e81 inspiration are excerpts from all my #conscientpodcast conversations up to today, November 10th, 2021. I chose short excerpts where the tone and emotion in the voice of each person inspires and uplifts me every time I listen to it and I hope they will inspire and uplift you too (because we need it). Thanks to all those recorded for this fragmented reading of our conversations.
The post e81 – inspiration appeared first on conscient podcast / balado conscient. conscient is a bilingual blog and podcast (French or English) by audio artist Claude Schryer that explores how arts and culture contribute to environmental awareness and action.
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About the Concient Podcast from Claude Schryer
The conscient podcast / balado conscient is a series of conversations about art, conscience and the ecological crisis. This podcast is bilingual (in either English or French). The language of the guest determines the language of the podcast. Episode notes are translated but not individual interviews.
I started the conscient project in 2020 as a personal learning journey and knowledge sharing exercise. It has been rewarding, and sometimes surprising.
The term ‘conscient’ is defined as ‘being aware of one’s surroundings, thoughts and motivations’. My touchstone for the podcast is episode 1, e01 terrified, based on an essay I wrote in May 2019, where I share my anxiety about the climate crisis and my belief that arts and culture can play a critical role in raising public awareness about environmental issues. The conscient podcast / balado conscient follows up on my http://simplesoundscapes.ca (2016–2019) project: 175, 3-minute audio and video field recordings that explore mindful listening.
Season 1 (May to October 2020) explored how the arts contribute to environmental awareness and action. I produced 3 episodes in French and 15 in English. The episodes cover a wide range of content, including activism, impact measurement, gaming, arts funding, cross-sectoral collaborations, social justice, artistic practices, etc. Episodes 8 to 17 were recorded while I was at the Creative Climate Leadership USA course in Arizona in March 2020 (led by Julie’s Bicycle). Episode 18 is a compilation of highlights from these conversations.
Season 2 (March 2021 – ) explores the concept of reality and is about accepting reality, working through ecological grief and charting a path forward. The first episode of season 2 (e19 reality) mixes quotations from 28 authors with field recordings from simplesoundscapes and from my 1998 soundscape composition, Au dernier vivant les biens. One of my findings from this episode is that ‘I now see, and more importantly, I now feel in my bones, ‘the state of things as they actually exist’, without social filters or unsustainable stories blocking the way’. e19 reality touches upon 7 topics: our perception of reality, the possibility of human extinction, ecological anxiety and ecological grief, hope, arts, storytelling and the wisdom of indigenous cultures. The rest of season 2 features interviews with thought leaders about their responses and reactions to e19 reality.
my professional services
I’ve been retired from the Canada Council for the Arts since September 15, 2020 where I served as a senior strategic advisor in arts granting (2016-2020) and manager of the Inter-Arts Office (1999-2015). My focus in (quasi) retirement is environmental issues within my area of expertise in arts and culture, in particular in acoustic ecology. I’m open to become involved in projects that align with my values and that move forward environmental concerns. Feel free to email me for a conversation : claude@conscient.ca
acknowledgement of eco-responsibility
I acknowledge that the production of the conscient podcast / balado conscient produces carbon. I try to minimize this carbon footprint by being as efficient as possible, including using GreenGeeks as my web server and acquiring carbon offsets for my equipment and travel activities from BullFrog Power and Less.
a word about privilege and bias
While recording episode 19 ‘reality’, I heard elements of ‘privilege’ in my voice that I had not noticed before. It sounded a bit like ‘ecological mansplaining’. I realize that, in spite of good intentions, I need to work my way through issues of privilege (of all kinds) and unconscious bias the way I did through ecological anxiety and grief during the fall of 2020. My re-education is ongoing.
The conscient podcast / balado conscient is a series of conversations about art, conscience and the ecological crisis. This podcast is bilingual (in either English or French). The language of the guest determines the language of the podcast. Episode notes are translated but not individual interviews.
I started the conscient project in 2020 as a personal learning journey and knowledge sharing exercise. It has been rewarding, and sometimes surprising.
The term ‘conscient’ is defined as ‘being aware of one’s surroundings, thoughts and motivations’. My touchstone for the podcast is episode 1, e01 terrified, based on an essay I wrote in May 2019, where I share my anxiety about the climate crisis and my belief that arts and culture can play a critical role in raising public awareness about environmental issues. The conscient podcast / balado conscient follows up on my http://simplesoundscapes.ca (2016–2019) project: 175, 3-minute audio and video field recordings that explore mindful listening.
Season 1 (May to October 2020) explored how the arts contribute to environmental awareness and action. I produced 3 episodes in French and 15 in English. The episodes cover a wide range of content, including activism, impact measurement, gaming, arts funding, cross-sectoral collaborations, social justice, artistic practices, etc. Episodes 8 to 17 were recorded while I was at the Creative Climate Leadership USA course in Arizona in March 2020 (led by Julie’s Bicycle). Episode 18 is a compilation of highlights from these conversations.
Season 2 (March 2021 – ) explores the concept of reality and is about accepting reality, working through ecological grief and charting a path forward. The first episode of season 2 (e19 reality) mixes quotations from 28 authors with field recordings from simplesoundscapes and from my 1998 soundscape composition, Au dernier vivant les biens. One of my findings from this episode is that ‘I now see, and more importantly, I now feel in my bones, ‘the state of things as they actually exist’, without social filters or unsustainable stories blocking the way’. e19 reality touches upon 7 topics: our perception of reality, the possibility of human extinction, ecological anxiety and ecological grief, hope, arts, storytelling and the wisdom of indigenous cultures. The rest of season 2 features interviews with thought leaders about their responses and reactions to e19 reality.
my professional services
I’ve been retired from the Canada Council for the Arts since September 15, 2020 where I served as a senior strategic advisor in arts granting (2016-2020) and manager of the Inter-Arts Office (1999-2015). My focus in (quasi) retirement is environmental issues within my area of expertise in arts and culture, in particular in acoustic ecology. I’m open to become involved in projects that align with my values and that move forward environmental concerns. Feel free to email me for a conversation : claude@conscient.ca
acknowledgement of eco-responsibility
I acknowledge that the production of the conscient podcast / balado conscient produces carbon. I try to minimize this carbon footprint by being as efficient as possible, including using GreenGeeks as my web server and acquiring carbon offsets for my equipment and travel activities from BullFrog Power and Less.
a word about privilege and bias
While recording episode 19 ‘reality’, I heard elements of ‘privilege’ in my voice that I had not noticed before. It sounded a bit like ‘ecological mansplaining’. I realize that, in spite of good intentions, I need to work my way through issues of privilege (of all kinds) and unconscious bias the way I did through ecological anxiety and grief during the fall of 2020. My re-education is ongoing.
e79 is my #conscientpodcast reading of the ‘Accelerating Climate Action through the Power of Arts, Culture and Heritage’ manifesto developed by the Climate Heritage Network to summarize key cultural messages for COP26 and activate the arts, culture and heritage sector. You can find more information on the origins and the co-authors of the manifesto at cultureatcop.com.
It’s Monday, November 8, 2021. I’m on a beach in Stanley Park, in Vancouver and this is an episode where I will read to you a manifesto. A very good one and a very timely one.
I was deeply moved by the clarity and power of these words.
So I asked for, and was granted, permission by the co-authors to record the manifesto for this podcast in both English and in the next episode 80, je vais le lire en francais. One of the reason for a recorded version of this manifesto is that you might be like me and tend to retain information more when I listen rather than when I read and so I wanted to share an audio version of this manifesto available to the listeners of this podcast during COP26. I will read out the manifesto’s introduction followed by the manifesto in its entirety. In keeping with how I have been doing the podcast this season this will be in one take with no editing so please forgive any mistakes.
You can find more information on the origins and the co-authors of the manifesto at cultureatcop.com. I would to thank Bob and the other co- authors of the manifesto for this gift and for this invigorating wake up call.
Here is the introduction that you’ll find on the website.
