What's new

Read here about:

Canberra Conversations
The Gifts of the Furies (to order a CD, please click here)
Report on first Canberra Conversation

Canberra Conversations

A Chorus of Women have started a series of citizen conversations on topics of importance for our future. The aim is to see how community engagement and wise decision making can be helped by a more open dialogue among citizens, scientists, artists, business people and policy makers.These ‘Canberra Conversations’ include artistic expression and facilitated discussion to create an environment for active engagement by the people with important issues that will shape the future of the city and country. The aim is to explore different perspectives on issues and try to find the common ground that will inform wise actions. If you would like to hear more about this initiative or to help out in any way, please contact us.

Emissions Trading - our way forward to greenhouse gas reductions?
Hosted by A Chorus of Women and the ANU Climate Change Institute
ACT Legislative Assembly
26 May 2009, 6-9 pm

For further information click here.

Our second Canberra Conversation will revolve around the current political debate about the emissions trading scheme and other ways in which Australia can find the cuts in greenhouse gases that are required to avert dangerous climate change. How can we reconcile environmental needs with political/economic 'imperatives'? How can we have an open dialogue about this most urgent issue that might lead towards creative solutions?

Contacts
Janet Salisbury
T: 02 6282 2280 (BH); 02 6285 1054 (H); 0416167280 (mobile)
janetsalisbury25@gmail.com

ANU Climate Change Institute: http://www.anu.edu.au/climatechange/

The Gifts of the Furies

CD OF THE LIVE PERFORMANCES
To order a 2 CD set of 'The Gifts of the Furies', click here

What can we do but wait in the dark
and watch while the weather roars in?

A Chorus of Canberra Citizens sang an answer to this question about the changing climate in two premiere performances of The Gifts of the Furies in the Great Hall of the Australian National Universityon 29 and 30 March 2009.

Glenda Cloughley’s big story song about climate change is perhaps the first Australian artwork to recognise the mythic scale of the climate change crisis. In beautiful new poetry and music it portrays the predicament of everyone including the artist whose soul is possessed by the fate of the age. Like the myth of the Eumenides the Greek poet Aeschylus dramatized in The Oresteian Trilogy, the new work moves from the dark core of our present situation on the warming Earth towards the possibility of harmony between people and nature.

Click here for more background on the story and the structure of the work.

To listen to an excerpt of Movement Two click here. This will introduce you to Mr Mythos, the songman, in his first encounter with The Furies of Earth. To hear the big voice of our Citizens' Chorus in the Finale of the work, click here.

The March performances of The Gifts of the Furies were presented by A Chorus of Women with Wayfarers Australia and other choristers under the musical direction of Johanna McBride and Judith Clingan AM. After both performances the audience was invited to a conversation with the composer, performers and Chorus. Artist Bronwyn Goss writes:

The two premiere performances of The Gifts of the Furies on the Sunday and Monday nights, in which A Chorus of Women were joined by Wayfarers Canberra, were almost sold out. A Chorus of Women has risen in Canberra, as a phenomenon of our times and its place - a city state at the centre of Australian democracy. ‘Our times’ constitute an increasingly politically savvy and educated population impatient with spin and hubris who are longing for wisdom from decision-makers. And A Chorus of Women has become known for their synthesis of this emotionally intelligent citizens’ voice that speaks through original music and theatre into the concerns of our age. Wayfarers, led by Canberra’s musical genius and inspirational creative spirit, Judith Clingan AM, added sweet young voices and rich male tones to the warm Chorus sound.

Bronwyn Goss goes on to write about her experience as a member of the audience:

There is something about singing that opens the heart and this story-song has activated an emotional telos that runs from a sense of doom towards its longing for wisdom. And the audience can hardly wait to sing their promise with the chorus. You wouldn’t believe how good this felt – to sing my citizen’s voice into this archetypal healing track. ... 'The Gifts of the Furies' is Glenda Cloughley’s own wise and compassionate gift of cultural therapy against the dilemmas of our time. It now needs to do its work amongst us all.

To read Bronwyn Goss' full report, click here.

FURTHER PERFORMANCES
We are actively seeking other opportunities to present the The Gifts of the Furies in whole or part, including in association with academic and scientific meetings. Please contact us or Glenda on 6239 6483 or at glenda.cloughley@ozemail.com.au.

CANBERRA CONVERSATION ABOUT THE ARTS
One of our next Canberra Conversations will be devoted to the role the arts can play in engaging hearts and minds in relation to the challenges of climate change.

First Canberra Conversation

Canberra’s energy future: thinking together about ways forward
Hosted by A Chorus of Women and the ANU Climate Change Institute
ACT Legislative Assembly
26 February 2009, 6-9 pm
70 participants

For further information click here. To view the program clilck here.

Our first Canberra Conversation was run in collaboration with the ANU Climate Change Institute and we welcomed Professor Will Steffen, Executive Director of the institute as our co-host for the event. The three-hour conversation combined information exchange with small and whole group discussions, and original songs voicing the social and ethical challenges that these subjects present for our community. Through these elements we hoped to create a nonadversarial environment where we could inform ourselves and other participants on the topic of stationary energy production and use in Canberra and, more importantly, listen carefully to the diversity of views represented in the room. By welcoming diverse opinions and focusing on listening to one another, we sought to imagine shared approaches to tackle the complex issues surrounding energy production and use.

