Activity

Finnish Jazz Federation and its several member communities are involved in the four-year EU-funded Better Live – A Sustainable Circulation of Musicians in Europe project, which aims to develop and promote more environmentally and socially sustainable touring in Europe.

The goal of the Better Live project is to reduce emissions resulting from artists’ and audiences’ travel while maintaining – or even expanding – the geographical diversity of concert programs. These objectives are advanced through collaborative program planning among country-specific touring networks, enabling broader tours. Broader tours are expected to decrease the carbon footprint per concert and increase cultural diversity per carbon footprint.

The project has eleven main partners: Périscope (France), Bimhuis (Netherlands), Improvised Music Company (Ireland), G Livelab Tampere (Finland), Wytwórnia (Poland), Victoria Nasjonal Jazzscene (Norway), Zavod Sploh (Slovenia), Plataforma Jazz España (Spain), Jazzahead (Germany), EMEE – European Music Exporters Exchange (Belgium), and The Cluster (Greece). The Finnish Jazz Federation and its several member organisations, under the leadership of G Livelab Tampere, form part of the Finnish touring network, responsible for organizing approximately 30 concerts during the project.

Members of the touring network become part of an international network of operators, learn about producing more sustainable concerts, and receive EU funding for their tours. The project calculates emissions from musicians’ and audiences’ travel through data collection by participants and compares the carbon footprint of musicians’ travel to the baseline situation before the project. Additionally, it evaluates the geographical diversity of programs compared to the baseline.

The Better Live project is funded by the Creative Europe program of the European Union and the Culture Promotion Fund of the Polish Ministry of Culture.

For more information about the Better Live project:

Valtteri Pokela
Communications and Production Coordinator
valtteri.pokela@jazzfinland.fi
tel. +358 (0)44 512 5578

Project website: https://betterlivemusic.com/

In 2022-2023, Finnish Jazz Federation will carry out a carbon neutral touring model project, which seeks to steer the organisation’s touring activities towards a more sustainable direction. The development project will be delivered through a two-pronged approach: the carbon footprint of the Jazz Federation’s tours will be measured, and an action plan will be devised in order to move towards carbon neutral touring practices. In addition, as part of the overarching national scheme, Finnish live music industry’s environmental impacts will be mapped in collaboration with other live music industry organisations.

In autumn 2022, Finnish Jazz Federation will expand its regular touring program to include seven additional pilot tours which are designed to explore different ways of producing more sustainable jazz tours. The tours will be carried out using a range of transport and production methods, with data and audience experiences collected throughout, as well as getting the word out about environmentally friendly choices in general. In 2023, building on the pilot tour data acquired, the organisation will develop a roadmap towards a carbon neutral touring model. The project’s expert partners include environmental companies Puuni and Positive Impact.

The different modes of transport during the pilot tour will include the Jazz Federation’s tour bus, train, and electric car. One of the tour groups will venture outside of the regular touring circuits by stopping for a short-term residency in one of the locations and exploring the surrounding regions from there. Another tour group will trial a model of presenting school concerts and evening concerts as a combined performance in a bid to capture different audience groups in a single gathering and thus reducing the amount of transport required. There will be a dedicated tour of coastal and archipelago regions while another tour group will travel to Sweden, enabling a comparison of emissions caused by air travel against lower-carbon ground transport modes. Under their international Jazz Finland brand, Finnish Jazz Federation has been developing sustainable touring practices since 2020 in collaboration with its Nordic partners.

At concert venues, Finnish Jazz Federation will facilitate more sustainable choices through the introduction of “green riders”. The riders – artists’ specification lists sent to gig venues in advance – include requests such as asking concert organisers to ensure local audiences are aware of public transport options to and from the venue, to adopt energy-saving measures, to reduce the amount of waste created, and to make vegan food options available to artists and audiences.