‘This Manifesto provides key messages on culture and climate change aimed at the 2021 United Nations Climate Conference (COP26) and beyond. It seeks to activate those involved in arts, culture, and heritage to take climate action through communication and engagement, inspiring and assisting their constituents, members and audiences to increase ambition; to change their own behaviours; and to engage with climate change policy development at local and national government and intergovernmental level. Simultaneously, in order to meet the urgency of the climate emergency, it strives to inspire and encourage greater synergistic collaboration on climate action with other sectors and partners that have not traditionally engaged with cultural actors. We invite civil society, government at all levels, Indigenous Peoples’ organisations, cultural organizations and institutions, businesses, universities and research organisations and other stakeholders to join us in signing on to this Manifesto, signalling our shared ambition to create just, thriving, and resilient communities today and into the future.’
Now here is the manifesto:
Accelerating Climate Action through the Power of Arts, Culture and Heritage
A Manifesto on Keeping 1.5° Alive
COP26
We, the undersigned, declare that people, their cultures, and the natural and culturalheritage of the earth are profoundly at risk from human-caused climate change andthe climate inaction that is deepening the unfolding climate crisis even while wereaffirm the immense power of arts, culture, and heritage to inspire climate action andenable a just transition to low carbon, climate resilient futures.
Climate change is already impacting people and planet, with long-lasting andirreversible effects. Avoiding the worst of these requires limiting global temperatureincrease to 1.5 degrees above pre-industrial levels. Yet the world is failing to meeteven the Paris Agreement’s 2 degrees temperature goal, with current Green House Gas(GHG) concentrations now the highest ever recorded.
The present COVID-19 pandemic, and the suffering it has caused, have made theresponse to climate change even more difficult while also revealing essential lessons,including the imperative of heeding science, the consequences of the separationbetween humans and nature, the importance of centering the needs of the mostvulnerable, and the fact that rapid and far-reaching social and economic change ispossible when society, working together, wills it.
Building back better, tackling the climate and biodiversity crises, and achievingsustainable development requires ambitious, transformative action at scale, includingdeep GHG emissions reductions in all sectors, a wide portfolio of mitigation andadaptation options and a significant upscaling of investments in those options.
Centering equity and justice should be at the heart of all actions so that wideningeconomic and health disparities can be reversed. Culture and the arts reflect andinfluence consumption patterns, mediating our awareness of nature and the planetand our relationship to the environment.
Culture anchors people to places and to each other. It can create cohesion in waysthat enable community-building and collective action. Artists and cultural voicesdrive public awareness and action; their work can be a powerful tool for climatemobilization. Through public accessibility and trust, cultural institutions like museumsand libraries provide platforms for listening to communities and hubs of multiculturaland inter-generational exchange, capacity building, and knowledge-sharing.
Integrating natural and cultural values highlights linkages between the ecological andsocial functions of landscapes in ways that promote lifestyles in harmony with nature.This historic environment embodies past carbon investments, now stewarded by theowners and users of landscapes and buildings. Cultural heritage holds peoples’ storiesand the knowledge of local communities (what the Paris Agreement calls ‘endogenoustechnologies’). The archaeological record illustrates the causes of, and adaptation to,past changes.
Yet, the talents of many arts, culture and heritage actors, operators and advocateshave still not been mobilised for climate action. They include artists, anthropologists,archaeologists, architects, landscape architects, administrators, archivists, craftspersons, conservators, curators, engineers, geographers, historians, librarians,musicians, museologists, writers, performers, urban planners, and site managers,as well as scientists, researchers, teachers, and scholars, and carriers of Indigenousknowledge, whose unique insights have not yet been adequately applied to climatechange or accounted for in climate science.
We represent institutions and organizations committed to shifting this paradigm andunlocking the potential of arts, culture, and heritage to achieve the ambitions of theParis Agreement. We recognize this must include transformation within the culturesector too, embracing sustainable practices and stewardship; lifting up the voices ofunderserved communities and prioritizing solidarity with frontline communities, as wellas preserving, recording and making culture and heritage available in inclusive ways,including through traditional and innovative artistic forms as well as new technologies.
This paradigm and mindset shift also require the cultural dimensions of climate actionbe prioritized in science, policy, planning and fiscal frameworks for climate mitigationand adaption, disaster risk reduction and in planning for losses and damages. Themainstreaming of cultural considerations must be done at all scales (local, regional,national and international) and across all sectors from energy to buildings, frommobility to agriculture.
We recognize the profound connection between cultural rights, cultural survival, andclimate action. We also consider this Manifesto to be a contribution to human-centered,rights-based approaches that places culture as an explicit and operational dimensionof development and provides cultural actors (civil society and institutional) a seat atthe table required to make it happen.
It is time to act.
We must close both the emissions and ambition gaps. To achievea 1.5°Celsius world, more attention must be paid to the cultural dimensions oflifestyles and livelihoods, to the public understanding of climate impacts, the socialacceptance of systems changes, to gender-responsive and diverse approaches, and tothe wellsprings of climate ambition. In short, we must transcend the divides betweenculture and science, people and policy, memory and evolving practice.
COP26 must be a turning point for multi-level action to realize the potential of cultureto effectively combat the climate crisis. It is our shared responsibility to secure thecultural inheritance and cultural rights of current and future generations; to safeguarda healthy, prosperous, and resilient planet; and to deliver the emissions reductions upon which these outcomes hinge. In all this work, count us in! Count culture in!
Me at Stanley Park beach, Vancouver, November 8, 2021
The conscient podcast / balado conscient is a series of conversations about art, conscience and the ecological crisis. This podcast is bilingual (in either English or French). The language of the guest determines the language of the podcast. Episode notes are translated but not individual interviews.
I started the conscient project in 2020 as a personal learning journey and knowledge sharing exercise. It has been rewarding, and sometimes surprising.
The term ‘conscient’ is defined as ‘being aware of one’s surroundings, thoughts and motivations’. My touchstone for the podcast is episode 1, e01 terrified, based on an essay I wrote in May 2019, where I share my anxiety about the climate crisis and my belief that arts and culture can play a critical role in raising public awareness about environmental issues. The conscient podcast / balado conscient follows up on my http://simplesoundscapes.ca (2016–2019) project: 175, 3-minute audio and video field recordings that explore mindful listening.
Season 1 (May to October 2020) explored how the arts contribute to environmental awareness and action. I produced 3 episodes in French and 15 in English. The episodes cover a wide range of content, including activism, impact measurement, gaming, arts funding, cross-sectoral collaborations, social justice, artistic practices, etc. Episodes 8 to 17 were recorded while I was at the Creative Climate Leadership USA course in Arizona in March 2020 (led by Julie’s Bicycle). Episode 18 is a compilation of highlights from these conversations.
Season 2 (March 2021 – ) explores the concept of reality and is about accepting reality, working through ecological grief and charting a path forward. The first episode of season 2 (e19 reality) mixes quotations from 28 authors with field recordings from simplesoundscapes and from my 1998 soundscape composition, Au dernier vivant les biens. One of my findings from this episode is that ‘I now see, and more importantly, I now feel in my bones, ‘the state of things as they actually exist’, without social filters or unsustainable stories blocking the way’. e19 reality touches upon 7 topics: our perception of reality, the possibility of human extinction, ecological anxiety and ecological grief, hope, arts, storytelling and the wisdom of indigenous cultures. The rest of season 2 features interviews with thought leaders about their responses and reactions to e19 reality.
my professional services
I’ve been retired from the Canada Council for the Arts since September 15, 2020 where I served as a senior strategic advisor in arts granting (2016-2020) and manager of the Inter-Arts Office (1999-2015). My focus in (quasi) retirement is environmental issues within my area of expertise in arts and culture, in particular in acoustic ecology. I’m open to become involved in projects that align with my values and that move forward environmental concerns. Feel free to email me for a conversation : claude@conscient.ca
acknowledgement of eco-responsibility
I acknowledge that the production of the conscient podcast / balado conscient produces carbon. I try to minimize this carbon footprint by being as efficient as possible, including using GreenGeeks as my web server and acquiring carbon offsets for my equipment and travel activities from BullFrog Power and Less.
a word about privilege and bias
While recording episode 19 ‘reality’, I heard elements of ‘privilege’ in my voice that I had not noticed before. It sounded a bit like ‘ecological mansplaining’. I realize that, in spite of good intentions, I need to work my way through issues of privilege (of all kinds) and unconscious bias the way I did through ecological anxiety and grief during the fall of 2020. My re-education is ongoing.
e78 is my #conscientpodcast conversation with acoustic ecology colleague Dr. Milena Droumeva on November 3, 2021 in Vancouver about multiple points of ‘listening’, thoughts about radicality, that imagination can lead to crafting things that we will actually need for survival and how to address profound disconnections.