The event was held in the ACT Legislative Assembly building - the seat of city government - and our first piece of music was the song of Ethos, the inspiring Tom Bass sculpture representing the spirit of Canberra as an ideal city that stands at the entrance to the building.

An initial sample of views around the room revealed a variety of interests and perspectives, including:

concern about equity considerations in the massive difference between developing and developed world lifestyles
a desire for more direction and leadership from government on matters of energy production and use, and a desire for more support from the population in encouraging leaders to be active in this area
dreams of solar collectors on every building
concern about intergenerational equity, and the fact that some of the consequences of our decisions now will not be felt for some decades
excitement at the emergence of a forum that encourages genuine dialogue among citizens, and a wish for there to be a focus on involving people from all ages and sectors of society
confusion about the number of intertwined issues and the vexed challenges of tackling them – is there a common notion that we can hold onto to guide us through the complexity?

Our guest speakers, Mr Mike Johnson (formerly a specialist engineer with ActewAGL) and Dr Hugh Saddler (Director, Sustainability Advice Team; Principal Consultant, Energy Strategies; and Adjunct Professor, ANU Crawford and Fenner Schools), were interviewed by Dr Janet Salisbury (Chorus member and Director of the science information consultancy, Biotext) who was the facilitator for the evening. The nature of the energy grid, the issues associated with incorporating more diverse and distributed energy sources to the grid and the mechanisms and instruments for predicting, bidding for and allocating energy supply (including GreenPower schemes) were all described. The issue of the gas-fired power station and data centre proposal was also discussed. Some participants were surprised to hear about the potential emissions reductions associated with this proposal as this was not a focus of the media or public discussion about this scheme.

Professor Will Steffen emphasised the consequences of continuing with ‘business as usual’ practices: we’re currently tracking the upper level of both emission and temperature projections; impacts are likely to include the loss of the Great Barrier Reef due to rising acidity and sea surface temperatures; the climate changes would be severe and rapid enough to trigger a mass extinction event resulting in extreme losses of biodiversity; and we would expect to see a higher frequency and intensity of bushfires. Professor Steffen articulated a message of extreme urgency, explaining that these issues will cut to the core of what our society will be like.

Small group discussions followed, and the evening concluded with a plenary session seeking to bring together the views aired in the group discussions. Themes to emerge in the plenary session were:

Frustration at the state of ACT housing, and a strong, shared awareness of well-established steps that could significantly improve the energy efficiency of houses in Canberra. To do so would require better engagement with planners, regulatory bodies and policy makers. Regulatory difficulties were seen as particularly difficult hurdles.
Willingness to move away from dependence on coal.
Recognition that both “top down” and “bottom up” approaches are required. More vibrant and engaged communities were considered vitally important. Communities could be better engaged via any number of mechanisms, from more public forums to street parties with a focus on sustainable living. Other suggestions included: a greater focus on allowing people to work from home and so returning life to the suburbs; city planning that combines the benefits of high-density living (more efficient transport and energy use) with a patchwork of land-use that caters to diverse other needs (protecting biodiversity, providing public open space, allowing local food production, accommodating distributed energy generation); and practices that allow us to learn from indigenous communities and other sources of wisdom.
Suggestions for more self-sufficiency in Canberra, from energy to food production, rather than a reliance on importing from elsewhere. A focus on self-sufficiency would naturally engender more direct awareness of energy-related issues in workplaces and homes.
Recognition that the atmosphere is a common good shared globally, which suggests our decisions about energy production and use in Canberra ought to be placed in a global context (e.g. Mike described a ‘financial grid’ that operates alongside the physical grid, and perhaps greater recognition of such financial networks and accounting instruments could better facilitate more efficient global investment in carbon-neutral energy production).
Longing for a move away from adversarial approaches in public arenas such as our Houses of Parliament and the media. Strong differences of opinion are making consensus difficult, and there is a lot of work to do to establish a common sense of national and global direction. Forums that encourage dialogue and avoid hostile or judgmental labelling of people are needed.
A desire for a greater focus on values of caring, nurturing and considering impacts of our decisions on future generations in public discourse and decision-making (in preference to the current focus on individual short-term economic or personal interests).
Promotion of Canberra as a potential showcase to bring together these ideas and put them into practice.

In conclusion, the evening created a space for discussion that was welcoming and inclusive. Many in the audience already held common views on the topic, so a future challenge would be to invite participants with more strongly divergent views. For example, a useful follow-up to this first conversation would be to invite participants who are actively involved in commercial development, land-use planning and building regulations to develop a more in-depth dialogue on the issues of building and planning in Canberra.

Many participants thanked us for the musical contribution made by Chorus. Participants told us that the music and lyrics of the songs helped create a listening environment that attended not simply to the technical aspects of the energy use but also the emotional and ethical dimensions.

A review of the evening by Bob Douglas, founder and Chair of SEE-Change and Director of Australia 21 is attached