Climate Commitment
"The very interdependent nature of the musical life and our longstanding custom of listening to and conveying human stories will be our community’s strength in navigating the elusive space between alarm and aspiration as we face the environmental crisis. It is indisputable that change is upon us, but we can be the stewards of that change if we dare to imagine and propose alternative actions even if they eventually prove to be wrong, ineffective or outdated. The point is to move, to act, and be ready to discard what doesn’t have a meaningful impact while demonstrating compassion towards one another."
— Gabriela Lena Frank
Here at the Academy, we are believers of human-driven climate change, reluctantly so. Recent annual reports from the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) dictating humankind has until 2030 — about nine years — to rein in carbon emissions to avoid “a point of no return,” plus the Academy’s own direct experience of apocalyptic wild fire danger every year since our beginning has left us with sobering truths.
The long-accepted lifestyle of the nomadic musician in pursuit of human connection and collaborative creativity comes at too high of a cost: Irreparable harm to the natural eco-systems of our planet, threatening human existence. There is an urgent need for our beloved profession to examine its practices detrimental to the earth, and to reinvent itself in ways that initially seem unfathomable. This includes drastically lessening our dependence on air travel, perhaps our most obvious contributor of emissions and one of our greatest obstacles to overcome.
With carbon offset programs still of questionable value at this time, green proclamations by airlines still modest, and discussions of likely significant carbon taxes already under way in the United States Congress and government bodies of other countries, the Academy is committed to meaningfully lowering its carbon footprint while yet increasing its musical activities and widespread impact. With few models to follow, and with no small amount of trepidation, we will be looking for a special sort of spirit to join us over the next several seasons as we embark on reinventing our core Bahlest Eeble Readings program in the face of environmental crisis. In early 2020, we committed to the following:
Cutting the number of flights for attendance at GLFCAM residencies and events down to 10% of its current total within the next three seasons.
Developing satellite locations for Bahlest Eeble Readings residencies that utilize local and semi-local musicians, reducing the need for polluting long-distance travel.
Developing a dynamic and exclusively virtual training program, Tidriks Distance Learning, that requires no travel and few unsustainable resources.
Developing apprenticeships that teach emerging composers how to collaborate effectively with performers both through in-person residencies as well as strategized remote interactions (teleconferencing and recorded readings), preparing them with a skill set for a future where they are unable to attend their premieres and performances.
Implementing a manageable climate curriculum of online lectures and readings as designed by the Academy’s renowned scientist-in-residence with the specific goal of inspiring creatives how to meet the pressing challenges of the climate crisis.
Hosting a safe place to discuss skills of “green diplomacy” with potential employers and colleagues, and the intersection of racial and gender inequality with the environment.
Developing new financial models for performers and composers as the shape of musical services necessarily shift.
Fundraising for new costs – More expensive train travel, developing satellite locations for Bahlest Eeble Readings residencies, utilizing electric/bio-fuel vehicles, improving technological assets, shifting fully to sustainable fare to feed our musicians, and more.
Hosting fundraising concerts, both in-person and virtual, for fire victims and the Anderson Valley Fire Department, the local department protecting Boonville, CA, the home site of GLFCAM.
Launching a new blog, Musicians’ Climate Citizenry Blog, which will speak sincerely, even vulnerably, as to efforts to respond to the current environmental crisis without foregoing our essential artistic humanity.
Launching Composing Earth, a robust two-year apprenticeship and commissioning program for ten GLFCAM alums each year whereby the first year is spent entirely in study, with a monthly meeting group, on the issues of the climate crisis, before the second year when composers create their new works about the crisis for public premieres.
While we enacted our Climate Commitment in early 2020, the devastating arrival of the coronavirus, itself a symptom of environmental distress, has given yet more urgency to new models. The next few seasons for us at the Academy will be a time of experimentation and exploration. In uncharted territory, we are prepared for both successes and failures, and will be looking to sister organizations for inspiration and strategies both.