Note: There is a slight flame rumble in the background but the voice is clear :-)
Milena Droumeva is an Associate Professor and Glenfraser Endowed Professor in Sound Studies at Simon Fraser University specializing in mobile media, sound studies, gender, and sensory ethnography. They have worked extensively in educational research on game-based learning and computational literacy, formerly as a post-doctoral fellow at the Institute for Research on Digital Learning at York University. Milena has a background in acoustic ecology and works across the fields of urban soundscape research, sonification for public engagement, as well as gender and sound in video games. Current research projects include sound ethnographies of the city (livable soundscapes), mobile curation, critical soundmapping, and sensory ethnography. Check out Milena’s Story Map, “Soundscapes of Productivity†about coffee shop soundscapes as the office ambience of the creative economy freelance workers and the Livable Soundscapes project.
Fireplace where we recorded this episode on November 3, 2021 in Vancouver
The conscient podcast / balado conscient is a series of conversations about art, conscience and the ecological crisis. This podcast is bilingual (in either English or French). The language of the guest determines the language of the podcast. Episode notes are translated but not individual interviews.
I started the conscient project in 2020 as a personal learning journey and knowledge sharing exercise. It has been rewarding, and sometimes surprising.
The term ‘conscient’ is defined as ‘being aware of one’s surroundings, thoughts and motivations’. My touchstone for the podcast is episode 1, e01 terrified, based on an essay I wrote in May 2019, where I share my anxiety about the climate crisis and my belief that arts and culture can play a critical role in raising public awareness about environmental issues. The conscient podcast / balado conscient follows up on my http://simplesoundscapes.ca (2016–2019) project: 175, 3-minute audio and video field recordings that explore mindful listening.
Season 1 (May to October 2020) explored how the arts contribute to environmental awareness and action. I produced 3 episodes in French and 15 in English. The episodes cover a wide range of content, including activism, impact measurement, gaming, arts funding, cross-sectoral collaborations, social justice, artistic practices, etc. Episodes 8 to 17 were recorded while I was at the Creative Climate Leadership USA course in Arizona in March 2020 (led by Julie’s Bicycle). Episode 18 is a compilation of highlights from these conversations.
Season 2 (March 2021 – ) explores the concept of reality and is about accepting reality, working through ecological grief and charting a path forward. The first episode of season 2 (e19 reality) mixes quotations from 28 authors with field recordings from simplesoundscapes and from my 1998 soundscape composition, Au dernier vivant les biens. One of my findings from this episode is that ‘I now see, and more importantly, I now feel in my bones, ‘the state of things as they actually exist’, without social filters or unsustainable stories blocking the way’. e19 reality touches upon 7 topics: our perception of reality, the possibility of human extinction, ecological anxiety and ecological grief, hope, arts, storytelling and the wisdom of indigenous cultures. The rest of season 2 features interviews with thought leaders about their responses and reactions to e19 reality.
my professional services
I’ve been retired from the Canada Council for the Arts since September 15, 2020 where I served as a senior strategic advisor in arts granting (2016-2020) and manager of the Inter-Arts Office (1999-2015). My focus in (quasi) retirement is environmental issues within my area of expertise in arts and culture, in particular in acoustic ecology. I’m open to become involved in projects that align with my values and that move forward environmental concerns. Feel free to email me for a conversation : claude@conscient.ca
acknowledgement of eco-responsibility
I acknowledge that the production of the conscient podcast / balado conscient produces carbon. I try to minimize this carbon footprint by being as efficient as possible, including using GreenGeeks as my web server and acquiring carbon offsets for my equipment and travel activities from BullFrog Power and Less.
a word about privilege and bias
While recording episode 19 ‘reality’, I heard elements of ‘privilege’ in my voice that I had not noticed before. It sounded a bit like ‘ecological mansplaining’. I realize that, in spite of good intentions, I need to work my way through issues of privilege (of all kinds) and unconscious bias the way I did through ecological anxiety and grief during the fall of 2020. My re-education is ongoing.
e76 kim richards – seeding a green new theatre in canada is my conversation with Dr. Kim Richards about the role of theatre in the climate emergency. With excerpts from e44 bilodeau, e59 pearl and e36 fanconi. Dr. Richards is currently a post-doctoral fellow in public energy humanities at the University of Alberta and is building an open-access video archive of performance-based strategies to promote a just energy transition. Kim recently co-edited an issue of Canadian Theatre Review on “Extractivism and Performance†(April 2020). This conversation took place during a soundwalk around Trout Lake Park in Vancouver on Monday, November 1, 2021. Note: to access Dr. Richards’ writings contact her at: kskyerichards@gmail.com and for information on her work see https://ualberta.academia.edu/KimberlySkyeRichards
I wrote an article called Seeding a Green New Theatre in Canada that is drawing on a lot of principles of conversations happening around a green new deal in the United States and elsewhere, as well as other kinds of social justice movements happening on both sides of the border and thinking through what’s the kind of theatre and what are the plays that already existed in Canadian theatre history and what are more of the kinds of stories that we need to be telling and sharing and how to think about the transition that we’re facing socially from a justice perspective that really advances and brings forward the impact of the existing system by racialized communities, low income communities, the people who work within the energy or extractive development sector. There are a number of really quite remarkable pieces of work, many of which hadn’t been produced a whole lot of times that addressed those issues.
Tree in Trout Lake Park, Vancouver,. that we listened to while on our soundwalk
The conscient podcast / balado conscient is a series of conversations about art, conscience and the ecological crisis. This podcast is bilingual (in either English or French). The language of the guest determines the language of the podcast. Episode notes are translated but not individual interviews.
I started the conscient project in 2020 as a personal learning journey and knowledge sharing exercise. It has been rewarding, and sometimes surprising.
The term ‘conscient’ is defined as ‘being aware of one’s surroundings, thoughts and motivations’. My touchstone for the podcast is episode 1, e01 terrified, based on an essay I wrote in May 2019, where I share my anxiety about the climate crisis and my belief that arts and culture can play a critical role in raising public awareness about environmental issues. The conscient podcast / balado conscient follows up on my http://simplesoundscapes.ca (2016–2019) project: 175, 3-minute audio and video field recordings that explore mindful listening.
Season 1 (May to October 2020) explored how the arts contribute to environmental awareness and action. I produced 3 episodes in French and 15 in English. The episodes cover a wide range of content, including activism, impact measurement, gaming, arts funding, cross-sectoral collaborations, social justice, artistic practices, etc. Episodes 8 to 17 were recorded while I was at the Creative Climate Leadership USA course in Arizona in March 2020 (led by Julie’s Bicycle). Episode 18 is a compilation of highlights from these conversations.
