From Melbourne to the Changemakers Summit by Vanessa Liang, AYO Youth Council Member
On Friday 11 September, I went straight from school to Melbourne Airport, still wearing my school uniform, to begin a slightly different weekend. A weekend with the AYO Youth Council for the inaugural Changemakers Summit.
At the airport, I met up with two other Melbourne-based Youth Council members, Tirion and YoYo, who were also flying to Sydney. Around an hour later, we were wandering around Sydney and its great landmarks for a while, until it was finally time to head to bed, excited (and slightly nervous!) for what the next day would bring.
The next morning, we made our way to the Centre for Creativity at the Sydney Opera House for the Summit.
Walking into the Opera House knowing that young musicians from around Australia had come together not merely to play music, but also to talk and discuss the future of music already made the day feel quite special.
The Lineup
At the very start of the summit, AYO CEO Kimbali Harding made a very profound and deep statement:
“We are not emerging artists, we are artists.”
Kimbali Harding, AYO CEO
It seems like such a simple change in wording, but it made me reconsider the way we think about young musicians. We aren’t just preparing to become artists sometime in the future because there is no ‘point’ where emerging artists become artists, but rather our love and effort for music have made us artists already.
Our first session, The Artist in Australia, featured Hamish AJ Tait, Dr Tracey Callinan OAM and Emily Gann. We explored what it means to be an artist in Australia today and the experiences, challenges and opportunities that come with it.
Our second session focused on Wellbeing, Sustainability and Inclusion, with Tracey Corbin-Matchett OAM, Tim Hollo and Brydie-Leigh Bartleet. This opened up conversations about how the arts can become more inclusive to more people and audiences, and its role in shaping the younger generation of Australia as a whole.
Finally, The Future is Now, with Adelaide Rief, Alexander Poirier, Zoe Taylor and Dan Golding, challenged us to think even further ahead about what the future of music and the arts could look like with discussions about artificial intelligence. A particular point was that we as musicians should not force AI out of completely our world but rather adapt and set boundaries for this new technology.
From left to right: Tim Hollo, Brydie-Leigh Bartleet, Tracey Corbin-Matchett OAM, Emily Gann, Dan Golding. Photos: AYO/Geraldine Cardozo
Facing challenges together
What I loved was that none of these sessions simply involved sitting and listening. After hearing from the panellists about their experiences and perspectives, we split into small groups of around three to seven people. We brainstormed possible solutions, challenged each other’s ideas and, perhaps most importantly, came up with more questions. Afterwards, everyone came back together to share and discuss what had emerged.
By the end of the day, I don’t think we had solved all the problems facing young musicians, not even close! But really, that wasn’t the point. Sometimes asking a better question is just as important as finding an answer.
Throughout the Summit, we were also treated to performances from incredible young musicians. Hearing live music between conversations about the future of the arts felt particularly extraordinary.
I came to Sydney with perspectives shaped largely by my own experiences as a young musician in Melbourne, and I left having heard experiences from people across different parts of Australia, different areas of the arts and completely different stages of their careers.
And after a day called the Changemakers Summit, maybe leaving with more questions than answers is actually a pretty good place to be.
