Call for Contributions | Composing Futures: Creative Impact on Eco-Social Transformation

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Call for Contributions

Composing Futures: Creative Impact on Eco-Social Transformation

Forum & Co-Creation Labs

6–7 November 2026

mdw – University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna

in the framework of Wien Modern

How can contemporary, improvised, and experimental music actively contribute to eco-social transformation? How can we move beyond critique towards collective experimentation with fairer, more sustainable forms of cooperation, coordination, audience engagement, and resilient cultural infrastructures?

The forum Composing Futures: Creative Impact on Eco-Social Transformation invites practitioners and thinkers from contemporary, improvised, and experimental music, as well as related interdisciplinary practices, to collectively explore how artistic work can respond to and reshape intertwined ecological and social crises.

Rather than approaching sustainability as an administrative or policy requirement, we understand it as an artistic, social, and structural question—one that concerns not only ecological responsibility but also working conditions, institutional structures, and modes of collaboration.

Art can function as a catalyst—revealing, reframing, and reimagining the multiple dimensions of eco-social crisis. Engaged artistic practices not only address environmental degradation; they can also reinvent the political field through experimentation with solidaristic, cooperative, and pluriversal forms of working, organising, and living.

Across Europe—and particularly within Austria’s contemporary music sector—artists and cultural practitioners face increasing precarity, shrinking resources, fragmented infrastructures, and rising expectations regarding sustainability, cooperation, coordination, and audience development. At the same time, new counter-movements are emerging: collective working models, degrowth-oriented imaginaries, community-based resilience, and horizontal knowledge exchange.

This forum is conceived as an interactive platform. It combines critical inputs with dialogues, participatory workshops, practice-based sessions, and co-creative labs.

Instead of one-way presentations, we aim to create shared spaces for:

dialogue and critical discussion
collective reflection on sectoral challenges
experimentation with fairer and more sustainable cooperation models
prototyping of concrete initiatives and coordination strategies
peer learning across artistic and institutional contexts

The goal is not only to discuss eco-social transformation but to rehearse and prototype it together.

Relevant topics may include:

artistic responses to the eco-social crisis in contemporary, improvised, and experimental music
environmental justice in artistic contexts
degrowth and post-productivist models in the arts
solidarity-based artistic practices and collective infrastructures
fair collaboration models and tools to foster resilient cultural ecosystems
strategies for stronger cooperation across ensembles, festivals, institutions, and independent actors
sustainable audience development and meaningful community engagement

We are particularly interested in practices that demonstrate:

community-based and commons-oriented approaches in contemporary, improvised, or experimental music
horizontal and cooperative working models among composers, performers, ensembles, and cultural actors
sustainable and low-impact production strategies in music projects
artistic responses to environmental injustice and eco-social crisis through sound and music
small-scale, resilient, locally rooted musical initiatives

CONTRIBUTION FORMATS

We distinguish between two contribution types:

1. Lecture and workshop

Format

Workshops and lectures: 45–90 min
Active engagement with participants is encouraged

Honorarium

€350 fee for standard contributions (45 min)
€600 fee for extended or more production-intensive formats (90 min)
Up to €250 travel reimbursement

The exact duration and category will be agreed upon individually depending on the proposed format.

2. Presentation of projects or artistic works (“good practice” format)

Format

10-minute presentation (in person or online) + short discussion
Concise input presenting a project in contemporary, improvised, or experimental music
Multi- and interdisciplinary projects are welcome, provided they have a strong musical component
Focus on concrete practices, methods, and transferable approaches

Honorarium

€100 presentation fee
No additional travel reimbursement available

This format aims to foster peer learning and highlight diverse, actionable examples of eco-social artistic practice within contemporary, improvised, and experimental music contexts.

Who should apply?

We welcome:

artists working in contemporary, improvised, experimental music and related interdisciplinary practices
composers and musicians
cultural producers and curators
researchers and theorists
cultural institution representatives
activists working at the intersection of art and environmental justice

Emerging and established practitioners are equally encouraged to apply.

Forum framework

The forum combines:

thematic inputs and dialogues
practical tools (SDGs, Inner Development Goals, fairness-oriented collaboration models)
co-creation labs for developing project prototypes
mentoring roundtables
collective action planning sessions