Green Music Australia Annual Report 2020
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GREEN MUSIC AUSTRALIA ANNUAL REPORT 2020 Green Music Australia Annual Report 2020 I Contents 1 Acknowledgment of Country 2 Year in review 4 Letter from our Board Chair 6 Letter from our CEO 7 Campaigns 8 Climate Fridays 11 Climate Songwriting Competition 14 The New Normal 19 COVID-Safe Reusable Revolutions 21 Case Study: WOMADelaide 25 Case Study: Strawberry Fields 27 Party with the Planet 29 Down To Earth – A Fire and Climate Relief Concert 33 Water in the Arts 37 Operations 38 Partnerships 39 Media coverage 40 Operational sustainability 41 Our Board 43 Ambassadors and supporters 45 The year ahead Photo: Tim Lambert II Green Music Australia Annual Report 2020 Acknowledgment Year in Review of Country rtis 3 a ts p Green Music Australia acknowledges the to play within the Australian community - 2 e Traditional Custodians of the lands on including the music scene. r fo which we work and meet. We recognise For thousands of generations, music, song 300 in r their continuing connection to the land, d m and dance heard across this continent d u waterways and sky country. n s was 100% Aboriginal; a diversity of First a t e r When musicians stand up and speak up Instruments, mother tongues, rituals and s y d t for the environment, we’re following the annual gatherings. We pay our respects to s w lead of our first peoples and their ongoing the custodial wisdom keepers of the old ways. i t o stewardship of tens of thousands of years. We We commit to listening deeply, allowing the r r k acknowledge that this land was stolen and narrative of today’s tradition bearers to be a that sovereignty has never been ceded. We heard, ensuring eons of oral story and the e 0 r recognise the leadership role that Aboriginal connection to ancient knowledge lines across s 4 and Torres Strait Islander Country is valued and maintained 5 on 3 seasons of Climate Fridays, reaching people continue for coming generations. 33,600+ people with climate conversations and activism helped us deliver resources, campaigns and support to over 2 million music lovers ttle a Bo rti O st Y a 0 fan B m 30 s # b 4 pl a 0 e s d s g 3 a e 1 d d o r s continued to promote the safe use of reusables during COVID-19 to Party with the Planet, supporting artists sustainably during lockdown through donations Smoking ceremony on Yorta Yorta country at Strawberry and ethical merch Fields 2019. Photo by Jackie Dixon. 1 Green Music Australia Annual Report 2020 Green Music Australia Annual Report 2020 2 Letter from our 14 sto in rie ed s r a Chair of the u c t r a o e s s F Board of Directors 1 raised 0 to ds c m n o u n Unprecedented. It’s a word we’ve come to loungerooms. Music reminded us we weren’t e f t recognise in descriptions of the impact of a alone. We toughed it out and looked for the d i n changing climate on our little blue planet. stage-lights at the end of the COVID tunnel. i k a u 8 Icecap melts, temperature extremes, tidal And we thought about the kind of world we o . u e t surges, once in a hundred-year floods, fires wanted to re-emerge into. l e 8 t o and droughts. 2020 started with Australia’s 7 u Throughout 2020, Green Music Australia worst bushfires on record. A black summer. A $ r has quietly continued our work – under scorching of the earth. A harbinger of worse i the direction of CEO Berish Bilander and m to come. Unprecedented. Campaigner/Project Manager Emma p o But 2020 will be remembered as Bosworth – we’re working on a range of musi r t c k a d i r unprecedented for the impact of a medical, new initiatives including the development n o n t n a w du social and economic emergency unleashed of a web tool for festival goers to help them ts s s t by a global pandemic. COVID19. tread lightly while camping, a Green Artist i r t Guide for musicians and industry to become y A medical, social, economic emergency of r champions for sustainability through our a w unprecedented scale that it changed the artist leadership retreats and other programs o world as we knew it. An emergency so grave + we’re looking forward to rolling out with your r 0 and so acute that its impact continues to k ial m support. 