Voting for the $20,000 Environmental Music Prize has begun. This prize seeks to find a theme song that inspires action on climate change.
It attracted 200 entries in its first year. Now, there are only 24 finalists.
Edwina Floch, prize founder, said that she was overwhelmed by the response.
We wanted people to reflect upon this important topic. The results were overwhelming.
A long time environmentalist activist, Floch said that only 5% of Australians are fully engaged in the environmental discussion with the majority of people “not that engaged.”
According to research by organizers, less than 1% of the 2019 triple J Hottest 100 were concerned with climate change or protecting Mother Earth.
The Environmental Music Prize seeks to change this.
The 24 finalists range from veteran Paul Kelly to 16-year-old Sage Roadknight and 15-year-old Rory Phillips; from bands such as Lime Cordiale, Holy Holy and In Hearts Wake, to Sikh rapper L-Fresh The Lion and First Nations creatives Briggs, King Stingray, Emily Wurramarra and The Boy Of Many Colors; to Pacific & Indian Oceans artist collaboration Small Island Big Song.
Jack River wrote “We Are The Youth” to express the anger and frustration of my generation” in the face of government inaction on climate, First Nations peoples’ rights and integrity.
I also wrote it to honor the people who are resisting our governments inaction. All of those people are young and mainly women.
The video was created with Marlikka Perdrisat First Nations digital storytelling expert. It features Grace Tame and Brittany Higgins as well as Anjali Singh, Anjali Sharma, Chanel contos (who started the petition against school sexual assault) and the leaders from the Black Deaths In Custody campaign.
Photo of Jack River by Dane Singleton
Reverend Bones, also known as Michael John Bones (singer-songwriter and climate activist), returned home to Canberra on New Years Day 2020, only to find my house covered in thick smoke.
Friends and relatives shared horror stories throughout the day.
Id had friends tell me they woke up vomiting in panic as their rooms filled with smoke,” Bones said. My housemate drove to her brother’s farm to battle the flames, and returned traumatized by the emberstorm that could have destroyed their property and their lives.
Sitting masked at the piano in his cottage, his entry “Sky Was Blue (The Bushfire Song)” spilled out in its entirety.
Bones was frustrated by inaction on climate changes and sat in meditation vigil for an hour in front of Parliament House every day in January.
A number of existing initiatives inspired the creation of the Environmental Music Prize.
One was the way the triple j Hottest 100 attracted three million votes from around world, and the loud public/media discussion of the songs.
There was the XPrize which offered US$100,000,000 each year to encourage technological progress to benefit humanity and the Earthshot Prize, which was founded by Prince William & David Attenborough and gives each year 1,000,000 (AU$1.73million), to five environmental groups to continue their environmental work.
Floch states that XPrize is a huge investment.
Each of these organizations invests time and money in thinking about the problem. The total investment is often greater than the actual prize money.
It often leads to catalytic change.
While working at the Documentary Foundation, she realized how documentaries use strategies and partnerships to get to the point.
Floch collaborated with groups such as Green Music Australia and Wilderness Society to create the Environmental Music Prize and select the finalists.
Due to overwhelming interest from overseas, Floch hopes more partners will support and contribute to next year’s Prize.
Voting is Now openThe public is invited to attend the event until Sunday, May 15.
