Artists at the Frontlines: Music as a Tool for Environmental Peacebuilding

Date & Time
Jun 18, 2026 | 11.00 - 12.30

Participants
Chair: Richard Matthew, UC Irvine Glasser Center for Music & Social Change (United States)
Saara-Maria Salonen, Sámi Cultural Center Sajos (Finland)
Talon Bazille, Wicahpi Olowan (United States)
Jimmy Waltman, Trinity Laban Conservatoire (United States/United Kingdom)
Mawa Zacharia, Playing for Change (South Sudan/Kenya)

As environmental change and political conflict continue to negatively affect people’s lives, questions about effective responses arise. For decades, cultural diplomacy has emphasized the utility of art for relationship-building, complex storytelling, and healing. More recently, scholars and practitioners have explored how to combine multi-scalar cultural diplomacy with environmental peacebuilding - finding music to be a particularly powerful platform. Music can serve as: -an applied tool for peacebuilding and facilitation in conflict contexts; -a vehicle for communication about environmental peacebuilding efforts; and -a bridge between human and nature, science and policy, thinking and feeling, local and global. Featuring artistic leaders from ongoing projects in Israel-Palestine, East Africa, and West Africa, this roundtable discussion will explore how music is being used to support displaced persons, create a sense of belonging for migrants, and address environmental injustices. In addition to specific stories, the panel will reflect on methodologies for music-based environmental peacebuilding more broadly.