2019 - EMC General Assembly, Paris, France
EMC General Assembly, Paris, 27 September 2019 - A report by Claudia Phillips, EVTA secretary
Press release from the EMC
« In the frame of the EMC Annual Meeting of 27 September 2019, the EMC members unanimously decided that EMC will take action in its activities to help achieve a climate neutral world by mid-century as enshrined in the Paris Agreement.
Since its Annual Meeting in June 2017, the EMC reflected on the “Climate Neutral Now” initiative of the UNFCCC and the EMC aims at joining this campaign during the 10th annual European Forum on Music in June 2020 in Bonn, which will focus on « Climate Action : Music as a Driver for Change ». Already now, EMC is raising awareness for a more sustainable behavior in the music sector ».
I was moved by this initiative and invite all EVTA members to start adding climate change as a part of all of their activities. Individual teachers can lobby their schools and institutions for more recycling; associations can raise awareness by inviting scientists to speak about how pollution affects the voice; we can all endeavor to reduce our carbon footprint by taking the train instead of flying whenever possible.
Links
Here are some more links that can give us ideas of what we can do:
https://www.emc-imc.org/projects/environmental-sustainability/
https://stamp-music.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Eco-friendly-Events_STAMP_EMC.pdf
https://www.europejazz.net/green-manifesto
https://www.aec-music.eu/about-aec/news/towards-a-more-sustainable-aec-what-we-can-do-for-our-planet
https://artistsatrisk.org/2019/09/10/ar-resident-mohamed-jawad-husein-hameed/?lang=en
Goals
EMC’s goals are to promote music as a participating factor in the betterment of society and to lobby the EU in order to keep music and the arts at the forefront of European development.
I believe that EVTA can adhere to the EMC’s goals, using common values and resources to further our participation in helping the world to sing!
“If EVTA was founded today, what would it look like”?
In the afternoon after the General Assembly, there was a debate that unfortunately I was not able to attend, but the theme was another subject that I think we can explore in future EVTA Forums: “If EVTA was founded today, what would it look like”? There are a lot of interesting sides to this subject: what does our profession look like today compared to when our individual members were founded, what are the differences between the goals of the brand new Portuguese association compared to the Swedish association, one of the oldest members of EVTA?
I am glad to have been able to represent EVTA at the Annual Meeting, and I hope we will continue to develop ties with this important organization!