Through this project, the Jazz Federation participates in the live music industry’s widespread sustainability efforts. The environmental effects of the whole country’s live music events will be mapped in 2022 by the network KEMUT, a sustainable music industry toolkit, and administered by the Finnish Jazz Federation. The network is a collaboration between the sector’s umbrella organisations, including Finland Festivals, LiveFIN, Music Finland, the Finnish Musicians’ Union, and the Association of Finnish Symphony Orchestras.

2023 will see the completion of an environmental roadmap for the Finnish live music sector. The roadmap will describe live music’s current environmental effects, set common goals for the entire industry, and suggest an action plan towards a carbon-neutral sector.

The carbon neutral touring model project is funded by the Ministry of Education and Culture.

More information about the Finnish Jazz Federation’s (Jazz Finland’s) carbon neutral touring model project:

Raisa Siivola
Project Manager
+358 44 205 6926
raisa.siivola@jazzfinland.fi

Sheri Toivomäki
Project Producer
+358 40 053 5760
sheri.toivomaki@jazzfinland.fi

More information on collaboration projects of the live music network KEMUT: www.kestavamusiikki.net

The aim of the development project is to create a new digital database and community platform which will provide climate action information, tools and support for the music industry.

The Ministry for Education and Culture has granted Finnish Jazz Federation 110,000 euros as part of the Ministry’s financial support for reshaping the cultural and creative sectors. This funding is allocated towards developing a digital sustainability platform, specifically designed for the music industry.

This development project is a joint operation between different Finnish live music organisations and builds on the groundwork already undertaken since 2020 through a scheme titled KEMUT – Sustainable music industry toolkit. The project’s co-collaborators include Finland Festivals, LiveFIN, Music Finland, Finnish Musicians’ Union, and the Association of Finnish Symphony Orchestras. The project will be administered and coordinated by Jazz Finland.

During the first developmental stage, the focus will be on the following components of the digital platform:

Learning – Education bundle
Planning – Planning tool
Communality – Networking platform

The scheme aims to incorporate climate action and sustainability into an organic part of the everyday operations of live music event organisers, orchestras, and musicians. Achieving this target requires practical knowledge, tools that are easy to use, and learning processes which take place in a network-like environment. We believe everyone can find practical ways of improving their ecological practices – we simply need to work together to identify them.

More information about the project:

Anu Ahola
Project Manager
anu.ahola@jazzfinland.fi
tel. +358 (0)50 569 0505

Maria Silvennoinen
Executive Director
maria.silvennoinen@jazzfinland.fi
tel. +358 (0)50 5367491

Nordic Jazz Comets is a collaboration platform administered by five Nordic jazz organisations: Finnish Jazz Federation, Svensk Jazz in Sweden, Norsk jazzforum in Norway, JazzDanmark in Denmark, and the FÍH Music School in Iceland.

Their 2022-2023 NJC project, titled Dagsverke (“a day of charity work”) enables Nordic jazz organisations, ten ensembles, and the network of Nordic jazz promoters to get to know some of the top jazz names of the future, as well as learning new ways to use music as a tool for social wellbeing.

The first stage of the Dagsverke project brought a group of promoters and musicians to Copenhagen to attend concerts and workshops between 9-11 February 2022. Five Nordic ensembles performed for a full house at Copenhagen’s Jazzhus Montmartre. Finland was represented at the event by the Adele Sauros Quartet.

As part of the event program, the participants learned about local community projects where music is used as a tool to advance social equality and human wellbeing. The members of the Adele Sauros Quartet and other Finnish event attendees got to know the organisation AntiDote, as well as participating in workshop activities led by Improv for Asylum Kids. AntiDote focuses on reducing drug user mortality rates through establishing supervised injection sites and educating the public about the use of naloxone spray in reversing opioid overdoses. AntiDote has been considering the benefits of bringing music to the injection sites and offering low-key concerts at the heaviest drug use areas. Workshops offered by Improv for Asylum Kids use improvisation as a tool to strengthen asylum seekers’ self-esteem as active learners and doers. A group of professional musicians have been working together to create physical movement methods and inclusive notation programs to help overcome the lack of a common language and the challenges rising from cultural sensitivities in communications.

