector, makes possible for listening in on the bats ultrasonic calls, blips and chirps. With the aid of UV light in order to draw bugs which in turn draw bats, participants will have the opportunity to witness the sights and sounds offered by nature at night.
Beginning with an informational session on bats and biodiversity on Galiano by Freida Weinert, we will walk at sundown led by sound artist Sara Gold, to find a group of bats, also known as a cauldron of bats. The group will then reconvene for a hands-on quadraphonic listening experience facilitated by Ron Luther. Participants will make live electronic music made with field recordings of bat sounds manipulated with modular synthesizers.
Agile and skilled, bats are very good at navigating and won’t touch you. Rabies rates are extremely low in bats (0.5%) and the stigma surrounding them is a barrier to understanding these nighttime pollinators. White nose syndrome, a spreading disease amongst bat populations puts bats at risk of endangerment, amongst other factors like extermination, wind turbines and loss of habitat. Let’s celebrate our nighttime friends, together, with a deep listening experience.
We're grateful to collaborate and produce on the shared, stolen, unceded, ancestral and traditional territories of Penelakut, Lamalcha, Hwitslum and other Hul’qumi’num speaking peoples, as well as the ceded territories of Tsawwassen First Nation, on what is now known as Galiano Island, British Columbia. We recognize the complex impacts that hosting settlers and non-settlers has on the Indigenous land and peoples of this area, and we aim to be responsible and accountable for these impacts and our footprint—whether cultural, environmental or social.
We acknowledge the generous support of our partners and funders:
