Eve Payor of Atlantic Center for the Arts

“Creating Space for the Sounds of Nature” will be the focus of Marine Discovery Center’s September Discovery Lecture Series.

Eve Payor, Community Arts Director for Atlantic Center for the Arts, will be the guest presenter on Thursday, Sept. 5, at 6 p.m.

Payor is a musician and a soundscape artist working as an arts administrator for Atlantic Center for the Arts in New Smyrna Beach. Her arts advocacy focuses on the connection between music, environment, accessibility and wellness.

She began leading an ongoing series of soundwalks in 2016, providing public opportunities to experience natural surroundings through listening techniques, meditative breathing and contemplative focus.

The soundwalk program has since grown into an artist residency called the ACA Soundscape Field Station at Canaveral National Seashore, and an accessibility program for blind and partially sighted youth called Young Sound Seekers, sponsored by the National Park Service. These programs highlight the growing importance of environmental sound (soundscape) on the quality of health for all living creatures.

As a musician and soundscape artist, Payor uses field recordings, electronic music, spoken word, and classical oboe in her compositions and collaborations. She has performed at the Mutek Mexico Festival, 800 East Atlanta Art Collective, been a curator at Vancouver’s alternative performance festival: Signal & Noise, and produced her Pan Ambient event series with Seattle’s Decibel Festival.

She produced an interactive gallery exhibition in 2016 called Watercolors in Sound at Atlantic Center for the Arts showcasing a sound/video/photography installation of field recordings from the New Smyrna Beach soundwalks. Payor has been a featured artist-in-residence at Hambidge Center in North Georgia, Serenbe AIR in Chattahoochee Hills Georgia, and a featured artist at Timucua Arts Foundation Orlando and the Atlanta Science Festival. As an active Zazen practitioner, she incorporates meditation and subtle awareness throughout her artistic endeavors.

MDC’s Discovery Lecture Series has moved to the first Thursday of each month unless otherwise indicated. The lectures are open to the public at no charge, but donations to the center are always appreciated. Pre-registration is required and may be done online or by phone at 386.428.4828.