Season 2 (March 2021 – ) explores the concept of reality and is about accepting reality, working through ecological grief and charting a path forward. The first episode of season 2 (e19 reality) mixes quotations from 28 authors with field recordings from simplesoundscapes and from my 1998 soundscape composition, Au dernier vivant les biens. One of my findings from this episode is that ‘I now see, and more importantly, I now feel in my bones, ‘the state of things as they actually exist’, without social filters or unsustainable stories blocking the way’. e19 reality touches upon 7 topics: our perception of reality, the possibility of human extinction, ecological anxiety and ecological grief, hope, arts, storytelling and the wisdom of indigenous cultures. The rest of season 2 features interviews with thought leaders about their responses and reactions to e19 reality.
my professional services
I’ve been retired from the Canada Council for the Arts since September 15, 2020 where I served as a senior strategic advisor in arts granting (2016-2020) and manager of the Inter-Arts Office (1999-2015). My focus in (quasi) retirement is environmental issues within my area of expertise in arts and culture, in particular in acoustic ecology. I’m open to become involved in projects that align with my values and that move forward environmental concerns. Feel free to email me for a conversation : claude@conscient.ca
acknowledgement of eco-responsibility
I acknowledge that the production of the conscient podcast / balado conscient produces carbon. I try to minimize this carbon footprint by being as efficient as possible, including using GreenGeeks as my web server and acquiring carbon offsets for my equipment and travel activities from BullFrog Power and Less.
a word about privilege and bias
While recording episode 19 ‘reality’, I heard elements of ‘privilege’ in my voice that I had not noticed before. It sounded a bit like ‘ecological mansplaining’. I realize that, in spite of good intentions, I need to work my way through issues of privilege (of all kinds) and unconscious bias the way I did through ecological anxiety and grief during the fall of 2020. My re-education is ongoing.
Note: audio on podcast is slightly different due to improvised elements during the presentation. The question-and-answer period below was transcribed using TEMI and slightly edited for concision.
But before I start my presentation, I want to let you know that I’m recording this talk as episode 75 of my conscient podcast, which is a podcast, sometimes in English, des fois en français, that explores art and the ecological crisis. The third season of this podcast is on the theme of radical listening, so I thought it would make sense to include this presentation as an episode. Please let me know if you do not want to be recorded when we get to the question period, ok? I understand that the Symposium is also doing a podcast of this presentation, which is great so there will be 2 versions, I’ll be publishing this recording later today.
Let me begin by saying that I’m speaking to you from the unceded territory of the Coast Salish Peoples, including the territories of the xÊ·məθkwÉ™yÌ“É™m (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), and SÉ™lÌ“ÃlwÉ™taÊ”/Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations. I would like to acknowledge these nations as the traditional keepers of these lands and reiterate my commitment to indigenous people as an ally.
Some of you might know that I’m a composer by training and worked in acoustic ecology for most of the 1990s, with the World Forum for Acoustic Ecology and other similar organizations – before joining the Canada Council for the Arts for 21 years. I retired from the Council in 2020 in order to focus my work on art and the climate emergency through my podcast and a new organization in Canada called SCALE, the Sectoral Climate Arts Leadership for the Emergency: which is an example of a collective action that the Symposium has suggested we undertake. I can talk about that more later if you wish.
I was very pleased to see that the Unheard Landscapes Symposium is exploring climate emergency issues, such as changing soundscape of our endangered planet today and, importantly, future soundscapes and thefuture of listeningitself as the climate emergency deepens. And the crisis will unfortunately get much worse as emissions are currently actually rising worldwide in spite of efforts at COP26, which starts in a few days just north of you in Scotland.
So big thanks and Graci to Stefano Zorzanello and the FKL Symposium on Soundscapes team for this timely event and for having me here today. I also want to thank you in the audience for taking the time to be here today – I wish I was there with you – and for sharing your thoughts today, and online afterwards if you wish.
I’d want to start my presentation with a short story. Now I’m not a storyteller but I like the format as a way to bring information to life.
I once upon a time, a composer gave a workshop called Reality, Extinction, Grief and Art at a festivalsomewhere in Europe. The audience was most professors, composers and music students from around the world. The theme of the festival was soundscapes during a pandemic. The composer talked about the issues that kept him up at night, including the deepening climate crisis, the real possibility of civilization collapse, the lack of understanding about ecological grieving and the role of arts and culture in all of this. Now the question-and-answer period was quite intense: one participant asked how to deal with the rise of fascism and war as the climate crisis worsened and resources become scarcer. This person had seen conflict before in her home country.  Another asked how can we address the debilitating sense of sadness that comes from environmental loss? Someone else kindly suggested that we should stop using printed programs for our concerts, which was recognized as a good idea but not nearly enough of a change. Finally, one participant proposed that from now that all music should be considered as acoustic ecology…the workshop leader said ‘now there’s a radical idea’: all music as acoustic ecology.
Now, this is, of course, a true story, though I did dramatize bits here and there for effect. It took place on April 23 of this year at the BEASTFeAST2021: Recalibration festival under the direction of Dr. Annie Mahtani at the University of Birmingham. I gave this workshop because I wanted to raise these issues in my peer community of electroacoustic and soundscape composers and am happy for this opportunity to continue the conversation today and at any time in the future.
So, let’s dig a bit deeper into this idea of music as acoustic ecology. I realise that it is a provocative proposal. What did this person mean?
I’ll remind you that acoustic ecology is defined as the ‘relationship, mediated through sound, between all living beings and their environment.’ The concept was developed right here in Vancouver at the World Soundscape Project by a composer, R. Murray Schafer and his colleagues at Simon Fraser University. One of their goals was to point out that the world was out of balance and that we needed to listen much more carefully to our environment and to respond to issues through deep listening and heightened environmental awareness.
Music, on the other hand, is defined as the ‘art of arranging sounds in time through melody, harmony, rhythm, and timbre’. No mention of the environment here though it might be implied with the idea of timbre.
So, in other words, acoustic ecology is about our relationship to our environment, through sound, whereas music is about organizing sound to make art.
What’s the connection between these two? How can we consider music as acoustic ecology and why should we?
Here’s a theory.
What I think that person was saying is that music, in the context of the ecological crisis, needs to take place in relation with all living beings and their environments. In other words, music should not be separated from its context. It never should have. For example, if the world is on fire, music and all other art forms for that matter, need to emerge from, and engage with that reality in ways that we have not yet imagined (a form of unheard landscape).
I won’t get into stories about fiddling while Rome burns… but that’s another story.
I’m curious to know what you think about this when we get to the questions period in a few minutes.
Let me share my screen now. This is the conscient podcast website.
I’d like to play you three excerpts from conversations I had in the second season of the conscient podcast, which was about reality and ecological grief. The first is with Dr. Annie Mahtani from episode 52 :
If we can find ways to encourage people to listen, that can help them to build a connection, even if it’s to a small plot of land near them. By helping them to have a new relationship with that, which will then expand and help hopefully savour a deeper and more meaningful relationship with our natural world, and small steps like that, even if it’s only a couple of people at a time, that could spread. I think that nobody, no one person, is going to be able to change the world, but that doesn’t mean we should give up.Â
Annie’s point here is that everything is local and that listening, with our ears and hearts, is how we need to move forward, even if the future looks bleak. Annie reminds us that we should never give up on leaving a livable world for our children and their children.
One of the questions raised by the organizers of this Symposium is about collective actions. What kind of collective actions can the soundscape community undertake about something as massive and amorphous – some might say invisible or unheard – as the climate crisis? For example, we could focus on mitigation – which is about raising awareness about imminent threats, many soundscape compositions try to do this – or maybe we put more energy into adaptation – about learning to live our damaged planet and how to listen even more carefully – or maybe we could priorise regeneration – which is about rebuilding and providing a vision for a sustainable future? These are admittedly complex and uncomfortable issues, in part because people do not feel empowered to address them, so most of us live in denial and with deep, repressed sadness, right?
Let me tell you another short story. This one is also true.
During the fall of 2019, I was at a meeting about how the arts and cultural sector, and in particular the indigenous traditional knowledge community, could play a much larger role in the fight against climate change. We were sitting around a table – remember that this was pre-pandemic times – with each person sharing knowledge and stories. I spoke about how we need to walk our talk in order to be credible with environmental issues. Then, a representative from an indigenous cultural organization said that it would ‘likely take as long to resolve the ecological crisis as it did to create it’. I repeated what he said in my head: ‘take as long to resolve the ecological crisis as it did to create. How is this possible, I asked myself, so I said: ‘but, but we do not have that kind of time’. We all looked at each other in silence.Â
(moment of silence)
This is what I mean by ‘radical listening’.
