What We Do
Favorite Chicago Sounds is a collaborative web site designed to showcase unique audio portraits of Chicago and mirror what Chicagoans think about their city's soundscape. FCS is a program of Experimental Sound Studio and operates in partnership with Chicago Public Radio, who auditions FCS-collected sounds for broadcast as part of their ongoing Sonic Soundscapes project. The "Favorite Sounds" project was initiated in London in 1998 by sound artist Peter Cusack and has been carried out in Beijing and other world cities.


Who We Are
Lou Mallozzi – Executive Director

FCS operates under the leadership of Lou Mallozzi, Executive Director of Experimental Sound Studio (ESS), a Chicago-based non-profit organization providing production facilities and support for a wide range of innovative sonic art forms. In 1999 Lou founded the ESS Artists Residency Program for select local artists, and in 2000, he helped initiate the annual Outer Ear Festival of Sound, a three-week presentation of performances, broadcasts, and installations that is the only comprehensive sonic arts festival in the Chicago region. He continues to coordinate exhibitions with local galleries and cultural institutions, as well as visiting artist projects with artists from the US and Europe.

Lou regularly performs live audio and music pieces, exhibits sound installations, and produces recorded and broadcast work. He has received numerous grants and awards, including three fellowships from the Illinois Arts Council and a Bellagio Residency from the Rockefeller Foundation. Two CDs of his work, Radiophagy and Whole or By the Slice (with Hal Rammel), are available on Penumbra Music. Lou is Adjunct Full Professor in the Sound department of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, where he has taught since 1985.



Jesse Seay - Creative Director

Jesse Seay helped found FCS in 2006 and now serves as Creative Director for the program. She is a host and producer for Vocalo.org, a new experimental radio station and webcast developed by Chicago Public Radio. She also has taught in the Media Studies department at Columbia College and is an active artist, specializing in kinetic sound sculpture. Her work has been featured at numerous venues throughout Chicago, including Experimental Sound Studio's Audible Gallery. Jesse received her MA in Media and Cultural Studies from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and her MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.   

Visit Jesse's web site. 



Teresa Gale – Producer

Teresa Gale is Producer for FCS, in charge of managing the web site and developing content for the program. She is an active artist and educator. In 2007 she held an artist residency at Scripps College on the theme "Writing with Sound: Aural Storytelling in Digital Times." In 2005 she received a fellowship from the Illinois Program for Research in the Humanities for her project entitled "Stories of Truth, Stories of Fiction: Shifting Realities in Sound and Image." She also has served as producer and content developer for the online literary and arts magazine NinthLetter.com.

Currently Teresa teaches Web Site Design and Visual Arts at Chicago State University. She has taught a range of art and design-related subjects at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and several technical colleges in Southern California. She earned her MFA from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

In her previous life, Teresa worked as a professional in the high-tech industry, specializing in web site design and digital archive management for Los Angeles-based software publisher Activision and marketing agency Ignited Minds. She has done volunteer work with blind people for a number of years, (at the Braille Institute in Los Angeles and Blind Service Association in Chicago), and attributes her continued interest in sound, in large part, to this experience.

Visit Teresa's web site.



Sarah Lu - Project Coordinator

Sarah Lu got involved with FCS in 2008, after developing an affinity for field recording during an internship with WBEZ's Soundmarks program. She assisted Jesse with the sound sculpture at the Chicago Childrens' Museum by traveling to different neighborhoods in the city to get kids' input on their favorite sounds. As a freelance radio producer and instructor, Sarah makes radio and teaches other people
how to make radio. She regularly contributes field recordings to the FCS site.



Andrew Neher - Designer

Andrew Neher joined the FCS team in 2007 to help launch version 2.0 of the web site. As the lead designer, he helped brand the site with a new and improved look and feel. Originally from Minneapolis, he currently resides in the Pilsen neighborhood and works as a freelance designer for a number of Chicago-based companies. As well, Andrew is an artist and musician whose work ranges from acrylic paintings and wood assemblages to hodgepodge audio installations. He makes music and experimental audio recordings with his wife and
friends in a group called The Wood Knots and also co-founded an online artist collective with his wife in 2003 called
Greatmiddlewest.

Visit Andrew's online portfolio.