The next Dagsverke event will take place in Sweden’s Stockholm and Gävle in 10-13 May 2023 as part of the Annual General Meeting get-together for Svensk Jazz, our Swedish equivalent. Ensembles and invited guests will again spend the first day participating in workshops, followed by performing for industry professionals and local audiences on day two. Applications for Nordic bands to attend the next Nordic Jazz Comets Dagsverke event will open in September 2022. The ensembles will be selected by a network of Nordic promoters. Application details will be announced at the Finnish Jazz Federation webpage and through the musician register.

Learn more about the project at www.nordicjazzcomets.com.

You can download the final report for the Nordic Jazz Comets In The Key Of Green project at the same webpage. Alternatively, you can access the report directly by using this link: Link to Dropbox

More information about the project:

Raisa Siivola
Project Coordinator
Finnish Jazz Federation
raisa.siivola@jazzfinland.fi
+358 44 205 6926

Finnish Jazz Federation participates in an international endeavour to establish the Danish JazzDanmark’s award-winning jazz camp program Jazz Camp for Girls in Finland, Sweden and Poland during 2022.

Similar activities have already been organised in the UK since 2019. This multinational project facilitates close collaborations between participants, sharing ideas and knowledge about best practice in their long-term endeavours to correct the industry’s gender imbalance. In Finland, Jazz Camp for Girls is organised in collaboration with the Pori Jazz Festival and the Palmgren Conservatory, as part of the Pori Jazz Kids program. The Jazz Camp for Girls Takes the North project is supported by the Nordic Culture Fund.

Jazz Camp for Girls was launched in 2014 by JazzDanmark, our sister organisation in Denmark, in a bid to inspire young girls to get interested in jazz and improvised music. The gender balance in music, and jazz music in particular, has traditionally been strongly biased towards men, with women’s role in bands often limited to singing. The leading idea behind the Jazz Camp for Girls concept is to offer all camp participants an inspiring and safe environment to try different instruments, band playing and composing music.

The girls’ jazz camp is designed for all girls and those identifying as girls. The camp is geared towards 8-12-year-olds, but the age guide is for reference only. The most important thing is to have a go at band playing and the willingness to learn new skills together. The camp will be organised in Pori between 8 and 11 July with tutors Kaisa Mäensivu, a New York City based bass player pursuing an international career, and Tomi Harrivaara, lecturer of bass playing at the Palmgren Conservatory.

“There are more than ten of these camps organised every year in Denmark, and our long-term goal and dream is to emulate that wide reach in Finland as well. We need to use a range of different tools to correct the gender imbalance on the jazz music sector and across the entire music industry in general. Jazz Camp for Girls provides one effective tool to help us reach our goal.”
Maria Silvennoinen, Executive Director, Finnish Jazz Federation

“Since the start of Jazz Camp for Girls in Denmark, we have achieved so much knowledge and many good experiences that we’re looking forward to sharing with the other countries, who also experience a continuous unequal gender balance in the music industry. We have seen good results from the start of Jazz Camp for Girls in the U.K. in 2019, and we hope that our new partners will experience the same good results – both in terms of getting more girls to play an instrument, while also focusing on working towards a more equal gender balance.”
Agnete Seerup, project manager, Jazz Camp for Girls at JazzDanmark

More information about the project:

Maria Silvennoinen
Executive Director
Finnish Jazz Federation
maria.silvennoinen@jazzfinland.fi
+ 358 50 536 7491

On the Rails is a joint project between Finnish Jazz Federation and the Welsh folk music organisation Trac Cymru, forging new collaborations between two countries on the edge of Europe: Finland and the UK.