To me, radical listening is about stepping out of our comfort zone when we listen. Radical listening about thinking beyond what we think we know when we listen. Radical listening is about recognizing our biases, both conscious and unconscious. It’s about listening actively and sincerely. Ultimately, it’s about getting to the truth and facing reality.
So, let’s think about this. How do we maintain harmonious relationships with all living beings as a soundscape community?
I’d like to conclude my presentation with a proposal. It’s from soundscape composer Hildegard Westerkamp, who lives here in Vancouver and is a living legend in the soundscape community. This is from conscient podcast episode 22, which was recorded in April of 2020 here in Vancouver.
We need to allow for time to pass without any action, without any solutions and to just experience it. I think that a slowdown is an absolute… If there is any chance to survive, that kind of slowing down through listening and meditation and through not doing so much. I think there’s some hope in that.
This, to me, is also an example of ‘radical listening as climate action’.
I now invite comments or questions. I’ll remind you that I’m recording this presentation as episode 75 of the conscient podcast.
Merci Stefano et chers collègues. Questions, comments? En anglais ou en français.
Question and Answers
Stefano Zorzanello
It’s quite interesting to think about listening as an action. When we think about listening, we tend to think about a passive kind of action, which is receiving and not really changing anything. It’s getting something from the world out there, but we know also from an ecological point of view that listening is an act of selection of messages that is active and not passive. It’s a way of taking away something away from too crowded world, which is full of things: full of noise, full of information, full of life. The act of taking something away and making room for other things or maybe nothing at all is in itself a kind of ecological action. I think we should be more careful about this. What do you think?
Claude Schryer
I’ll respond briefly because I’m interested in other thoughts or at least initial reactions, but Stefano, I agree that a lot of what we need to do is to stop the destruction and to take away things that are inhibiting natural processes. And the most obvious is ecological systems. For example, with trees, if we stopped cutting them and polluting their environment, they will flourish and they will bring back life: air and sounds. And so that’s something that we don’t think of as progress, right? We think of progress as building and new and better and bigger. And we have to find a positive way to get into a subtractive space so that we think of less as more and think of quiet, as an example, in the sound world, but there are so many ways that we could do things less and better for all life forms.
Personally, I try to reduce my carbon footprint. I do what I can, but I’m producing podcasts and using energy. I’m aware that everything we do has a footprint at, but to be aware of it is already to start to change. So, listening to me, radical listening, is about listening with the intent of changing, not just the intent of saying, well, that was nice, but it’s not going to affect me at all, or that was sort of fun. It’s not entertainment. When you receive information, you take it seriously and it challenges your worldview. Then you not only think about it, but you receive it in your body and then you start changing your behavior. And even that’s why I put the Annie Mahtani example. Even the smallest things like going into a garden and talking with somebody and planting a seed, those seeds will grow. And if we all do that, and I don’t mean to lecture anybody here, I know people are aware about the seriousness of the environmental issues we face, but I do think that we need, as a community, to be much more in climate emergency mode.
There’s a group here in Canada called the Climate Emergency Unit. I think everybody on the planet in particular, those who have consumed more than their fair share, need to be in climate emergency mode and behave that way. And so, music as acoustic ecology, is an interesting idea, but really what we need is to be in climate emergency mode. Any other thoughts from people in the room? I’d be happy to hear.
Olivier Gaudin
I’m one of the organizers. I work here at this school, and I teach a history of landscapes. So basically, I was wondering about the way you use the adjective radical. Could you make possible connections between radical and indigenous people and whether that makes sense to you, because in France, there is still a discussion about radicality. It’s also the way you connected it with emergency that is interesting. I wonder how you manage this possible connection between radicality and indigenous. And I interested in that and why.
So, there’s lots of that kind of talk now talk and action and our government’s making, I think, an effort at addressing these issues, but it’s not enough. And now the population is rising and starting to demand that of not just governments, but all institutions. So, there’s a positive dynamic, or at least a forward motion in Canada around thinking about things in a totally different way in our relations with each other, with the land and the people with a a lot more listening going on with indigenous people, not necessarily dialogue, sometimes it’s dialogue, but it’s mostly listening. There’s are so many interesting initiatives right now, in Canada, I’m thinking of the indigenous climate action network and so many others that are doing great work. So it’s really a question of listening.
I can’t really speak on behalf radicals in Canada. There are some very politically radical people. I’m not really one of them. I consider myself a progressive, but what I’m talking about is radical listening, which is a process and, and hopefully it leads to radical actions. I use the radical in the sense that the status quo is unlivable. We are living far, far beyond our means. And so, you can’t sot of piece meal or go incrementally. If people are uncomfortable with the word radical, you can think of other words, but I’m not talking about only radical political action. I’m talking about radical lifestyle change and of radical rethinking through listening. That’s my own personal point of view.
Canada is an oil and gas producing country, so we have tremendous challenges with the climate emergency, because a lot of our economy is based on gas and oil. So, we’re struggling with that too. We have a new minister of environment and climate change right now. So, there’s, there’s that that debate is going on. Your other question about Western and Eastern Canada, or in Quebec in particular. There are definitely regional different regional approaches in Canada right now. I’m in Vancouver where there’s the David Suzuki Foundation and the World Soundscape Project legacy, and lots of going on on the environmental front, but in Quebec you also have very strong environmental sensitivity. You have it across Canada, but in Quebec, you have street movements, like when the Fridays for Future movement happened in 2019, there were, you 400,000 or 500,000 people in the streets. There is a sense of mobilization and action that we’re seeing in Canada and Quebec is very good and strong at that.
You’re also seeing it also in the arts community. There are all kinds of organizations now that are rethinking how they work, in part because of the COVID crisis, but also because of the climate emergency. I can’t get into it too much because I don’t think there’ll be time, but I mentioned this group, SCALE as an example of a national initiative to bring us all together in Canada to talk about the role of arts and culture in the climate emergency and we’re working with Julie’s Bicycle and Creative Carbon Scotland and others who are doing similar kinds of work. And I know that there’s initiatives in Europe and in France as well.
I think that’s what we need to do is get out of our little silos of my art form and my interests and think broadly together and create coalitions so that we can identify the things that we want to do together and do them, as your symposium has suggested, as collective actions, because individual actions, while important for the person, are not as effective as collective actions.
It’s easy to find my email claude@conscient.ca . I think it’s an ongoing conversation. Thank you. I know you’ve had a long day, so I’m going to go have a shower and it’s been a lot of fun. I think I appreciate your being there and let’s keep in touch.
Unheard Landscapes group in Blois, France delivering ‘radical listening as climate action’ and me on October 29, 2021, Vancouver
The conscient podcast / balado conscient is a series of conversations about art, conscience and the ecological crisis. This podcast is bilingual (in either English or French). The language of the guest determines the language of the podcast. Episode notes are translated but not individual interviews.
I started the conscient project in 2020 as a personal learning journey and knowledge sharing exercise. It has been rewarding, and sometimes surprising.
The term ‘conscient’ is defined as ‘being aware of one’s surroundings, thoughts and motivations’. My touchstone for the podcast is episode 1, e01 terrified, based on an essay I wrote in May 2019, where I share my anxiety about the climate crisis and my belief that arts and culture can play a critical role in raising public awareness about environmental issues. The conscient podcast / balado conscient follows up on my http://simplesoundscapes.ca (2016–2019) project: 175, 3-minute audio and video field recordings that explore mindful listening.
Season 1 (May to October 2020) explored how the arts contribute to environmental awareness and action. I produced 3 episodes in French and 15 in English. The episodes cover a wide range of content, including activism, impact measurement, gaming, arts funding, cross-sectoral collaborations, social justice, artistic practices, etc. Episodes 8 to 17 were recorded while I was at the Creative Climate Leadership USA course in Arizona in March 2020 (led by Julie’s Bicycle). Episode 18 is a compilation of highlights from these conversations.
