Project Description
Music researcher Catherine Grant joins artist and scholar collaborators from four continents to explore the deep—and sometimes surprising—interplays between music, cultural sustainability, and social justice. Through case studies in Australia, Brazil, Cambodia, India, Vanuatu, and Western Sahara, this project emphasises the potential for strong and sustainable cultural practices to advance social change agendas, and vice versa. Traversing a range of pressing contemporary social concerns—from forced migration, educational equity, and uneven wealth distributions to racial, cultural, and climate justice—Sounding Good contends that understanding the links between music, cultural sustainability, and social justice is more important than ever. Not only will doing so help efforts to protect and promote the rich diversity of musical practices around the world; it will also enhance our prospects of an equitable and thriving world, now and into the future.
Project Personnel and Beneficiaries
This project brings together a team of ten artists and researchers to undertake the first in-depth musical exploration of links between social justice and cultural sustainability. The project takes an interdisciplinary, human-centred, future-focused approach to pressing social and cultural concerns, building on the growing interest in the socially transformative potential of contemporary music research. The six case studies across four continents illustrate how the links between cultural sustainability and social justice may be leveraged for mutual gain. Each case study is led by a collaborator with expert first-hand knowledge of the cultural context at hand. In this way, the project offers new insights and perspectives to inform cultural and social policy, advocacy, and action. It aims to enable policymakers, cultural NGOs, and researchers to more effectively support musicians and communities around the world who are striving to advance cultural sustainability and social justice.
Outcomes to Date
Through the case studies, Sounding Good illustrates innovative and creative ways to progress the UN’s 2030 Sustainable Development
It brings visibility to the work of musicians and communities around the world who are successfully using cultural expressions to advance the SDGs. It also illustrates how culture-bearers, communities, and other stakeholders can work together on common sustainable development aspirations, for everyone’s benefit.
The key output is a book to be published with Oxford University Press in 2025. Various supplementary outputs host multimedia materials.
Project Significance
By progressing cultural sustainability and social justice for culture-bearers and communities, each of the Sounding Good case study projects advances several SDGs. As one example, the project in Vanuatu – “Leweton Cultural Village” – advances the following SDGs:
SDG 1 No Poverty, by empowering the people of Leweton to generate income and contribute to the economic development of their small-island Pacific community;
– SDG 3 Good Health and Wellbeing, by promoting cultural participation, cultural strength, a strong cultural identity, and improved social and cultural conditions within the community;
– SDG 5 Gender Equality, by empowering women and girls to generate income and contribute to the economic development of Leweton, and to participate in international climate and cultural advocacy;
– SDG 8 Decent Work and Economic Growth, by providing culturally meaningful employment and income, and by helping to grow the local economy;
– SDG 10 Reduced Inequality, by enabling women to participate more fully in the cultural and economic development of their community, and by reducing socioeconomic inequalities;
– SDG 11 Sustainable Cities and Communities, by making a small island settlement more inclusive, resilient, and sustainable across economic, cultural, and social domains;
– SDG 13 Climate Action by empowering Indigenous people from a small Pacific island community to meaningfully and powerfully engage in international climate discussions and decisions;
– SDG 16 Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions, by promoting a just, peaceful, and inclusive society where local ecologies and natural environments are acknowledge and cared for.
Similarly, the other case