0 c e destabilise modern civilisation. An emergency e o d 1 s i r a that looked to science to diagnose and cure. Our work has never been more important s K 9 fo It has an eerily familiar ring. to support our artists and industry taking l leadership in the climate emergency we l Everyone in the Australian music community o know is roaring back to life in a post-COVID will remember where they were on Friday w future. Our advocacy and education attended our online workshop The New Normal, March 13th, 2020. The day live music was shut highlighting how musicians can green their e programs leverage the influence and reach r down by COVID. And with it the livelihoods practice, normalise First Nations leadership and of the music sector to demand climate and s of musicians, music workers, festivals, pubs inspire change environmental action. And we know we have and clubs – and the entire economy around the people power to create real change. it. The impact was devastating and, yes, unprecedented. If anything, the challenges of 2020 also showed us something else. We saw the In our long year of lockdowns, the world as we impact of the global emergency and we with 322 posts reaching 100,000+ people knew it on pause, we stopped and reflected changed our behaviour. We wore masks. – and we turned to music. In droves. We We social distanced. We stayed home. And found comfort in song and in online music global emissions plummeted. We proved offerings and livestreams delivered to our 3 Green Music Australia Annual Report 2020 Green Music Australia Annual Report 2020 4 – when faced with an emergency that is not existential – we can make the changes required to survive. We can do it to counter Letter from our the climate emergency too. On behalf of the Board we thank Berish CEO, Berish Bilander and Emma for their ongoing passion and commitment to delivering Green Music Australia’s important work. We thank outgoing Board members: Dan Rennie, It has been a tumultuous year for our music our entire website is now on a fully fledged Blaire Palese, Asher Christophers, Nick Zelter, scene, country, and indeed the entire world. customer database system, Nationbuilder, Susie Sugden and Jessica Cerro (Montaigne). From fires to floods to a global pandemic, facilitating the seamless integration of our And welcome 2021 Board members: Tracee we have faced unprecedented challenges. communications, digital actions, payments Hutchison as incoming Chair, Jen Rowe as While the pause in medium-to-large scale and donations. Treasurer, Tina Khotari as Deputy Chair and public gatherings due to COVID has been Despite the closure of events across the Áine Tyrrell. Special thanks to outgoing Chair tremendously disruptive for our industry, it country, our volunteer program remained Carla O’Neale who remains on the Board as has also presented unique opportunities to active with over 15 skilled arts workers driving Secretary. rally people in online spaces and plan ahead a range of activities from social media to for a more sustainable and just future, as well artist outreach. Our organisation continues And a huge thank you to our artist as giving us a glimpse into what a flight-free to nurture strong relationships with the ambassadors and supporters who continue world might look like. to light the way. tertiary music education sector, partnering A primary focus for Green Music Australia with Australian Institute of Music, RMIT and Let’s work together and create the cleaner, through this difficult time has been to the Australian College of the Arts to deliver greener future we all want the world to be. activate and inspire our base of artist successful internship programs. Who knows. The change we make might ambassadors. Over 140 artists participated With a strong and committed Board of even be unprecedented. in our online event series Climate Fridays Directors and some fresh new faces to assist and the New Normal leadership workshops. with various casual project tasks, Green Music In conjunction with this work, we have Australia is well positioned to deliver on its Tracee Hutchison continued to advocate behind the scenes mission – harnessing the cultural power of Incoming Chair of the for all levels of government and industry music to create a greener world. Board of Directors to adopt sustainable events policies and practices, and made submissions to the Federal Government Standing Committee on Communication and the Arts - Australia’s Creative and Cultural Industries and Institutions review; Australia Council for the Berish Bilander Carla O’Neale Art’s Re:imagine project; and the Creative CEO Outgoing Chair/ State VIC program. Continuing as We are thrilled to have finally launched our Secretary of the Board new website, which features a refreshed look, of Directors additional resources and enhanced user experience. A big thank you to my colleague Tenaya King for leading this project, as well as Adele Walker for her pro bono design support and the team at Code Nation for bringing our ideas to life.