1-877-2BE-CALM Project

Dial 1-877-223-2256 to bring calmness to your day.

The City of Victoria’s Artist-in-Residence, Kathryn Calder, with the help of Emily Hamel and free services provided by TELUS, has created 1-877-2BE-CALM, a toll-free telephone number to bring calmness and joy to your day.

The project is designed to bring soothing auditory experiences to individuals in the Greater Victoria Area and across Canada. The phone line has a wide variety of comforting and joyful content featuring calming nature sounds, stories, meditations, music, poetry and children’s laughter. 

AUDIO GUIDE

Dial 1-877-2BE-CALM (1-877-223-2256) on your phone to experience this project, or have a listen to the audio files below.  Press 1 to 9 to explore each menu option. Each channel will automatically repeat. If you would like to choose a different menu option, please redial and choose another channel.

Press 1 for B.C. Nature Sounds - Birdsong  | Read transcript 

Press 2 for Indigenous Stories and Songs - May Sam | Read transcript

Press 3 for Poetry - Neko Smart | Read transcript

Appuyer sur 4 pour poésie en français/Press 4 for Francophone Poetry -
Normand Hébert | Read transcript

Press 5 for Contemporary Music - Matt Stern | Read transcript.

Press 6 for Instrumental Music - Shoko Inoue | Read transcript

Press 7 for Children’s Laughter (jokes)- Silas, Ozzie, Ren, Aria, Ben and Thomas | Read  transcript.

Press 8 for a Guided Meditation - Stefanie Miska  | Read transcript 

Press 9 for Ambient Music - Crystal Dorval  | Read transcript

Auditory content will change periodically. Check back to hear a variety of new sounds from local artists until the project ends in July 2021. 

Please click here for artist bios

Thank you to TELUS for making this project possible. Check out previous 1-877-2BE-CALM audio tracks here.

Kathryn Calder would also like to thank Emily Hamel, Katherine van der Gracht, Colin Stewart, Christine Boutillier, Dominique Hamel, Anne-Marie Stewart, Kate Todoruk, Ženija Esmits, Dr. John Ford.