Melbourne Knowledge Week 2021 marks something special – never before have we met to discuss global environmental challenges while a pandemic swirls around us.
As we keep an eye on how many ‘doughnut days’ in a row we’ve had, the effects of climate change keep rolling across the globe causing history-making changes along the way. COVID-19 has shown us that global action can happen when our governments and communities decide it’s needed; this is the lesson we must take from the tumults of 2020. It is time – right now – to enact the changes needed to reverse, manage and cope with the effects of climate change.
This year MKW21 has events that encourage us to work together, to connect and actively participate in the creation of our own future. During workshops, live-streams, panel discussions and more we will all be given the opportunity to collaborate, to share knowledge and tackle some of the biggest issues of our time…
In March 2021 we are living through the effects of a La Nina climate event – higher-than-average rainfall, cooler temperatures – a relief in some ways after the scorching heat of consecutive record-breaking summers in 2019 and 2020. La Nina brings much needed higher rainfall but it also increases rates of cyclone activity (due to an increase in equatorial trade winds which stack up warm surface water on the ocean and drive storm activity) and increases the risk of flooding, particularly on over-grazed pasture, on agricultural cropped land and in erosion-prone areas. The devastating effects of climate change and industry on Australian land show us that, as a country and community, we must reckon with our historical identities of graziers, farmers and miners and imagine a different future – how can we rethink our industries to better align them with the preservation and care of our environment?
To live in Australia is to live with the threat of fire, flood, natural disaster. Managing the amount of dry fuel in the bush is an essential step in preparing for and surviving bushfires. Without enough cool days in the year we have limited time to reduce the amount of dry, flammable material and we have seen the effects: in late 2019 we saw the first mega-blaze. The Gospers Mountain fire burned over a million hectares, destroyed a hundred homes close to Sydney and burned for 79 days straight. The mega-blaze showed us that we’re dealing with something new, something scary.
Our old methods and techniques don’t cut it any more and we have to adapt before we lose more homes, lives and land to fire. We must learn from the traditional custodians of these lands; those who have walked these paths and cared for Country for generations. This year at Knowledge Week we will hear from First Peoples experts on fire and land management at Fire | Future: Healing Country.
As we look closer to home many of us are asking how can we ‘live more sustainably’? Is it a matter of properly washing out our hard plastics before recycling, or is there more to creating a life where we and our environment thrive? At MKW this year we’re going big and small: we’ll discover how to create biodiversity in our gardens at home at the Backyard Biodiversity workshop and learn how our city is overcoming the challenges of waste management and leading with revolutionary new ideas at Melbourne Circular Innovation exhibition.
We feel better when we’re connected with nature (learn more about the fascinating connection between green spaces and wellbeing at A date with nature: An interactive, guided experience to explore the psychological benefits of nature). For many of us, we return to a truer self when we leave the city and get clean air in our lungs and mud on our boots but how can we encourage this connection without having to escape our cities? What lessons can we take from our 5km COVID-19 restrictions? Is there more green in our cities than we can see?
Sometimes all it takes is a change in perspective; at Step inside an extended reality we’ll see how good design can drive us to see opportunities to problem solve and build empathy. On hot days Melbourne city can feel like a concrete jungle where the heat sizzles the soles of our shoes on the walk between tram stop and cafe. But the heat also tells us a lot about the design of our city (and how we interact with it). During the festival why not explore Melbourne with the Cool Routes App to find the coolest path from A to B. Genius.
Melbourne Knowledge Week is an invitation to think deeply. It is a brave endeavour to question one’s way of life and way of living, to unlearn behaviours like ‘take, make, waste’ and to confront the realities and limitations of ‘recycling.’ It takes enthusiasm and spirit to learn from experts on how we can change from linear systems to circular economies without creating more problems or simply green-washing (check out the UnSchool workshop, A circular future, for more on this). Melbourne Knowledge Week is more than experts and academics, it’s an invitation to learn and share.
In 2021, MKW is happening at a time where the stakes are higher than ever. As we learn many lessons from the pandemic the most important might be that there is reason to hope – we can make big and small changes, we can (and must) design our own futures.
IMAGINARIA
Bring the whole family along to this immersive play experience of light and sound, created by Loose Collective with sound by Alex Albrecht.
Journey through shimmering landscapes of light and sound during this beautiful, hour-long walk-through experience. Discover an interactive maze of scent, light and sound set to dreamy sounds by Alex Albrecht. Albrecht has made a name for himself by developing a gentle, ambient style of electronic music. IMAGINARIA has been devised by Loose Collective, a group of designers, architects, audiovisual artists and electronic producers working in today’s diverse and mercurial creative spaces. This venue is wheelchair accessible. For further details about venue access visit our Accessibility page.
