Fife’s Sonic Museum launches to capture sounds and stories from the region

Four pilot projects are underway across north-east Fife to shine a light on the cultural, human, and natural wealth, history, and diversity of its communities.

The Sonic Museum is the idea of arts charity Heids and Herts Scotland which set up Haiver FM, a temporary community radio station across North East Fife around Mental Health Awareness Week in 2021.

It aims to challenge the stigma around loneliness and isolation, and recent funding from the Community Learning and Development Device Fund, managed by SCVO, has led the charity to develop this new initiative. Access to the Sonic Museum is available on Soundcloud at

https://on.soundcloud.com/Bev1hx8J1oyGFxfU8

It will also provide an opportunity for collaborations with heritage, community groups and arts organisations, encourage community involvement, and an opportunity for people to learn new skills, produce podcasts, write, perform and explore their creativity.

It has 12 professional digital field recording kits as a resource which allows communities to explore the impact of sound on our lives, capture memories, nature soundscapes, songs and sonic postcards. Four pilots are now underway with the Youth Ambassadors affiliated with Balmerino, Gauldry, Kilmany and Logie Community Council, St Andrews Heritage Museum and Garden, and volunteers from Kilmany Parish Hall in the remote village of Rathillet and the Hamlet of Collessie.

Last week, the charity loaned a complete integrated audio production station to Fife Writes, a peer support group for published and unpublished writers, and this new collaboration will further enhance the content of the Sonic Museum, allowing members to record spoken word, short stories, poetry, and audio-plays that bring landscape, history and heritage to life.

Ian Harrower, who chairs Heids and Herts Scotland, said: “The Sonic Museum will be an audio collection which shines a light on the cultural, human, and natural wealth, history, and diversity of communities across North East Fife – a digital storehouse of land, sea and people stories.”

Fife Writes, which has hosted events at many venues across Fife, welcomed the new collaboration.

Marianne Berghuis, who chairs the group, said: “The professional production equipment they have loaned us provides our members with a new and exciting platform to explore human experience, history and culture across Fife and write and share their work in the Sonic Museum. It will further allow us to record and stream our special live events where we encourage experienced and inexperienced writers to support each other and share their short stories, extracts from novels, poetry, spoken word performances, and music.”