What role for musicians in a world in crisis ?

We believe that artists are capable of catalysing positive change. In today’s increasingly complex, interconnected, and challenging times, we cannot afford to ignore their rich source of inspiration. Therefore, we organise participatory workshops in which we mobilise the collective intelligence and creativity of musicians in search of responses to some of the world’s most pressing crises.

The participatory workshops are organised in two parts. The first consists of a round table, where existing examples of initiatives or actions by musicians on select topics are presented, including by local artists. The goal is to inspire participants to imagine initiatives with strong potential for societal impact.

Next, the participants are invited to work in groups to develop concrete strategies using a Design Thinking methodology. This approach encourages the generation of innovative ideas, the selection of relevant solutions, and their improvement. Beyond the direct results it yields, this technique is valuable for artists to develop new ideas, regardless of the topic. The groups then share their findings in a plenary session.

Finally, the results of these collective reflections are aggregated, analysed, and published. The first event in this series took place at L’Interlope (Case à Chocs, Neuchâtel) in 2024.