BREATHWORK SOUNDSCAPE
An immersive meditation experience to restore the soul after lockdown. Delight in quiet connection through guided breathwork and minimal soundscapes.
Breathwork Soundscape is a 90-minute guided meditation to collectively release the tension of Covid-19 lockdown. Composer and musician Nat Grant will lead a journey into deep rest through minimal sound. Interdisciplinary artist, Dina Smirnova, will use her voice to further invite release into a hypnagogic state. Join in a moment of silence; a moment of release. This event is appropriate for all bodies and levels of experience. Chairs available, please bring your own mats or cushions if needed. This venue is wheelchair accessible. For further details visit our Accessibility page. Doors open at 9.30am, the session will begin at 10am.
BAKER BOY
MMW welcomes back Arnhem Land’s rising hip hop star, Baker Boy, for a hi-velocity and utterly unmissable event, hosted at Melbourne Recital Centre.
Baker Boy has amassed a shed-load of musical accolades including ARIA nominations, National Indigenous Music artist of the year, Young Australian of the Year, and the National Dreamtime Awards. In 2020, after releasing new single ‘Better Days’ (with Dallas Woods and feat. Sampa the Great), Baker Boy now brings his infectious energy back to Melbourne for MMW. Rapping bilingually in both English and Yolŋu Matha, Baker Boy’s flows are instantly recognisable and this event showcases a talent like no other on the scene today.This venue is wheelchair accessible. For further details visit our Accessibility page.
About MMW-Extended
RECHARGING MELBOURNE
2020 brought Melbourne life to a standstill. With music venues closed, artists unable to record and perform together, and the streets bare, the heart of our city beat quieter than usual. This summer MMW–Extended is reinvigorating Melbourne’s music scene. Discover multimodal events including podcasts, huge DJ sets, live-streams, audiovisual displays, meditation, outdoor exhibitions, and much much more. Melbourne, get ready to celebrate.
3 MONTHS. 330 ACTS.
Reconnect with your favourite artists online, in venues and out in our beautiful city for MMW–Extended. Show your love for artists, bands and music industry professionals by getting out and about in Melbourne this summer. Headliners include Adalita, Andras, Ara Koufax, Baker Boy, Banoffee, Barney McAll, Billy Davis, Bumpy, Cable Ties, Chiara Kickdrum, CLAMM, Close Counters, CS + Kreme, GODTET, Henry Wagons, High Tension, Jonnine, Jordan Dennis, The Merindas, Katie Pearson, Private Function, Rings Around Saturn, Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever, Silentjay, Simona Castricum and Sleep D.
MORE THAN ZOOM
We’re all sick of endlessly staring at squares filled with our colleagues’ faces online and trying to keep the cat from sitting on our keyboards; it’s been a hell of a year. 2020 saw us lose our connection with the people we love when lockdown hit, especially when the wifi kept dropping out. COVID-19 lockdown also forced musicians and performers to get creative to invent new ways of collaborating and performing. This year we learnt how to connect in different ways, to challenge ourselves and to reach across physical distance to share ideas and experiences with our communities. Join us as we turn lemons into lemonade with the MMW family across a huge program of events to deepen those bonds as we come out of lockdown stronger than ever before.
WE ARE FAMILY
MMW–Extended is one big love-in for Melbourne muso’s, industry workers and audiences. As we pick ourselves back up after a brutal year we turn to music and summer sun to bring us into some kind of new-normal. After weekends without gigs and noise and good times, MMW–Extended is an opportunity for much-needed catharsis. The MMW family invites each and every one of you to open your arms, ears, and hearts to this epic three-month revival of Melbourne’s musical soul.
I recently spoke out about my own experience of sexual assault in connection with the hospitality industry. Even before my own MeToo I had stopped being surprised by stories of sexual harassment and abuse in the industry. These stories of violence and humiliation have always jarred painfully with my own love of hospitality, which I recently wrote about here.
Sexual harassment and assault is illegal and damaging. It disproportionately effectswomen, people of colour and LGBTQI people. Under Australian law employers have a duty to eliminate discrimination, sexual harassment and victimisation against workers. This duty is not a passive suggestion; it is a compulsory obligation to preserve the safety and dignity of workers. This duty extends to salary staff, as well as casual and off-the-bookworkers. Employers can also be held vicariously liable for sexual harassment and assault that occurs in workplaces by employees.
Not all behaviour between colleagues, or between guests and staff, is inappropriate, so how do managers know when to step in? Is the responsibility on workers to raise the red flag when a line has been crossed? What does a ‘zero tolerance on sexual harassment’ actually mean?
