Reflections on Let It Grow

As I write this, it is 4 months to the day since COP26 drew to a close on the banks of the river Clyde in Glasgow, when our project Let it Growculminated across the river in Govan with mass singing on the streets, and a tidal wave of music was shared online.

We owe each and every participant, supporter and collaborator a big THANK YOU for ensuring that Let it Grow did just that! We also owe you an explanation for such a delay in sharing a final mail-out and celebration of the project. Working at full tilt through a pandemic took its toll, and after bouts of covid in December our team has been working at a slower pace in 2022. I took a break in January to spend much needed time with family after a bereavement, returning in February to work at a more sustainable rate.

This has given me plenty of time to reflect on an extraordinary project, one that was a real pleasure to oversee – despite, and also perhaps partly because of, its experimental nature and unpredictability. We didn’t know how our piece of music would land or whether anyone would accept the invitation to get involved – but there was tangible excitement throughout, at coming together with different artists and organisations to try something that was new to all of us.

And now, as media attention surrounding the climate crisis has died down, and a new global crisis unfolds, it’s hard to remember that sense of excitement and hope which was driving so many of the creative actions in the lead up to and during COP.

Essentially, Let it Grow was about creating an opportunity for regular people to do something positive and proactive in the face of an escalating climate crisis. A chance for those who don’t identify as activists to express a view; an opportunity for music makers to share music with a purpose; and a chance for all of us to show solidarity with those who have worked in the climate space for a long time. COP26 provided the catalyst and the focus.

There were plenty of frustrations along the way. Many individuals and groups were super keen to get involved, but completely curtailed by covid-related challenges. This also affected our own timeline, which was a lot tighter than we’d have liked. And a general sense of saturation online meant that many brilliant film clips and music videos that were made as part of Let it Grow reached far smaller audiences than they deserved.

We never kidded ourselves that we could impact decision making behind the closed doors of the COP negotiations (although for a brief few weeks the UN courted us with talk of performing ‘Enough is Enough’ at the summit). Nevertheless, when COP packed up and left town, it was hard not to feel deflated and wonder if anything had been achieved at all.

Of course, the media focused on the negotiations and apparent lack of political will to act decisively. However, throughout the 12-day event, a separate story was playing out in streets, venues, schools and gathering places all over Glasgow (and beyond). The activism, creativity, resilience and imagination of regular people working together was just awe inspiring. One example amongst hundreds is the brilliant Lost Woods project – where school children planted 17,000+ trees in one week in October!

Despite a woeful lack of mainstream media coverage of initiatives like this, I was left in no doubt following COP26 that the majority of people do really care and want to see action, and fast. Could the key to political change be as simple as highlighting this, rather than continually emphasising the failures of our political leaders?

I like what musician and Glasgow native Johnny Cypher wrote after witnessing how Glasgow sprang to life with activism and creativity during COP. “However strong the currency of big business and the currency of those in positions of power and wealth… the currency of numbers is still a vital vehicle for social change. I believe world leaders will still act if enough of us demand it, and not a second sooner.”

I agree. I’m grateful to have had the chance to work on a project like Let it Grow, which provided dedicated time during work hours to think creatively about how Oi Musica and our networks of music makers might contribute to that numbers game. It wasn’t only about demanding action though – we’re not a campaigning organisation, it was also about demonstrating the strength of public feeling on an issue that affects everyone, and exploring new ways of doing that. As a social enterprise, our work is about generating collective benefit, so we will always be up for exploring new ways that music might do this.

My personal highlight was the second of two live performances of ‘Enough is Enough’ – the first had been on the Global Day of Climate Action at Dynamic Earth in Edinburgh, a week into the summit. Our song had only existed digitally at this point – the musicians and singers had never come together to play it live. And here it was, spectacularly brought to life by the massed voices of the Soundhouse Choir backed by a small core band of piano, brass and percussion, with Karine Polwart’s lead vocal ringing out underneath the incredible Gaia sculpture of planet Earth. It was powerful. And emotional. Children sat cross legged on the floor un-self-consciously singing along, and there were tears in the eyes of audience members and performers alike – I glimpsed more than a handful of grown men moved to tears that day. It’s hard to put into words the feeling of bringing the music to life in this way.

The performance that followed in Govan Square was similar in many ways – but supersized, taking our song to the streets and creating a piece of activism unlike anything I’ve ever been part of. Not only were there more performers (almost 200 in total), but we were joined by local school children from Riverside Primary, Glasgow’s excellent street bands Brass, Aye? and SambaYaBamba, and for full goosebump-inducing impact, 100 singers in the audience joining as a flash mob chorus. The effect was of an event that was less like a performance, and more like one big collective action that everybody in the square that day was part of. It seemed there were more people there that knew the song than didn’t, and they weren’t afraid to belt it out. It was an incredible scene that had opened with stillness and a single heartbeat drum, erupting into mass singing, dancing and a message ringing out across the Clyde to world leaders on the other side.

This is what street performance can be. This is what street band music at its absolute best is capable of: inspiring involvement and participation, throwing caution to the wind, welcoming everyone and utilising public spaces in exciting ways to gather communities together. The experience will stay with me for a long time, and I’m eternally grateful to Vision Mechanics and their giant puppet STORM for hosting us as part of their event that day.

All in all, the project took about a year to build – responding directly to the energy and interest generated by the release of ‘Enough is Enough’ back in November 2020. Four months on from its completion, the legacy that Let it Grow has left Oi Musica lies in the new connections we have forged, the conversations we have been able to be part of and a renewed drive when it comes to using music to bring people together. Via both its online and live elements, it was a joy to connect with a raft of music makers we weren’t aware of, reconnect with others after the enforced hiatus of the pandemic and to witness new connections and links being made across different networks. It is those personal connections and shared experiences which drive inspiration and new ideas, leading to fresh projects that build on what has gone before. And I’m excited to see what follows from an initiative like this.

Overall, there was an impressive range of arts activity responding to COP’s presence in Glasgow. It was an honour to be a small part of that. And it will be interesting to see in the coming months and years what the legacy of all this creative action will be. The climate crisis demands serious levels of creative thinking, problem solving and working together – as do all the major crises currently playing out globally – and the arts can play an invaluable role in this. I think there is now growing recognition of this in Scotland, following the shot in the arm that hosting COP provided. And for this reason alone, and despite its apparent failures, I am grateful that the summit came to Glasgow.