As humanity wrestles with human-driven climate change, eco-creative actions are re-shaping music, religion and politics. Environmental protesters invoke spiritual themes, sing chants and engage in large-scale symbolic gestures. Artists and composers have taken on new commissions in order to create spaces of response to the current crisis. Indigenous performers are sharing ritually informed “worlding” events with global and metropolitan audiences. Requiems for lost species are being commissioned, new songbooks have been compiled, musical rituals have been developed for worship in outdoor environments, and a vast range of engagements emerge as groups and individuals respond creatively to the ecological crisis.

Within this emerging field, conference participants will address such questions as:

• What new forms of music, ritual and protest are emerging, and what significance do these have in the context of the ecological crisis?
• How do these intersect with aspects of ethnicity, race, gender and power?
• What challenges do communities face in developing musical-ritual forms in response to the current moment?
• Where and how do these bring existing practices into question?