How can we communicate climate justice in an age of information excess?
As ecological crises intensify, our responses remain constrained by a persistent philosophical divide: the separation of human agency from the agency of the non-human world.
This ARC Laureate Program challenges that divide—positioning music as a transformative medium to reimagine environmental justice and advance the global Rights of Nature movement.
Our research group investigates how music and the arts can serve as vital conduits for environmental justice. Through arts-led methodologies, we engage with complex social and ecological challenges, advancing cultural and environmental sustainability with creativity, care, and critical inquiry.
We celebrate sentient life in all its forms—recognizing beauty, resilience, and vulnerability across diverse contexts. Our multi-modal research spans music-science collaborations, Indigenous knowledge systems, social activism, and interdisciplinary performance.
Working with communities across Australia and beyond, we connect local voices to global networks in pursuit of a more just and sustainable future.
Developing new artistic practices that reimagine and deepen relationships between human and non-human worlds.
Supporting the continuity and vitality of Indigenous ecological knowledge through collaborative, culturally grounded research.
Investigating the theory and practice of socially engaged arts as catalysts for environmental and cultural justice.
Exploring how musical expression can articulate, support, and advocate for justice across species boundaries.
From left to right: Vicky Zhou, Kate Milligan, Jaqui Pyke, Damien Ricketson, Jacinta Tobin, Vic McEwan, Liza Lim, Sonya Holowell, Brenda Gifford and Nardi Simpson
50
automatic
LinkAs part of the ARC Laureate program’s ‘Living Waters, Vital Song’ conference taking place next July 2027, we are offering 2 commissions for composers to write a work for chamber orchestra.
Eligibility: This opportunity is available for Australian or New Zealand citizens or residents who are current postgraduate students (Masters or PhD) or early career composers (within 5 years of graduation from any degree).
Entries: closing date 3 August 2026, 5pm
Click here for more details. To submit applications, click here.
Explore our program of upcoming and past events
Spreeklänge, River Spree installation with 11 international sound artists [25, 26, 27 June 2026]
Time to Listen, Multispecies Creativity in Music and Sound, Conference [26, 27 June 2026]
Co-curated by Liza Lim (Sydney) & Nicolas Donin (Geneva).
This series invited participants to listen deeply, think relationally, and engage with music as a medium of ecological consciousness and cultural responsibility.
This program of research is funded by the Australian Government through the ARC Laureate Fellowship: Multispecies Creativity and Climate Communication. The views expressed herein are those of the authors and are not necessarily those of the Australian Government or the ARC.
Image credit: Murray Darling River during the "Millenium" drought from a commercial flight taken by Michael Storer