Season 2 (March 2021 – ) explores the concept of reality and is about accepting reality, working through ecological grief and charting a path forward. The first episode of season 2 (e19 reality) mixes quotations from 28 authors with field recordings from simplesoundscapes and from my 1998 soundscape composition, Au dernier vivant les biens. One of my findings from this episode is that ‘I now see, and more importantly, I now feel in my bones, ‘the state of things as they actually exist’, without social filters or unsustainable stories blocking the way’. e19 reality touches upon 7 topics: our perception of reality, the possibility of human extinction, ecological anxiety and ecological grief, hope, arts, storytelling and the wisdom of indigenous cultures. The rest of season 2 features interviews with thought leaders about their responses and reactions to e19 reality.
my professional services
I’ve been retired from the Canada Council for the Arts since September 15, 2020 where I served as a senior strategic advisor in arts granting (2016-2020) and manager of the Inter-Arts Office (1999-2015). My focus in (quasi) retirement is environmental issues within my area of expertise in arts and culture, in particular in acoustic ecology. I’m open to become involved in projects that align with my values and that move forward environmental concerns. Feel free to email me for a conversation : claude@conscient.ca
acknowledgement of eco-responsibility
I acknowledge that the production of the conscient podcast / balado conscient produces carbon. I try to minimize this carbon footprint by being as efficient as possible, including using GreenGeeks as my web server and acquiring carbon offsets for my equipment and travel activities from BullFrog Power and Less.
a word about privilege and bias
While recording episode 19 ‘reality’, I heard elements of ‘privilege’ in my voice that I had not noticed before. It sounded a bit like ‘ecological mansplaining’. I realize that, in spite of good intentions, I need to work my way through issues of privilege (of all kinds) and unconscious bias the way I did through ecological anxiety and grief during the fall of 2020. My re-education is ongoing.
e74 letting go – laisser aller was recorded on Tuesday, October 26, 2021, at 6.40am. It’s a bilingual monologue about how I’ve come to realize that the main barrier to my re-education is… ‘me’, and that the solution, simply, is to let it go. To release it.
A soundwalk around the neighbourhood follows.Â
Transcription of monologue (in English below but bilingual in the podcast)
conscient podcast (note: recorded robot voice says ‘you are trespassing’). I’m actually not trespassing. I’m just leaving the house here in East Vancouver. Good morning. It’s episode 74 of the conscient podcast on Tuesday, October 26, 2021. It’s 6.40am. This episode is called letting go.
You might recall that I launched the conscient podcast in 2020 as a learning journey to explore the relationship between art and the ecological crisis, but a secondary goal of the project was also to learn how to unlearn and how to re-educate myself.
My main objective with the conscious podcast is both to learn more about the issues of the ecological transition, and the role of art, but also to learn to relearn and unlearn.
So, the learning part has gone very well – and I need to thank my brilliant guests for that – but my re-education – that unlearning – have been an uphill battle. In fact, I’m walking up a hill as I speak right now, so metaphorically, it’s a bit like that. I’m a bit out of breath.
I’ve come to realize that the main barrier to my re-education, and I might not be the only one in this situation, is… ‘me’. My personality, my baggage, and, that the solution, simply, is to let it go. To release it.
So I have managed to learn a lot from my interactions with my brilliant guests, but I have not really managed to unlearn.
I realize that the main obstacle to my re-education is… ‘myself’… that is, my personality and my baggage, and that the solution to this dilemma is to let it go. That is, to let go of all the baggage, including my ‘personality’.
So, I’m lightening things up, this morning and future forward. Letting go, bit by bit, of that baggage.
I feel a little lighter already. And when I need a little reminder and encouragement, I’m going to listen to this recording again and remind myself that it’s all possible, one step at a time, to let go one element at a time.
So, I feel a bit lighter already. Maybe you do as well, I don’t know.
My plan is to listen to this recording again and again when I need a reminder, or maybe a bit of encouragement, that these things can be done, little by little.
So, if you have time, I invite you to join me on a morning sound walk now. It’s 6.45 am. If you don’t have the time, it’s fine. We’ll catch up later, but for those who want to stay, I’m going to walk around the neighbourhood now and listen.
I feel a little lighter already. And when I need a little reminder and encouragement, I’m going to listen to this recording again and remind myself that it’s all possible, one step at a time, to let go one element at a time.
Thanks for listening. Here we go.Â
East Pender Street. Vancouver, at 6.45am October 26, 2021
*
Transcription du monologue (en français ci-dessous mais bilingue dans le balado)
The post e74 letting go – laisser aller appeared first on conscient podcast / balado conscient. conscient is a bilingual blog and podcast (French or English) by audio artist Claude Schryer that explores how arts and culture contribute to environmental awareness and action.
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About the Concient Podcast from Claude Schryer
The conscient podcast / balado conscient is a series of conversations about art, conscience and the ecological crisis. This podcast is bilingual (in either English or French). The language of the guest determines the language of the podcast. Episode notes are translated but not individual interviews.
I started the conscient project in 2020 as a personal learning journey and knowledge sharing exercise. It has been rewarding, and sometimes surprising.
The term ‘conscient’ is defined as ‘being aware of one’s surroundings, thoughts and motivations’. My touchstone for the podcast is episode 1, e01 terrified, based on an essay I wrote in May 2019, where I share my anxiety about the climate crisis and my belief that arts and culture can play a critical role in raising public awareness about environmental issues. The conscient podcast / balado conscient follows up on my http://simplesoundscapes.ca (2016–2019) project: 175, 3-minute audio and video field recordings that explore mindful listening.
Season 1 (May to October 2020) explored how the arts contribute to environmental awareness and action. I produced 3 episodes in French and 15 in English. The episodes cover a wide range of content, including activism, impact measurement, gaming, arts funding, cross-sectoral collaborations, social justice, artistic practices, etc. Episodes 8 to 17 were recorded while I was at the Creative Climate Leadership USA course in Arizona in March 2020 (led by Julie’s Bicycle). Episode 18 is a compilation of highlights from these conversations.
Season 2 (March 2021 – ) explores the concept of reality and is about accepting reality, working through ecological grief and charting a path forward. The first episode of season 2 (e19 reality) mixes quotations from 28 authors with field recordings from simplesoundscapes and from my 1998 soundscape composition, Au dernier vivant les biens. One of my findings from this episode is that ‘I now see, and more importantly, I now feel in my bones, ‘the state of things as they actually exist’, without social filters or unsustainable stories blocking the way’. e19 reality touches upon 7 topics: our perception of reality, the possibility of human extinction, ecological anxiety and ecological grief, hope, arts, storytelling and the wisdom of indigenous cultures. The rest of season 2 features interviews with thought leaders about their responses and reactions to e19 reality.
my professional services
I’ve been retired from the Canada Council for the Arts since September 15, 2020 where I served as a senior strategic advisor in arts granting (2016-2020) and manager of the Inter-Arts Office (1999-2015). My focus in (quasi) retirement is environmental issues within my area of expertise in arts and culture, in particular in acoustic ecology. I’m open to become involved in projects that align with my values and that move forward environmental concerns. Feel free to email me for a conversation : claude@conscient.ca
acknowledgement of eco-responsibility
I acknowledge that the production of the conscient podcast / balado conscient produces carbon. I try to minimize this carbon footprint by being as efficient as possible, including using GreenGeeks as my web server and acquiring carbon offsets for my equipment and travel activities from BullFrog Power and Less.
a word about privilege and bias
While recording episode 19 ‘reality’, I heard elements of ‘privilege’ in my voice that I had not noticed before. It sounded a bit like ‘ecological mansplaining’. I realize that, in spite of good intentions, I need to work my way through issues of privilege (of all kinds) and unconscious bias the way I did through ecological anxiety and grief during the fall of 2020. My re-education is ongoing.
e73 judith marcuse – finding the energy to keep moving is my conversation with arts for social change activist and dance artist Judith Marcuse at Judith’s home in West Vancouver on October 24, 2021. We started with a question about ‘radical listening’ followed by an overview of her work as executive director and founder of the International Centre of Art for Social Change (ICASC) and the soon to be announced Arts for Social Change Network (ASCN). At midpoint in conversation, we took a break to listen to the soundscape of her garden and continued with reflections from a presentation she gave today, October 25 at the Canadian Senior Artists Resource Network. Many thanks to Judith for taking the time to share her deep knowledge of, and passion for, all forms of community-engaged arts and for generosity and leadership over many years in the arts community.Â
Note: the audio quality of this recording is not optimal because of social distancing.Â
Excerpt
I feel really at the base of myself that creating anything, art, sofas, whatever it is, allows us to give of ourselves to something that may not be lasting but in the moment, that act of creation can engender hope, can engender a sense of autonomy, a sense of possibility and we can’t despair right now, we’re at a tipping point, as everyone is saying and the question for me is how do we find the energy alone and collectively to keep moving in this urgency that we’re all feeling without drowning in despair. I think art has an essential role to play in that agenda.
