A group of music and visual arts companies have formed a new charity called Murmur with a £1 million fund to offer grants to organisations and artists to help tackle climate change.
“Murmur is an opportunity for the leading voices and businesses in the art and music industries to show that they take responsibility for their impact on the planet and are committed to addressing climate change”, says the charity.
“Art can influence society by changing opinions, instilling values and translating experiences”, it adds. “Artists and the arts industries have the potential to ignite a critical mass of action on the climate crisis and to be leaders on this vital issue”.
Founded by Caius Pawson of the Young record label and Matthew Slotover of art magazine Frieze, music companies involved at launch include Beggars Group, Ninja Tune, Secretly Canadian, Because Music and !K7.
As well as pledging annual contributions to Murmur’s grants fund, partner organisations must also commit to a carbon audit and a reduction in their own carbon emissions.
Among a number of pilot grants already awarded, record label trade bodies the BPI and AIM have received money to run the Music Climate Pact. This will establish a commitment across the music industry to mitigate the sector’s contribution to climate change and take positive action.
Other grants will fit into three categories identified by the charity. ‘Change The Industry’ will fund projects aiming to improve the environmental impact of the music and visual arts sectors. ‘Change The Conversation’ will focus on initiatives looking to find new ways of storytelling and positive action around climate change.
Finally, ‘Change The World’ will identify projects that can have a global impact addressing the climate crisis.
Further information on Murmur is available below.
