Music Biz Gets Second Sustainable Bootcamp
After a successful trial in Victoria, Green Music Australia has launched Sydney’s first sustainable bootcamp for music organisations.
The seven-week tailored course, called Green Action Program (GAP), runs between February 22 and April 5.
It will help the eight participating businesses to better understand, monitor, and improve their environmental performance and climate ambition.
The program is underpinned by a new sector-wide IT platform Amidesi aka the Australian Music Industry Database of Social and Environmental Impact.
“We are thrilled to be able to deliver the first Green Action Program in the City of Sydney in 2023,” said Emma Bosworth, national projects and partnerships manager at Green Music Australia.
“Our hope is that over the years to come, more and more businesses will participate in the program and learn the tools necessary to lead the way in decarbonising our sector, to create a fairer and cleaner world for all.”
The initiative already showed success when held in Victoria in February.
Participants included Unified Music Group, Music Victoria, The Corner Group, Brunswick Ballroom, FLOW festival and Velodrome Events.
“The impact of the pilot in Victoria has been incredible,” Bosworth related, “with work being done to retrofit buildings to improve energy efficiency and capture baseline data to identify problem areas, as well as changes within workplace procedures to drastically reduce landfill and recycling waste.”
For Music Victoria general manager Dale Packard, the most significant outcome was the shift in mindset.
“Prior to doing the program, considering our responsibility to the environment was something we did from time to time.
“But now it’s embedded in everything we do … mot only in business but personally as well.
“It has also provided us with a clear strategic framework for continuing this work into the future.”
The hands-on learning modules include:
* First Nations First: why platforming First Nations voices matters to sustainability.
* Policy and procedure development: how to embed climate action into organisational structures.
* Single-use plastics: the bans and the solutions
* Measuring impact: capturing and using data to set goals and identify and meet sustainability objectives.
* Energy 101: a walk-through onsite energy audit at a live music venue.
* Creating tailored environmental and social impact reports.
* National and international case studies of best practices.
Outcomes for participants include a Sustainability Action Plan, a greater understanding of the data, reports to show their progress, and continuation of data and reporting for three years after the program.
GAP Sydney is delivered in partnership with the NSW Environment Protection Authority, the City of Sydney and the Australia Council for the Arts.
Expressions of interest are open to all music businesses in Gadigal lands (Sydney) and surrounding areas until Friday, November 11.
The first confirmed participant in the program is the Electronic Music Conference (EMC).
Its director Jane Slingo regarded that of all the challenges for the music industry post-pandemic, climate emergency was the greatest.
“Between bushfires and floods, in Australia the brutal reality of the climate emergency is impossible to ignore.
“We all have a role to play in urgently addressing this.
“It is only through every person and organisation committing to learning about and implementing the minimisation of environmental impact that we have a chance of addressing the climate emergency, before it is too late.”
Environment Protection Authority’s executive director of engagement education and programs, Liesbet Spaanjard said it’s fantastic to partner with Green Music Australia.
“Every industry in NSW has a responsibility to consider how they can introduce more sustainable practices and reduce their impact on our environment.
“The Green Action Program will give music organisations the skills to start taking real action, including driving down their reliance on single-use plastics across NSW.”