Â
Notes
Transcript of excerpt from 22 westerkamp at 19m22s of e73:
That awareness of how we form relationships through sound or how we can block them, I think, is just as important and it extends right into the ecological issues and into climate change. What are we putting out there when we listen to our cities humming away: that’s energy, that’s the voice of energy being overused, right? And can we just relate through our ears to what’s happening out there? We can hear it. It’s all there…
Judith and I on a walk by the beach in West Vancouver
The conscient podcast / balado conscient is a series of conversations about art, conscience and the ecological crisis. This podcast is bilingual (in either English or French). The language of the guest determines the language of the podcast. Episode notes are translated but not individual interviews.
I started the conscient project in 2020 as a personal learning journey and knowledge sharing exercise. It has been rewarding, and sometimes surprising.
The term ‘conscient’ is defined as ‘being aware of one’s surroundings, thoughts and motivations’. My touchstone for the podcast is episode 1, e01 terrified, based on an essay I wrote in May 2019, where I share my anxiety about the climate crisis and my belief that arts and culture can play a critical role in raising public awareness about environmental issues. The conscient podcast / balado conscient follows up on my http://simplesoundscapes.ca (2016–2019) project: 175, 3-minute audio and video field recordings that explore mindful listening.
Season 1 (May to October 2020) explored how the arts contribute to environmental awareness and action. I produced 3 episodes in French and 15 in English. The episodes cover a wide range of content, including activism, impact measurement, gaming, arts funding, cross-sectoral collaborations, social justice, artistic practices, etc. Episodes 8 to 17 were recorded while I was at the Creative Climate Leadership USA course in Arizona in March 2020 (led by Julie’s Bicycle). Episode 18 is a compilation of highlights from these conversations.
Season 2 (March 2021 – ) explores the concept of reality and is about accepting reality, working through ecological grief and charting a path forward. The first episode of season 2 (e19 reality) mixes quotations from 28 authors with field recordings from simplesoundscapes and from my 1998 soundscape composition, Au dernier vivant les biens. One of my findings from this episode is that ‘I now see, and more importantly, I now feel in my bones, ‘the state of things as they actually exist’, without social filters or unsustainable stories blocking the way’. e19 reality touches upon 7 topics: our perception of reality, the possibility of human extinction, ecological anxiety and ecological grief, hope, arts, storytelling and the wisdom of indigenous cultures. The rest of season 2 features interviews with thought leaders about their responses and reactions to e19 reality.
my professional services
I’ve been retired from the Canada Council for the Arts since September 15, 2020 where I served as a senior strategic advisor in arts granting (2016-2020) and manager of the Inter-Arts Office (1999-2015). My focus in (quasi) retirement is environmental issues within my area of expertise in arts and culture, in particular in acoustic ecology. I’m open to become involved in projects that align with my values and that move forward environmental concerns. Feel free to email me for a conversation : claude@conscient.ca
acknowledgement of eco-responsibility
I acknowledge that the production of the conscient podcast / balado conscient produces carbon. I try to minimize this carbon footprint by being as efficient as possible, including using GreenGeeks as my web server and acquiring carbon offsets for my equipment and travel activities from BullFrog Power and Less.
a word about privilege and bias
While recording episode 19 ‘reality’, I heard elements of ‘privilege’ in my voice that I had not noticed before. It sounded a bit like ‘ecological mansplaining’. I realize that, in spite of good intentions, I need to work my way through issues of privilege (of all kinds) and unconscious bias the way I did through ecological anxiety and grief during the fall of 2020. My re-education is ongoing.
e72 richard wagamese’s what comes from spirit is my monologue about my excitement when  I found a copy of a posthumous book, What Comes From Spirit, by my favorite writer, Richard Wagamese, at the People’s Coop Bookstore in Vancouver and my reflections on Drew Hayden Taylor’s touching introduction.
Script for monologue (slightly different in verbal form)
It’s 2.29am on Sunday October 17th, 2021. I can hear the rumble of the city in the background, but the rain has stopped for a few minutes.
Yesterday, I walked by the People’s Coop Bookstore on Commercial Avenue in Vancouver and thought I saw a new book by Richard Wagamese in the corner of my eye. How could this be? The title was What Comes From Spirit. My heart was pounding. Could this be a new book from my favorite author, who tragically passed away in 2017?Â
Yes, it was, and it was their last copy. I told my wife Sabrina that this was a gift and a signal for me to deepen my journey of ‘radical listening’ in season 3 of this podcast.
I picked up the book and held it in my hand like a precious stone, feeling it’s weight, admiring the design and flipping through the pages…
The store clerk told me they had already ordered more copies. I was happy to hear that. Thank to People’s Coop bookstore.
So here I am, it’s now 2.33am and I’m having trouble sleeping due to jet lag from our trip from Ottawa a couple of days ago but also because I am excited to read this book. It starts with Drew Hayden Taylor’s introduction who said :
the literary gods indeed must be feeling benevolent.Â
Hayden Taylor articulates what I have always felt about Wagamese’s writing:
Richard’s magical tales, in whatever form, had that power to change the world. And they did.Â
They certainly did for me. I agree, Drew, that we can feel Wagamese’s pain and joy, his confusion and understanding in his writing and that we do indeed come away better from it.
For example, this excerpt from page 180 of Wagamese’s unfinished novel Starlight:Â
She focused on that tiny point of light and pushed her hearing out through it.Â
I love that sentence.
Drew ends his introduction by saying that:
if you are holding this book, you are obviously a devotee.
Well, yes, I am.
He suggests that we ‘don’t read the book too fast’. I won’t. He suggests that we ‘soak it in.’ That I will but now I need to get to bed.
Thank you Drew, for your insightful introductory note and thanks to publishers Douglas and McIntyre for this precious book, as the world ponders climate emergency at COP 26 in just a few days, I am grateful that we have one more Richard Wagamese book to anchor us in hope, hope, in its truest sense hope, which is offer a positive vision for our world and how to live each moment in an interconnected way.
I want to thank Richard Wagamese. I hope you can hear me, for being a spiritual guide to many, including me. I feel your presence in my life, whispering in my ear at just the right time and in the right way.
I won’t read any excerpts from the book tonight. Rather, I invite you to discover any of Wagamese’s writings. Many are accessible through your local public library.
I think this conscient podcast episode will be my shortest ever. My goal here was to share my excitement about discovering What Comes From Spirit today but also to tell you about the deep feeling of calm that this book brings me. We should never underestimate the power of art to transform our lives…
I’ll end by quoting Wagamese from episode 19 of the conscient podcast. This is from his novel For Joshua, which regular listeners of this podcast might have heard a few times before, but I think is timely to share here and now.
Thanks for listening.
We may not relight the fires that used to burn in our villages, but we carry the embers from those fires in our hearts and learn to light new fires in a new world. We can recreate the spirit of community we had, of kinship, of relationship to all things, of union with the land, harmony with the universe, balance in living, humility, honesty, truth, and wisdom in all of our dealings with each other.
