News & Events
In this section, we publish information on current developments as well as promote events in the context of music, climate and sustainability.
NEWS
As climate activism continued to develop, the topic of sustainability became a central part of public and political life worldwide. Yet the discourse around cultural sustainability has received comparatively little attention. This issue aims to critically examine the conceptual links between culture and sustainability. Submissions can be made until May 31.
Further information can be found here.
The interdisciplinary research and practice project “Eco-lit – Eco-critical Literacy in musik- und literaturbezogenen Praxen kultureller Bildung” has recently started at the University of Cologne. It is funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research from 2024-2026 and explores the potential of cultural education for social engagement with contemporary ecological crises.
The project is headed by Linus Eusterbrock from the musik-klima.de team, together with Christian Rolle and Roman Bartosch.
Music meets climate protection: astrophysicist and ZDF presenter Harald Lesch reveals why science and Vivaldi go so well together. You can find the whole interview from BR Klassik here.
The handbook “Zukunft mit Zukunft. Climate, Art, Culture – Experimental Spaces and Mediation Formats” was created as part of the research project Spaces of Cultural Democracy, which was carried out from 2019 to 2023 in cooperation with the Salzburg Museum and dealt with how topics can be communicated in the context of the climate crisis and sustainable development and what role artistic and cultural practices can play in this. Concepts and materials for experimental spaces and mediation strategies in public and digital spaces, at schools and in museums were developed. The handbook summarizes the materials, findings and experiences that have emerged from the “Spaces of Cultural Democracy” project. The publication is aimed in particular at interested multipliers from education, mediation and research, as well as actors in the arts and culture sector, with the aim of encouraging them to become active themselves and in exchange with other actors and to counter the climate crisis with a sustainable, desirable future with a future.
It is available free of charge as an open access publication for everyone here.
Sara Beimdieke Sara Beimdieke is a musicologist at the University of Cologne and organizer of the conference Music and Climate Change: Artistic Action in Times of Crisis, which took place from 15.09.2023 to 17.09.2023 at the Folkwang University of the Arts in Essen. She talks to Deutschlandfunk about the aesthetics of the (climate) crisis and explores the activist potential of music. You can find the whole program here.
Linus Eusterbrock Linus Eusterbrock talks about the role and special potential of music education in the climate crisis at an event of the BMBF program “Kultur macht stark”. You can find the complete interview here.
The highly recommended Trimum podcast dedicates two episodes to the topic of music and climate.
Mailing list Climate Culture Network:
An interdisciplinary exchange and information forum for all topics in the field of ecology/sustainability – culture/arts – pedagogy/education: from climate-conscious music education to climate fiction in German lessons to human-nature relationships in dance theater. Registration: https://lists.uni-koeln.de/mailman/listinfo/netzwerk-klimakultur
The network will be moderated by Linus and Leonie Carell (Literature Didactics, University of Cologne).
Climate activists from the Transformationsuniversität 2.0 group have been occupying a lecture hall at the University of Freiburg since Monday (20.06.22). Among other things, they are calling on the University of Freiburg to “declare a socio-ecological state of emergency and to align its teaching and external communication with the necessary maxims for action in such a state of emergency.”
You can find the complete demand paper here.
We as the Music & Climate Platform expressly support the demands of the group Transformation University 2.0 to bring about a consistent socio-ecological transformation, to find a path to climate and social justice and to prevent a collapse of civilization.
The article by Gaby Reuther from 22.02.2022 deals with how music and its events can become more sustainable in the future, based on the corona pandemic. You can find the entire text here.
UPCOMING EVENTS
The “Theater im Bauturm” shows the solo-performance “The Feral Womxn” by and with Jemima Rosa Dean which discusses interfaces of feminism and climate activism. It is presented in English. More information and tickets can be found here.
The University of the Arts Helsinki is hosting the 36th World Conference of the International Society of Music Education addressing Advocacy for Sustainability in Music Education. Music education can have its own significant role in transforming the world towards a sustainable future. Uniarts Helsinki believes that music and other arts have enormous potential to make a difference in the world. All that potential, all the questions and new partnerships for change that music educators and other stakeholders can offer are needed and discussed throughout the conference.
For further information, click here.
“Building Collective Futures: Communities Thriving Through Music” is the title of this year’s IASPM Conference in Regina, Canada. The topic may thereby be seen as a theme and a challenge at the same time. We ask what musical futures would sound like if they focused on thriving collectively. As we envision a future where sustainability extends beyond mere survival to encompass vibrant, thriving communities, music emerges as a powerful force for change.
Click here for more information.
The University of Music, Drama and Media Hannover, and the Center for World Music of the University of Hildesheim (Germany) focus the topic of “Sustainability and Chinese Music” in this year’s conference. Urgent contemporary challenges have brought sustainability (可持续性) into sharp focus as a basic concern across musical worlds and research into music and sound. What are the historical and contemporary threats to the vibrancy of traditions and practices in Chinese music (technological, economic, political developments) and how have people acted to secure dynamic futures (heritage work, education, advocacy)? How has Chinese music been affected by the acute climate and environmental crisis, and can it become a potent force for change? Against these backdrops, how do individual musicians and researchers build lasting careers?
