Create4Climate

Music and art move us more deeply than facts and figures. Australia launched the Environmental Music Prize in 2021. I pitch to SOCAN and JUNOs for similar awards in Canada, to incentivize creativity.

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Inspiration

"Research-creation combines artistic expression and academic research, fostering knowledge and innovation through creative and scholarly practices."

In January 2023, The Weather Station spoke about Music in a Time of Climate Crisis at the UBC Centre for Interactive Research on Sustainability. The band was nominated for the JUNO Award in 2022 and 2023. Earlier this month, the album WAILS: Songs for Grief was shared by participants during the 3rd Summit on Mental Health and Climate Change.

Green Music Australia's research that found that less than 1 per cent of songs listed in the country’s premier radio station’s annual poll contained references to the environment. To improve sustainability in the music industry, reward musicians, and bridge the apparent disconnect between arts and public sentiment around climate, the Environmental Music Prize of AU$20,000 was launched during the U.N. Climate Summit in November 2021. There have been 2 winners so far.

In 2022, I was paid a CAD$150 honorarium for participating in the Chinatown Looks disposable camera project by Yarrow Intergenerational Society for Justice. Solastalgia zine has been offering $150 to $200 honoraria to young artists whose contributions on eco-emotions get chosen for publication.

What it does

Music and art move us more deeply than facts and figures can. I reviewed the award categories and cash prizes under SOCAN Foundation, and I propose an environment music award of CAD$10,000 each, for 2 recipients, to incentivize the creation of music that inspires environmental action. Referencing the criteria for the 2022 Environmental Music Prize, eligible work must be:

  • original,
  • released in the last 5 years,
  • reference nature or an environmental issue in its lyrics, or in the visual content of its music video, and
  • inspires us to protect the environment with a message of hope or a call-to-action, or highlights the urgency of action.

How we built it

  • completed an Ableton Live workshop in 2023
  • wrote, recorded, and released a song as a single on Spotify and other distribution platforms
  • performed my original song live at an open-mic last year
  • membership with Women in Music Canada
  • registered with the Composers and Authors Society in my country of citizenship, which collects royalties worldwide
  • enrolled in a digital music production program at a community college
  • started writing a new song about hopeful futures, which was the prompt for the latest volume of Solastalgia zine
  • recorded new song as a voice memo and, along with the lyrics in a PDF file, uploaded it as a ZIP file for the organizers :)

Paint a vision

A world to create

Hopeful futures

We dance the night away

Stories for the young and old

Waiting to be told

Challenges we ran into

The music industry may not always be receptive to calls for change. In addition, organizations that have the capacity to fund awards may be unwilling to do so, because they may refuse to divest: for instance, TD is one of the 5 big banks that have invested over $1.1 trillion in fossil fuels since 2016. Yet the SOCAN Indigenous Songwriter Awards is offered in partnership with TD Bank. This is a potential gap in implementation.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

Sharing interdisciplinary research with classmates. These include latest findings from:

I have also successfully collaborated with some classmates: I played piano accompaniment for 3 other musicians (singers and instrumentalists) during studio recording sessions.

What we learned

Community, partnership, and creativity. Musicians and artists are the backbone of social movements: “from Strange Fruit to A Change Is Gonna Come to We Shall Overcome, songs have a rich history of helping to raise awareness and uniting people around common causes.” I believe in the passion of young people to propel these movements forward.

What's next for Create4Climate

  • Write, arrange, record, produce, mix, and master a song (or even an album) together with my classmates! They cover a range of genres and come from diverse backgrounds.
  • Pitch the creation of a new award category dedicated to environment and sustainability, to Women in Music Canada and JUNO Awards, as well as Women and Gender Equity Canada and TD Bank, during their brunch on 30 March 2025.
  • In the future, we could even influence the creation of such a category in the Grammies!

Built With

  • ableton
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