Il nous suggère de “ne pas lire le livre trop viteâ€. Je ne le ferai pas. Il nous suggère de “l’absorberâ€. C’est ce que je vais faire, mais maintenant je dois aller me coucher.
The conscient podcast / balado conscient is a series of conversations about art, conscience and the ecological crisis. This podcast is bilingual (in either English or French). The language of the guest determines the language of the podcast. Episode notes are translated but not individual interviews.
I started the conscient project in 2020 as a personal learning journey and knowledge sharing exercise. It has been rewarding, and sometimes surprising.
The term ‘conscient’ is defined as ‘being aware of one’s surroundings, thoughts and motivations’. My touchstone for the podcast is episode 1, e01 terrified, based on an essay I wrote in May 2019, where I share my anxiety about the climate crisis and my belief that arts and culture can play a critical role in raising public awareness about environmental issues. The conscient podcast / balado conscient follows up on my http://simplesoundscapes.ca (2016–2019) project: 175, 3-minute audio and video field recordings that explore mindful listening.
Season 1 (May to October 2020) explored how the arts contribute to environmental awareness and action. I produced 3 episodes in French and 15 in English. The episodes cover a wide range of content, including activism, impact measurement, gaming, arts funding, cross-sectoral collaborations, social justice, artistic practices, etc. Episodes 8 to 17 were recorded while I was at the Creative Climate Leadership USA course in Arizona in March 2020 (led by Julie’s Bicycle). Episode 18 is a compilation of highlights from these conversations.
Season 2 (March 2021 – ) explores the concept of reality and is about accepting reality, working through ecological grief and charting a path forward. The first episode of season 2 (e19 reality) mixes quotations from 28 authors with field recordings from simplesoundscapes and from my 1998 soundscape composition, Au dernier vivant les biens. One of my findings from this episode is that ‘I now see, and more importantly, I now feel in my bones, ‘the state of things as they actually exist’, without social filters or unsustainable stories blocking the way’. e19 reality touches upon 7 topics: our perception of reality, the possibility of human extinction, ecological anxiety and ecological grief, hope, arts, storytelling and the wisdom of indigenous cultures. The rest of season 2 features interviews with thought leaders about their responses and reactions to e19 reality.
my professional services
I’ve been retired from the Canada Council for the Arts since September 15, 2020 where I served as a senior strategic advisor in arts granting (2016-2020) and manager of the Inter-Arts Office (1999-2015). My focus in (quasi) retirement is environmental issues within my area of expertise in arts and culture, in particular in acoustic ecology. I’m open to become involved in projects that align with my values and that move forward environmental concerns. Feel free to email me for a conversation : claude@conscient.ca
acknowledgement of eco-responsibility
I acknowledge that the production of the conscient podcast / balado conscient produces carbon. I try to minimize this carbon footprint by being as efficient as possible, including using GreenGeeks as my web server and acquiring carbon offsets for my equipment and travel activities from BullFrog Power and Less.
a word about privilege and bias
While recording episode 19 ‘reality’, I heard elements of ‘privilege’ in my voice that I had not noticed before. It sounded a bit like ‘ecological mansplaining’. I realize that, in spite of good intentions, I need to work my way through issues of privilege (of all kinds) and unconscious bias the way I did through ecological anxiety and grief during the fall of 2020. My re-education is ongoing.
e71 green sessions debrief are highlights from the 2021 Green Sessions organizing committee : Philippa Domville, Sandy Crawley, Robyn Stevan and Liisa Repo-Martell of Artists for Real Climate Action, Emma Stenning and Rohan Kulkarni of Soulpepper Theatre and myself from SCALE. We talked about the Canadian arts sector can step forward with impact to address the climate emergency.
The Green Sessions was invented because this small group of people got together and decided we wanted to do something that created impact and we put really a fairly modest amount of money behind it, and a huge amount of hours of time and passion. I’m so, so proud of the impact. For me, there’s a big lesson, which is, you know, small group of committed people can really make a difference. I think on this agenda that is really, really encouraging for all of us and that has been very, very inspiring for me. On the, on the flip side, I think what I sent at the green sessions is actually the power that we hold as a community and actually the feeling that our sector is in dialogue about this most, most urgent issue is very, very uplifting and very powerful. I’m just really interested in new and more opportunities for us to collaborate as a sector and putting people into focus and a place of knowledge on this agenda, because that really was a starting hypothesis, which is that our sector needs literacy and confidence in order to step forward with impact and that was our mission. We have scratched the surface of that but I’m very proud of the contribution that we’ve made and I’ve very encouraged to do more.
Emma Stenning, #conscientpodcast e71 green sessions debrief, october 1, 2021
Emma Stenning, #baladoconscient, e71 green sessions debrief, 1 octobre, 2021
The post e71 green sessions debrief appeared first on conscient podcast / balado conscient. conscient is a bilingual blog and podcast (French or English) by audio artist Claude Schryer that explores how arts and culture contribute to environmental awareness and action.
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About the Concient Podcast from Claude Schryer
The conscient podcast / balado conscient is a series of conversations about art, conscience and the ecological crisis. This podcast is bilingual (in either English or French). The language of the guest determines the language of the podcast. Episode notes are translated but not individual interviews.
I started the conscient project in 2020 as a personal learning journey and knowledge sharing exercise. It has been rewarding, and sometimes surprising.
The term ‘conscient’ is defined as ‘being aware of one’s surroundings, thoughts and motivations’. My touchstone for the podcast is episode 1, e01 terrified, based on an essay I wrote in May 2019, where I share my anxiety about the climate crisis and my belief that arts and culture can play a critical role in raising public awareness about environmental issues. The conscient podcast / balado conscient follows up on my http://simplesoundscapes.ca (2016–2019) project: 175, 3-minute audio and video field recordings that explore mindful listening.
Season 1 (May to October 2020) explored how the arts contribute to environmental awareness and action. I produced 3 episodes in French and 15 in English. The episodes cover a wide range of content, including activism, impact measurement, gaming, arts funding, cross-sectoral collaborations, social justice, artistic practices, etc. Episodes 8 to 17 were recorded while I was at the Creative Climate Leadership USA course in Arizona in March 2020 (led by Julie’s Bicycle). Episode 18 is a compilation of highlights from these conversations.
Season 2 (March 2021 – ) explores the concept of reality and is about accepting reality, working through ecological grief and charting a path forward. The first episode of season 2 (e19 reality) mixes quotations from 28 authors with field recordings from simplesoundscapes and from my 1998 soundscape composition, Au dernier vivant les biens. One of my findings from this episode is that ‘I now see, and more importantly, I now feel in my bones, ‘the state of things as they actually exist’, without social filters or unsustainable stories blocking the way’. e19 reality touches upon 7 topics: our perception of reality, the possibility of human extinction, ecological anxiety and ecological grief, hope, arts, storytelling and the wisdom of indigenous cultures. The rest of season 2 features interviews with thought leaders about their responses and reactions to e19 reality.
my professional services
I’ve been retired from the Canada Council for the Arts since September 15, 2020 where I served as a senior strategic advisor in arts granting (2016-2020) and manager of the Inter-Arts Office (1999-2015). My focus in (quasi) retirement is environmental issues within my area of expertise in arts and culture, in particular in acoustic ecology. I’m open to become involved in projects that align with my values and that move forward environmental concerns. Feel free to email me for a conversation : claude@conscient.ca
acknowledgement of eco-responsibility
I acknowledge that the production of the conscient podcast / balado conscient produces carbon. I try to minimize this carbon footprint by being as efficient as possible, including using GreenGeeks as my web server and acquiring carbon offsets for my equipment and travel activities from BullFrog Power and Less.
a word about privilege and bias
While recording episode 19 ‘reality’, I heard elements of ‘privilege’ in my voice that I had not noticed before. It sounded a bit like ‘ecological mansplaining’. I realize that, in spite of good intentions, I need to work my way through issues of privilege (of all kinds) and unconscious bias the way I did through ecological anxiety and grief during the fall of 2020. My re-education is ongoing.
