Falmouth commissioned to re-create a soundscape for ATTUNE research project’s final presentation

Falmouth University has collaborated with the University of Oxford to create ATTUNE, a significant arts and mental health research project as part of the UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) £35m Adolescence Mental Health and the Developing Mind programme.  

Led by Falmouth and Oxford, with contributions from the University of Kent and University of Leeds, the £3.8m ATTUNE project has uncovered new insights into how Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) affect young people’s mental, physical and emotional health through creative, co-designed research. It has also explored how support services can respond in ways that young people find both meaningful and validating.  

Now, the UKRI-funded programme has concluded with a conference that included presentations from all projects. The ATTUNE presentation was given by Oxford’s Professor Kam Bhui CBE, with the centrepiece being a revised version of a soundscape designed through the ATTUNE project and produced by Falmouth colleagues: Lecturer in BA(Hons) Theatre & Performance Sasha Dobrota, Technician for Falmouth’s Academy of Music & Theatre Arts (AMATA) Alex Smith and Visiting Lecturer Jen Fletcher. Artist Katie Lusby was also part of the project.   

The culmination of the ATTUNE project’s research into the wellbeing of young people was experienced at the Disrupting the Silence conference at Falmouth University last summer, where the soundscape was featured.   

Not a typical conference with keynote speakers and statistics, the conference was instead an ‘experience’ within a performing arts studio, with epic audio-visual effects and playful participation. It sensitively but impactfully encouraged delegates to immerse themselves in the world of ACEs through the eyes, ears, sounds and shoes of young people. From immersive and shared soundscapes to visual storytelling told through powerful films, live visual artists and silent discourses, young people took centre stage as participants, researchers, artists, advisors and truth-tellers, sharing their stories through light, film, sound and spoken word.  For services that listen. For systems that care.