Field to Media: Applied ecomusicology in the Anthropocene

In seeking to respond to the environmental challenges of the Anthropocene era, our research team of five scholars, including faculty and advanced graduate students, along with each of their collaborators in their respective research sites, has come together to explore the possibilities of a methodology that we call Field to Media. Field to Media involves using video production to study and amplify ecomusical responses to climate change, pollution, deforestation, and other environmental challenges. This methodology is intended as a pragmatic process that blends participant observation with participatory action research and applied or activist engagement. Specific to this project, our efforts have involved the co-creation of five different music videos to address a range of pressing environment-related matters in USA/Canada, Tanzania, Bangladesh, China, and Haiti. In this article, we consider some of the potential successes and challenges that we have each experienced in the course of producing these music videos.