Jazz Federation to map touring emissions
Tour production is one of the Jazz Federation’s key services. In our 2022–2023 projects, we will pay special attention to finding the best practices and most sustainable solutions to keep jazz playing all over the country. During fall 2022, we study the emissions of seven differently produced tours, and collect data about their impacts and user experiences.
Finnish Jazz Federation’s essential form of operation is national touring. The annual touring activities enable approximately 100 concerts in 40 different locations all over Finland. The concerts mainly take place in our member organizations. Four of the tours are in-house productions, and five are produced in co-operation with external producers.
In 2022–2023, Jazz Finland runs a governmentally-funded project, titled “Finnish Jazz Federation’s carbon-neutral touring model”. The aim is to map the carbon footprint and handprint of Finnish live music, and to develop Jazz Federation’s own tour system to become more environmentally sustainable. On top of our three regular tour productions, we produce and support seven pilot tours in the fall of 2022.
In addition to the organization’s own tour bus, the touring acts hit the road by train and electric car, and besides making circular routings to cover the whole of Finland, there are more localized tours, like one in Lapland and one in the South-Western archipelago. One of the bands travel to Sweden to tour locally there, using public transportation. One of the pilot tours combines evening concerts to school concerts during the days, to approach new audiences while they’re in the area.
To ensure the reliability of our reporting and transparency in our action plan, we work together with environmental specialists, such as Positive Impact Ltd. and Puuni Ltd.
In addition to collecting emission data and experiences, the Jazz Federation encourages the bands and the concert organizers to take action against climate change. The bands are provided with information and templates to draft their own “green riders” and use them in the future bookings too. The concert promoters also get support and tips to take steps towards greener events. These climate-smart choices include preferring low-carbon transportation methods and providing information about them to audiences too, saving energy and choosing renewable sources, reducing waste and recycling materials, and making healthy, vegan food easily available to artists, staff and audiences.
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Our sustainability efforts are affiliated with the broader development in the Finnish live music industry. The Jazz Federation also coordinates the 2022–2023 project to engage a great number of live professionals and measure the climate impacts of the whole Finnish live music sector. Together with sustainability specialists and the leading Finnish music organizations, the project results in the live music branch’s road map to carbon-neutrality.
Jazz Federation Carbon-Neutral Tour Model Pilots in 2022:
15.–21.8.2022 Sole Azul – Residency Tour in Lapland by Electric Car
5.8.–4.9.2022 Quartet Ajaton – Co-production Tour
19.–25.9.2022 Jonathan Bäckström Quartet – Coastal Tour
3.–9.10.2022 Jazzup! – Clubs and Schools Tour
10.–16.10.2022 Adele Sauros Quartet – Nordic Jazz Comets Tour in Sweden
31.10.–6.11.2022 Varre Vartiainen Almost standards Live! – Train Tour
14.–20.11.2022 Mirja Mäkelä Trio – Co-production Tour