Projects
Immersive SEND Digital Soundscape Lab
Immersive SEND Digital Soundscape Lab
Experimenting with immersive sound technologies to enable SEND young people to co-create and perform within multi-sensory soundscapes. Led by Ruth Hopkins with composers from BEAST and musicians from K’antu Ensemble, the project explores how spatial audio, binaural sound and haptics can expand inclusive approaches to music-making.
Immersive SEND Digital Soundscape Lab is an experimental project exploring how immersive technologies can support creative agency for severely disabled young people. Led by Ruth Hopkins, the project uses spatial audio, binaural sound and haptics to create multi-sensory environments where SEND participants are recognised as co-artists, shaping sound in real time.
Experiment
£20,000
Aims of the project
Working with composers from Birmingham ElectroAcoustic Sound Theatre in SEND school settings, participants will create and manipulate sound using accessible triggers, gestures and tactile feedback. Their voices, movements and choices directly influence how sound is layered and experienced, giving them a clear and active role within the creative process.
Rather than focusing on a final performance, the project is centred on testing and learning. The team will explore which technologies best support participation, how to balance sensory richness with accessibility, and how immersive sound can be adapted for SEND contexts—laying the groundwork for future inclusive projects, including an Inclusive Soundscapes performance at BEAST Festival 2027.
Meet the artists
Ruth Hopkins
Lead Artist & Artistic Director of K'antu Ensemble
she/her
Ruth Hopkins is a soprano, multi-instrumentalist and Artistic Director of K’antu Ensemble, performing internationally with the ensemble. Her practice spans early music, contemporary repertoire, experimental performance and inclusive music-making. She was commissioned to create an interactive sound installation for the National Trust at the Elgar Birthplace Museum, and has premiered works by composers including Kerry Andrew and Philip Venables. Her work in disability settings led her to direct a three-year programme for the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games Festival. Recent immersive digital projects include a multimedia residency at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity and experimental work in Unreal Engine at Birmingham Open Media.
Tymoteusz Jozwiak
Percussionist
he/him
Winner of the Tony Levin Drum Prize, Tymek Jozwiak has performed with K’antu Ensemble since its inception, where his fusion of early percussion and experimental jazz is central to the ensemble’s distinctive sound. He brings these skills to K’antu Ensemble’s outreach programme, where he facilitates improvised soundscape sessions in disability settings.
