April Faith-Slaker is a cellist, composer, and researcher who embraces an interdisciplinary, multimedia approach to understanding and communicating about human experiences and social policy. With classical training on cello and advanced degrees in law, research methods and social policy, she is interested in expanding conversations about social issues beyond the traditional modes of communication, and believes that the arts can be used as an alternative lens for approaching these topics and expanding the terms of political discourse. 

As a fellow at the Union for Contemporary Art (http://www.u-ca.org/) in 2014, April began a data composition project. The project utilizes public data, math, and technology to translate complex social issues into auditory representations. Video presentation of the works allows for a multifaceted experience of each of the data sets. The charts and graphs presented in each video merge musical conversions and the fundamental data artifacts from the original source material. The charts and graphs represent a traditional method of communicating about these data, while the corresponding soundscapes played with the video demonstrate the auditory translation.

Video presentation of the complete set of soundscapes can be found on April’s website: www.aprilfaithslaker.com. 

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