This genre and border crossing endeavour seeks to create new relationships with jazz and folk concert organisers located along the railway in countries such as Germany, Belgium and France, as well as establishing enduring touring pathways in the UK for Finnish jazz ensembles.

Funded by the Arts Promotion Centre Finland, On the Rails looks to boost the competitiveness of Finnish and Welsh artists, taking advantage of existing responsibility skills and networks. The secondary goal is to increase the recognition of Finnish jazz professionals as project partners.

Throughout 2022, Finnish Jazz Federation and Trac Cymru will showcase environmentally friendly touring and concert practices alongisde music from their regions at jazz, folk and export events. Designed to create value-based collaborations, artist visits will be hosted by industry professionals in small towns with active jazz and folk music scenes, all located along the railway in Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Belgium and France.

In 2023, the touring route will be tested both ways: a Welsh folk ensemble will travel to Finland, playing concerts along the railway and getting to know local communities and culture, and a Finnish jazz ensemble will take off for a tour in the opposite direction. The carbon footprint of both tours will be measured, and all the data, experience, and contacts acquired will be freely available for the entire Finnish jazz and folk sector.

More information about the project:

Raisa Siivola
Producer-Publicist
Finnish Jazz Federation
raisa.siivola@jazzfinland.fi
+358 44 205 6926

Danny KilBride
Director
trac: Music Traditions Wales / Traddodiadau Cerdd Cymru
cyfarwyddydd@trac-cymru.org
+44 787 903 2130

Along with eight other partner organisations from the Europe Jazz Network, Finnish Jazz Federation has joined forces to collaborate on a new talent development programme, Constellations, exchanging our artists with others in the international jazz community.

Constellations is a new collaborative artist development exchange programme that reignites international ambitions of artists and partners in the wake of the pandemic. Constellations addresses creative and personal growth, along with recovery, wellbeing and environmental concerns, by enabling participants to meet new international peers and to participate in each other’s development programmes and networks.

Artists and partners will visit and participate in a development programme or residency in another country, learning about local ecosystems, and joining working groups of musicians, creatives and other music professionals. All artists and partners will also partake in major jazz networking events such as jazzahead! and the Europe Jazz Conference. In short, Constellations will provide a stepping stone for our talent development artists who are ready to break into international networks.

Constellations builds on a shared commitment to collaboration and to artists, laying foundations for a more connected and sustainable music scene across Europe. Through this programme, we’ll help to empower and expand the horizons of musicians across the globe.

International partner organisations and their programmes:

JazzLab / Stepping Stone (BE), Jazz Finland / Nordic Jazz Comets (FI), Association Jazzé Croisé  / Jazz Migration (FR), Stadtgarten Köln / NICA artist development (DL), Synthesizer (IL), I-Jazz / Nuova Generazione Jazz (IT), Powered by TINC / Stepping Stone (NL), Norsk jazzforum / Nordic Jazz Comets (NO), and of course Manchester Jazz Festival (mjf) / hothouse (GB).

Participating artists:

Mattias de Craene (BE), Kaisa Maensivu (FI), Delphine Deau (FR), Pablo Gīw (DE), Ella Ronen (IL), Alessandra Bossa (IT), Frederike Berendsen (NL), Kjetil Mulelid (NO) and Lara Jones (GB).

This year, Finnish Jazz Federation´s exchange partner is Powered by TINC / Stepping Stone (NL), as we welcome artist and activist Frederike Berendsen to Nordic Jazz Comets/Finnish Jazz Federation, whilst one of our Nordic Jazz Comets artists from the previous years, basist Kaisa Mäensivu takes up a residency in Italy.

The pilot edition of Constellations runs until November 2023.

Constellations is funded by The European Union and supported by MusicAire under the Music Moves Europe programme.

More information about the project:

Maria Silvennoinen
Executive Director
Finnish Jazz Federation
maria.silvennoinen@jazzfinland.fi
+ 358 50 536 7491