Music declared emergency

In recent years, the music sector has taken a number of initiatives to promote more responsible behaviour. The most recent is the Music Declares Emergency campaign, which calls for more ambitious action from policymakers and the music business to halt climate change and the loss of nature. The campaign is part of the UK-based international Music Declares Emergency movement, a group of artists, music professionals and organisations.

Fat Boy Slim, Billie Eilish, Mogwai, the London Symphony Orchestra and Warner Music in the UK have signed the Declaration of Emergency so far. In Finland, signatories include composer Lotta Wennäkoski, Provinssi Festival Director Ville Koivisto and artists Olavi Uusivirta, Yona, Elsi Sloan and Lyyti.

The campaign calls on decision-makers to be honest about the climate emergency and take action to slow it down. At the same time, it encourages all signatories to keep the noise about the environmental crisis and to use ways to make the music industry more ecologically sustainable.

The Confederation of Arts and Culture (KULTA) has also launched its own campaign as part of a number of other international cultural organisations. The campaign, called Culture Goal 2030, aims to get Finland to start promoting its own cultural goal for the post-2030 UN Sustainable Development Agenda.

According to KULTA, the inclusion of culture in the SDGs is important for three reasons: to ensure that governments pay sufficient attention to culture and its transformative power, to ensure that the linkages between culture and other policy areas work, and to ensure that the cultural sector itself commits to and takes responsibility for the goals.

In the world of classical music, too, steps have been taken towards a more sustainable culture. At the end of last year, a Nordic Green Orchestra Guide was published to provide professional orchestras with concrete tools and inspiration for a more climate-friendly approach. The guide provides examples of both small impact measures and longer-term processes. The guide is available here.