Submissions can be made until 5 May. Click here for further information.
Music4Change invites papers, panels and workshops for the 2024 International Research School on the theme of Sustainable Cities and Cultures of Music at the University of Groningen. During these three days new ways of researching cities in relation to sustainability within the realm of music in a variety of formats are explored, including workshops, sound walks, interactive performances, and papers.
Abstracts can be submitted until 1st May. Click here to finde more information.
PAST EVENTS
As a festival for world literature, Poetica 9 was dedicated to the relationship between nature, poetry, and history.
The Cultural Diversity in Music Education (CDIME) conference has provided a platform for the exchange of practices and research related to cultural diversity in music education since 1992. In 2023 the sixteenth CDIME conference will be an in-person event, to be held in Cape Town, South Africa. The theme of the conference, ecologies and diversities, invites participants to consider diversity in music education using theories and ideas drawn from ecological thinking. This may include, but is not limited to:
- the relationships between ecological sustainability, the climate crisis, music education and cultural diversity;
- cultural, social, economic, technological, or sonic ecologies that relate to cultural diversity in music education;
- systems and relationships in, beyond, or outside music education situations that foster or limit cultural diversity;
- embodied systems of thought or practice as it relates to cultural diversity in music education;
- coloniality, decoloniality or postcoloniality and cultural diversity;
- ways in which classrooms, schools, schooling systems, teacher training, policy or curricula, etc. can be understood as ecological and how such ecologies relate to cultural diversity in music education.
For more information, click here.
Conference on Politics in Music and Song; https://www.musicologie.org/22/conference_on_politics_in_music_and_songs.html, Queen’s University Belfast, UK.
XXII Biennial IASPM International Conference 2023 “Popular Music in Crisis”; https://iaspm-us.wildapricot.org/IASPM-International-2023. Minneapolis & online
III International Conference on Sonorities Research (CIPS):
Sounds of the End of the World. https://en.sonoridades.net/. Fluminense Federal University (UFF) – Niterói/RJ – Brazil. Online & in person. Call for abstracts until 22 January 2023
How do sound and musical cultures take a position, articulate, face and/or politicize themselves in the face of late capitalism and the Anthropocene? What do certain sounds and music teach us in these situations where there seems to be no alternative but to accelerate? Or what sounds need to be heard, which are ignored and which denounce the urgency before the end of the world? Anyway, what does it mean to hear the end of the world?
How Can Music Education Respond to the Climate Crisis? 35th World Conference of the International Society for Music 2022. Virtual Conference (originally Brisbane, Australia)
Deadline: Early Bird Rate available until 17 April, https://ismeworldconference.org/
Daegu, South Korea, 5-9 July 2022, IASPM XXI 2022 „Climates of Popular Music“; Deadline: 31 October 2021, http://iaspm2022.org/index.php?gt=abs/abs01
On January 30, 1969, the Beatles performed their last ever public performance on a rooftop…with only the sky above! In 2022, people around the world are searching for hope, inspiration, and unity; a way to join together with others around the world who believe a peaceful and more sustainable future is possible.
Unprecedented times demand unprecedented action! Now more than ever, the world needs a message of hope & togetherness through a globally connected event on the International Day of Peace, September 21, 2022!
Each event will host dialogue opportunities where people will
connect over one of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) such as: Quality Education, Gender Equality, Climate Action, and Peace and Partnerships.
Be part of this global movement by organizing your own #SkyConcert: endorsing one of the stages, promoting the message or showing your enthusiasm in some way! Make your voice heard by joining our biggest #MusicAboveFighting celebration ever!
For more information click here!
Sustainability managers and climate balances have long since ceased to be the domain of industry, commerce or tourism. For theaters, festivals, socio-cultural centers, museums and concert halls, too, sustainability and climate protection are increasingly becoming relevant issues for their own operations and artistic productions. In collaboration with the nationwide initiative Culture4Climate, the Kulturamt Freiburg invites cultural institutions and cultural professionals to learn about current developments and examples as well as concepts and practical possibilities for action.
Location
Freiburg University of Music, Chamber Music Hall
Date
September 19, 2022, 2 to 5:30 p.m.
For more information, click here.
17 panels with film and literature, debate and art, new music and climate activism. Artists from the UK, Taiwan, Nigeria, Morocco, Tunisia, Switzerland, Austria as well as the Caribbean, Canada and Germany will be participating.
The festival will take place from August 26-28, 2022 at the Alte Münze, Molkenmarkt 2, 10179 Berlin.
More info can be found here.
Deadline: 1 Oktober 2021, https://mcusercontent.com/3d18a861d831c039e3b59f00c/files/20f71857-72d1-5810-2b84-476280e3e7f3/cfp_zukunft.pdf
Hochschule für Musik, Theater und
Medien Hannover. Neues Haus 1, Hörsaal 202. Deadline: 1. März 2022,
https://www.gmp-vmp.de/media/GMP_2022_Programm final.pdf