Beginnings & Beyond
After receiving a Bachelor of Education from the University of Alberta with a focus on English, German, and intercultural education, I began my career as an English language educator. I taught, led programs, and designed curricula in Japan, Korea, and Canada. I also worked as a picture framer in contemporary art galleries in Calgary – love Canadian art! After years of teaching English in varying adult-learner contexts and working in the arts, I returned to university to earn an M.Ed and PhD in Language, Culture, and Teaching from the Faculty of Education at York University, Toronto. My focus was multiliteracies, contemplative education, and sound studies. Since 2017, I have conducted local, national, and international research, facilitated workshops, taught undergraduate/graduate classes, and worked as a communications and project supervisory consultant. Since 2024, I have been at Red Deer Polytechnic as Research Grant Specialist in the Division of Applied Research.
Sonic & Contemplative Arts
Concurrent to the above endeavors, I have been learning and teaching sonic arts since 2018, and am certified in deep listening (Rensselaer Polytechnic, New York, 2021). As a ‘sonic artist’, I collaborate with local, national, and international artists and academics. I have performed at local and international festivals online with The Remotions (a multiplay collective; online improvisation with musicians and artists) and in person with the Earth & Ether Trio (with James Harley & Reza Yazdanpanah). Additionally, I am certified to teach meditation and yoga (2018). For both meditative and sonic events, I draw on the work of Pauline Oliveros, Thich Nhat Hanh, Jon Kabat-Zinn, and Rev. angel Kyodo williams. I also curate and offer meditation sessions and/or sonic workshops.
Research Interests
Research is the ‘juice’ or excitement of postsecondary institutes! My research interests include multiliteracies, what I term ‘resonant literacy’, sound studies, critical studies in improvisation, contemplative education, as well as health and wellness. I am a research associate with the International Institute for Critical Studies in Improvisation – University of Guelph (IICSI) and was a guest scholar at the Humanities Research Institute (HRI) at the University of Regina (2022-24). For my SSHRC Insight Development Grant project (2021-24), along with a student research assistant and participants in 4 Canadian provinces, we worked on a project titled: Toward a Sound Pedagogy: A Sonic and Performative Ethnography of ‘Sound Healers’ in Canada. The objective of this project was to explore and document how ‘sound healing’ as well as sonic events and experiences are offered in Canadian communities. Notable themes from the research include increasing one’s ‘resonant literacy’ and increasing understanding of one’s self as well as enhancing relationships with people and the environment. You can find interview videos and ‘gong bath’ (sound relaxation) videos on the YouTube channel – @GongAcrossCanada.
From the Research: Designing Interconnective Futures
Researching the intersections of multiliteracies, contemplative education, and sound studies, I have been curious about what multiliteracies studies could entail. Which literacies are included under the umbrella of multiliteracies and which are considered fringe or ‘alternative’ and why? I have been re-conceptualizing, revising, re-thinking what I call a ‘post-spatial model of literacies’ (that sounds too academicky and maybe a better name is: Literacies of the Heart). This model would subsume a range of emerging and vital literacies such as digital literacies, sensory literacies, social-emotional literacy, mindfulness as literacy, and Earth literacy, to name a few. The implications for the naming of a new model are twofold: 1) expand on the classic paradigms of literacies as well as contributes to recent scholarship of what it entails to be multiliterate, and 2) amplify discourse around the necessity for literacies that enhance more meaningful connectivity with self, each other, and the Earth. This model of literacies is supported by findings from 3 ethnographic studies I conducted with contemplative educators in varying pedagogical contexts over 5 years in 5 countries – Canada, Chile, India, the UK, and the US. Ba-zing!
Select Research Funding
Tri-council Grants & Fellowships
NSERC Mobilize, Engage Funding, Red Deer Polytechnic, Division of Applied Research, Principal Investigator. Your Brain on Gong: Sound Meditation and Brain Response, 2025-26.
SSHRC Partnership Grant, Named Researcher and Collaborator. The International Institute for Critical Studies in Improvisation: Improvising Futures, 2019-21 and 2022-26.
SSHRC Insight Development Grant, Principal Investigator. Toward a Sound Pedagogy: A Sonic and Performative Ethnography of ‘Sound Healers’ in Canada, 2021-24.
SSHRC Postdoctoral Fellowship. Project: Improvised Soundscapes Toward Resonant Literacy and a Sound Curriculum: A Sonic Ethnography of Gong Master-Teachers, 2019-21.