In venues where alcohol is served – which is often the centre around which business revolves – the social constraints on behaviour can appear to change. But in reality the same standards and rules of social interaction and decency must prevail after dark.
Protecting the safety and dignity of workers isn’t a contra-indicator to a successful, profitable business.
In hospitality, feeling safe is in the details. Safe feels like working with colleagues who respect our pronouns and our boundaries. Safe feels like being heard and being believed. The humiliation of not believing victims, of minimising abuse and gas-lighting, is re-traumatising and can easily lead to further harm. Sexual harassment and abuse, of any kind, is not a joke. As renowned food writer and critic Larissa Dubecki has described in a 2016 interview, There was a waitress I worked with who was followed into the cool room by two chefs. They turned off the lights and then casually talked about how easy it would be to rape her. They claimed it was a joke.
Hospitality is an environment where ‘locker room talk’ is often allowed (or encouraged). The law recognises this and specifically notes that the motive behind discrimination is irrelevant. It doesn’t matter if an abuser was ‘just having a laugh’ the behaviour is still abuse. Safe work places must stamp out the ‘culture’ of sexually exploitative joking, as well as reductionist simperings of ‘boys will be boys.’
For those who overstep, does it always have to escalate to throwing a guest out or firing a staff member? Of course not, there is a sliding scale of action that managers and employers can take. In an industry that exists in the enchanted hours between day and night, we must train flexible, confident managers who can think quickly and creatively to minimise harm and keep our businesses moving.
The solutions aren’t complicated. Best Bartenders’ Bar 2019 winners and late-night venue Hatts & Tatts use techniques similar to Drinkaware’s Bystander Intervention Project where staff will regularly check in with staff and guests throughout the night, asking if they are ok.
Mel Musu, owner and operations manager at The Rooks Return says that often the simple act of telling staff they have support can make all the difference. Musu describes a conversation with a staff member: [I said] I was always available to step in or back her up, she needn't ever feel obliged to come and get me as soon as problems arose. This act in itself made her feel strong and capable.
High-risk environments need specialised tactics. A manager of strip clubs in Melbourne interviewed for this article described initiatives such as a house Uber account and chaperoning between venue and workers’ cars at the end of shift keep sex workers and other staff safe. Jemima McDonald, manager at Earl’s, also highlights the need to activelyhire more women in venues. McDonald’s advice: Hire more women, and promote more women. Women find it easier to confide in other women when they're feeling uncomfortable.
The City of Melbourne, in conjunction with Good Night Out and Rape & Domestic Violence Services Australia, recently ran a pilot program training Melbourne venues on how to spot and deal with sexual harassment. 170 Russell, Cookie, The Toff in Town, Mesa Verde and Rooftop Bar participated and the feedback was overwhelmingly positive. One participant said they “learnt how to respond to an incident in a way that is respectful, understanding, and appropriate. What I took from this [training] was the importance of the first response.”
Hospitality is an industry that brings people together – our greatest ambition is to create joyful, unforgettable experiences for our guests. To continue to do this, we must have be brave enough to face past and present harms, and build better workplaces in which we can all thrive. We must all stand as allies beside our colleagues, friends and staff to create the zero-tolerance policies we want to see become the standard in our venues. As the industry continues to change and evolve – and weather storms along the way – we must protect each other and ourselves.
Thank you to Alex Ross and Harriet Leigh. The following venues did not respond to requests for comment: Speakeasy Group, Sandhill Road Group, Andrew McConnell Group, CLG, Merivale Group, MoVida Group, Rockpool Group, TYCA and Vue de Monde. The Lucas Group declined to comment directly for this article. HospoVoice declined to comment directly for this article.
Some bird species have evolved from their ability to fly, our feathered friends the kiwi, cassowary, ostrich, rhea and emu remain rooted to the ground, responding and adapting to new and altered environments.
Is there a lesson to be learned from those birds? Flight and air travel comes at a price to the wellbeing of our planet; our habitat is being altered by its impact. It’s time to re-examine and question our relationship with flying, and like those birds, evolve.
Hour for hour there’s no ‘better’ way to burn fossil fuel and heat the planet. And yet our collective appetite to take to the skies shows no sign of slowing, indeed the 25th of July 2019 was the busiest day of flying in aviation history. Over 230,000 planes took off.
But there is cause for hope.Some of our species have chosen to take action, to evolve and ‘shed their wings’. Flight Free 2020 is a social movement of people who commit to foregoing plane travel for 12 months to reduce their carbon footprint. Non-fliers from all over the world pledge to travel only by rail, road and sea. Putting convenience to one side in the hope that their stance will inspire others to get off the runway and address our changing climate.
