The Power of Music to Foster Ocean Stewardship: An Experience from the West Coast of Ireland
摘要
This chapter reflects on the lessons learnt and the future direction of a journey embarked on to harness the transformative power of music to foster ocean literacy and climate action in Ireland, where music is the most important cultural facet. We first see how, at the end of 2020, the ocean became the subject of a songwriting experiment called “Amhráin na Mara” (“Songs of the Sea”) which engaged a few local non-professional musicians with experts at Galway Atlantaquaria during the Covid-19 pandemic. Then, we see how in 2022 this collaboration was further developed in a project with a primary school in Galway which resulted in the co-development of an additional original song between the musicians and the children. Finally, we discover the project “Galway Bay is Calling”, co-developed with the classical music organisation Music for Galway and the Atlantic Technological University, and funded by the Creative Ireland Programme in 2023. In particular, we see how the musicians and singers involved in this project learned about the ocean's influence on them, and their influence on the ocean, and then worked with the internationally acclaimed cellist Naomi Berrill to develop an original composition capable of inspiring the local community's climate action.