REGINA — A new interdisciplinary hub for sound research and creation will help break down barriers in the music and video game industry.
Led by Dr. Charity Marsh, head of the creative technologies and design department, the University of Regina will construct the GENerate Collaboratory.
“The GENerate Collaboratory will be a place of experimentation, curiosity, play and a place where mistakes are valued,” said Marsh.
Students will have access to equipment, including recording studios, microphones, immersive labs and projectors for research, innovation and expanding possibilities.
One key objective of the hub is to amplify the voices of those who continue to be marginalized and underrepresented.
For decades, Marsh said, women have been underrepresented in the music industry.
“Maybe five per cent of music producers or less than 20 per cent of songs are written by women, and 15 per cent of record labels are majority owned by women in the North American music industry.”
Marsh said these figures reflect ongoing systemic barriers and lingering stereotypes that persist in 2026.
“These are still creating the same results over and over again.”
Marsh said the new hub fills a community gap by offering a space to experiment with and explore sound.
“We don't have a lot of places like that where those things are valued, and we can push boundaries.”
She added, “Hopefully, it furthers moves us beyond the sort of boxes that we’re stuck or set in.”
The hub will start undergoing construction in the spring or summer, with the studio space opening in the fall.
Construction will then follow for the experimental sound design and making studio, and the critical listening and immersion lab, which is expected to open in 2027.
The lab is supported by an $866,798 grant from the Canada Foundation for Innovation.
Once fully completed, Marsh hopes the hub will create major impacts in the music industry within 10 years.
“We bring in more representation, different voices, different lived experiences, we also get to see different narratives, different kinds of stories being told across these different creative industries.”