SSHRC Doctoral Fellowship. Project: Interconnections between Self and Others: Building an Ethical Foundation for a Mindful Model of Spatial Literacy. 2018-19, 2019-20.
Getting the Research ‘Out There’
Public Events (a fav way to share research)
Bliss. S. (2025). 7 Keys to Sustaining a Creative Life. Art Speaks Learning Series hosted by Red Deer Museum + Art Gallery in cooperation with Red Deer Arts Council.
Bliss S. & Robson, S. (2024). Aboriginal Storytelling Month at University of Regina, in collaboration with Archer Library and Archives. Interviewed Sundance Robson for White Feather – Intergenerational Stories Past, Present & Future. Shumiatcher Open Stage Theatre, Riddell Center, University of Regina.
Bliss, S. (2023). Gong Across Canada: Film Screening + Researcher Talk-Back + Sound Meditation. University of Regina, Humanities Research Institute.
Bliss, S. (2021). 10 Nights of Gong Research. Research talks plus improvised performances with special guests including Sundance Robson (Indigenous drum and voice), Tara Semple (flute), Dami Egbeyemi (crystal bowls), Rebecca Caines (iPad app sounds), Kathryn Ricketts (dance), D. Andrew Stewart (digital sounds). Neil Balkwill Civic Arts Centre (outdoor courtyard) and Art Gallery of Regina (main gallery), Saskatchewan.
Multimodal Publications (another fav way to share)
Bliss, S. & Liamzon, S. (2023). Gong Across Canada, YouTube channel (with short research films from the SSHRC Insight Development Grant project with ‘sound healers’ in 4 Canadian provinces). https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGz1sIx0FGhCoLupdaxb8LA
Bliss, S. (2021). Gallery of Sonic Arts (Stacey Bliss) Presents: 10 Nights of Gong Research. A Sonic Ethnography of Gong Master-teachers. https://izi.travel/en/2ce0-10-nights-of-gong-research/en
multiPLAY (2021). 215 beginnings. Sound and visuals by The Remotions. Voice by Erin Goodpipe. Final song by Elder Lorna Standingready. https://multiplay.ca/remembering-the-children/
Book Chapters (edited volumes are pretty cool because we can read multiple authors on similar subject matter)
Bliss, S. (forthcoming). Sonic Keys for Living: Practices Learned from the Gong and Sound Communities. In K. Ricketts (Ed.), Things we think with: Curricular explorations through and with objects. (pp. tba), Springer.
Bliss, S. (2024). Curating an academic life with good vibes and gongs. In M. Bussey, C. Mozzini-Alister, & S. Willcocks (Eds.), Passion and purpose in the humanities: Exploring the worlds of early career researchers. Routledge.
Bliss, S. & Fowler, T.A. (2021). Self and others in beloved community: Toward living with dissonant harmony. In T.A. Fowler & W.S. Allen (Eds.), Duoethnographic encounters: Opening spaces for difficult dialogues in times of uncertainty. DOI Press Inc.
Bliss, S. (2020). Tuning out of this world: Silence and mantra at an urban ashram in Zygmunt Bauman’s liquid modernity. In W. Gershon and P. Appelbaum (Eds.), Sonic studies in educational foundations: Echoes, reverberations, silences, noise. Routledge.
Peer-reviewed Journal Articles (striving to write in a way that is enjoyable, readable, and not as academicky!)
Bliss, S. (2021). The (un)mindful autoethnographer: Caring for an elder-parent during crisis. Journal of Autoethnography (2)3, 434-445.
Bliss, S. (2018). Tuning out of this world: Silence and mantra at an urban ashram in Zygmunt Bauman’s liquid modernity. Educational Studies – Special Issue ‘Echoes, Reverberations, Silences, and Noise: Sonic Possibilities in Education’ (54)4, 448-464.
Bliss, S. (2017). Exploring shunyata (emptiness) and the cultivation of mindful practices: Educators finding their zero-point balance. Childhood Education (93)2, 114-118.
Facilitating / Teaching
Upon request, I curate and facilitate workshops and courses about meditation, aesthetic experiences, art, and health & wellness. From time to time, I teach an online synchronous course for the Faculty of Media, Art, and Performance (MAP) at the University of Regina: MAP 211 Meditation and Art.
Contact Stacey Bliss:
blissresearch@icloud.com
Stacey Bliss, PhD 