The Rise of the Amplified Elephants

This project report charts the shift from leisure to an emerging vocational practice for the Amplified Elephants, a sonic art ensemble for people with intellectual disabilities based at the Footscray Community Arts Centre in Australia. The transition from sonic art making as recreation, then to leisure and then on to an emerging professional sonic art agenda for the Amplified Elephants has led to several insights regarding the role of music as leisure in the artistic development of people with an intellectual disability. The report discusses the creative processes of the group against a number of high-profile public outcomes that the Amplified Elephants have presented.