Whilst the flight-free movement is gathering momentum, non-flying could be fast-tracked exponentially by an evolution of politics. Earlier this year the French Transport Minister announced an “eco-tax” on all flights departing France. The tax collected being used to finance alternative, environmentally friendlier forms of transportation.
We also have environmental leaders showing us another way. Greta Thunberg recently arrived in New York after setting sail from the UK on a zero-emission boat to speak at the UN Climate Action Summit. The craft adorned with solar panels and underwater turbines generating enough electricity to power the two-week voyage. The journey and the message reverberating around the digital world and into our collective consciousness.
Convenience can no longer be the primary motivator for our lifestyle choices, they often come with inconvenient truths. It might be seen as a nuisance to switch banks to one that doesn’t invest in fossil fuels, to curb our carnivorous ways, to acquire power from a renewable energy provider or indeed to forgo flight, but that is what our planet needs from us now.
Let us shed the notion of the inconvenience of not taking the fastest, cheapest mode of transport, and instead embrace flightless-ness as an opportunity to connect with others, to truly travel to destinations rather than simply arrive, to slow down and breathe and to know that we are playing our part in caring for the planet.
We need to change our story, flying has evolved to become a disposable, throw-away commodity. It was introduced as a luxury that a privileged few could afford. It is now time for those who are privileged with the ability not to fly, those that can sacrifice a little extra time and money, to interrogate their choices first.
As our climate becomes more extreme, each season punctuated by droughts, flooding, bushfires and storms, we, like our avian cousins, must adapt to our changing environment, one that we as a species have created, in order for all living things to thrive and survive.
This is our evolutionary moment.
Love Bean Cacao is the home of ceremonial-grade cacao and guided ritual. Discover authentic connection with this divine plant medicine as you explore your own shadows and light through chocolate. Love Bean Cacao ceremonial-grade cacao opens the heart and enlivens the mind, making it the perfect foundation for your meditation practice.
"Love Bean Cacao is sourced directly from Guatemala, from land that holds the magic energy of ceremony."
We invite you to open your heart to cacao and the sweetness in life. To connect with others in a ceremonial circle to share cacao is an experience like no other. Under careful guidance participants are invited to reconnect to the natural world, to bring curiosity to their experiences of life and to soak up the shared bliss. Love Bean Cacao ceremony guides hold space for your unique experience with cacao plant medicine ensuing a webflowsafe, loving environment.
Love Bean Cacao helps us to reconnect with the beauty and strength inside ourselves. The sacred chocolate we commune with is infused with the prayers and love of its Mayan custodians and growers. Love Bean Cacao is sourced directly from Guatemala, from land that holds the magic energy of ceremony.
Website Content, Brand Identity and Packaging Copy
JTB products are designed to be gentle and effective on sensitive skin. We have patch tested our products on a variety of skin types with no allergic reactions observed. If you have sensitive, problem, or irritated skin we recommend doing your own patch test with a small amount of product before using it on your face and neck. If irritation occurs, wash off with warm water and seek medical attention if needed.
"Cocoa – a rich, bittersweet ingredient discovered 4000 years ago by the Aztecs – formulated to smooth, purify and invigorate skin in JUST the BASICS Cocoa Australian Pink Clay Mask, just for you."
Our quality, ethically sourced Cocoa is balanced with world-famous Australian Pink Clay, to create a rich mask that thoroughly cleanses and detoxifies. JUST the BASICS Cocoa Pink Clay Mask also incorporates cinnamon, clove, chamomile, liquorice root, witch hazel and goji berries – used for centuries in skincare – to deeply nourish and revitilse.
Directions for use:
Step One: Apply JUST the BASICS Cocoa Pink Clay Mask with JUST the BASICS Clay Mask Brush evenly to skin of face and neck. Avoid contact with eyes. Allow mask to dry for 10 minutes or until product is dry to touch. A gentle tingling sensation is normal. If irritation occurs to face, neck or eyes wash with warm water and consult a health care professional if needed.
Step Two: Remove product with a warm, damp towel and gently pat skin dry.
Step Three: Apply moisturiser to face and neck. For best results we recommend applying JUST the BASICS Cocoa Ultra Hydrating Moisturiser.
The Ungraceful Navigator creates a partnership with your new business. We set up and maintain functional systems for your business, increasing your work flow and productivity. Our work creates space and light for you to breathe and create your best content.
The Ungraceful Navigator is a dedicated virtual administration service specifically tailored to supporting new and emerging businesses. Launching a new business requires attention to detail and creators need to be across everything from logo design and website building, to budgets and marketing.
"Let the Ungraceful Navigator take care of your admin needs, leaving more time for you to create and enjoy the process of bringing your business to life."
