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Play:Fair is a hybrid on-site and virtual half-day music activation that sets a new standard for music events: sustainable, accessible, scalable, and replicable. It is a major mobilization moment for individual action in the lead up to the Global Week to #Act4SDGs in September. 

The music activation from Milan was broadcasted online making it accessible to people anywhere in the world. Local performing artists shared a stage to engage individuals worldwide to inspire, mobilize and connect people everywhere to #TurnItAround for People and Planet.  

Accompanying the Play:Fair activation was a 3-episode series of the Turning Point Dialogues. Each episode aired consecutively three days before Play:Fair to give the audience insights into the thematic narratives of music and sustainability, climate, and food systems. 

This year, Play:Fair was organized by the UN SDG Action Campaign and the Music Innovation Hub. 

Bringing together musicians, performing artists and local and international activists, Play:Fair aimed to inspire, connect and mobilize people all around the world with the powerful language of music. We wanted to reimagine a new world where we address the global challenges of climate injustice, inequality and ensure a sustainable food system for all. With major events and conferences happening in the next few months, from the Food Systems Summit to COP26, we seized the moment on 17 July to begin a major activation in the lead up to our Global Week to #Act4SDGs, held during 17-28 September during the UN General Assembly.

• Music + Sustainability: The music industry can lead the way in setting an example in how we can produce big events and take climate and the environment into account to reduce the stress on our planet. Let’s adapt to nature rather than the other way around. Performances by local artists are held during daylight, outside, to reduce electricity consumption, in existing unexpected stages, such as in a park or a garden. Food is locally sourced, and no single-use plastic is used to reduce our carbon footprint. For festival line-ups, gender equality is taken into considerations.
• Youth + Climate: With over 1 billion young people in the world emerging from a pandemic that is still upending lives, the combined wave of social, racial and climate justice movements that is sweeping the globe have amplified young activist’s voices more than ever before. Combined with social media, these movements have multiplied, been replicated and show the urgency of this moment to accelerate action on climate. The Youth Summit and pre-COP takes place end of September/early October in the lead-up to COP26 in Glasgow, UK.
• Food Systems: Climate change is a threat multiplier for hungry and undernourished people. Combined with conflict, it destroys livelihoods, drives displacement, widens inequalities, and undermines sustainable development — including the goal of zero hunger by 2030. Climate change impacts all aspects of the food system, from food production and availability, to access, quality, utilization, and stability. The pre-Food Systems Summit is held in Milan, Italy 26-28 July. The Food Systems Summit is convened in September 2021.

Play:Fair was broadcast live from Milan, Italy, on Saturday, 17 July 2021 at 18:30-21:30 CET. 

People from around the world were able to get their virtual tickets by sharing their sustainable actions online prior to the event. It was a live only event, and you can see our highlights video here. 

Please see the lineup. 

The Play:Fair event concept is to be as sustainable as possible, from holding the event in daylight to reducing electric consumption to featuring local artists. For that reason, we offered people who live in Milan an opportunity to sign up for a chance to attend in-person, by walking, biking, or using public transportation to the event. 

PLAY:FAIR FOR PEOPLE AND PLANET – OUR SUSTAINABLE APPROACH 

The Play:Fair format is focused on keeping sustainability front and centre. It sets an example to the rest of the music industry to produce events in line with the Sustainable Development Goals. Solutions such as holding the event during daylight to reduce electricity consumption, curating a line-up of local artists and audiences to eliminate lengthy travel, and promoting sustainable transport such as trains or biking to the venue, help reduce our climate footprint. Play:Fair also promotes using existing stages rather than construct new ones to take full advantage of what we already have. 

On-site, we rely only on sustainable materials as much as possible, no unnecessary and harmful single use plastic. And rather than using massive digital displays that require a lot of electricity to run, we rely on an immersive sound experience, using the speakers we already have for the event.  

We also want to ensure the event is accessible, inclusive and diverse, so it is important that our line-up have gender representation on stage to ensure everyone’s voice is heard.  

There is so much more you can do; these are some of the key elements of the concert: 

1. VIRTUAL PARTICIPATION  

By streaming Play:Fair online, people from around the world were able to attend the global broadcast making it accessible to as many people as possible.   

1. PRODUCTION AND CARBON EMISSIONS 

This format aims to reduce carbon emissions related to the production of a live music event.  

Play:Fair for People and Planet’s sustainable objectives are: 

• Minimizing the electricity consumption by holding the event during daylight 
• Find an exceptional location with an existing stage, such as in a park or a field 
• Provide extra recycling stations for sustainable materials – absolutely no plastic 
• Encourage the local audience to get to the event by using sustainable transport  
• Work with natural materials for any production related promo, signage or staging Work with local suppliers and contractors to limit transportation  
• Create an immersive sound experience (using multiple smaller speakers) to reduce noise pollution;  

1. WASTE MANAGEMENT  

Play:Fair makes every effort to avoid generating waste and ensured proper recycling needs are met. So we work with local partners to provide recyclable water cans to the on-site audience and a local bicycle company to offer vouchers for sustainable transport.   

1. REDUCED PAPER USE  

All communication is digital and not printed. Access the program and all information related to Play:Fair online at playfair.act4sdgs.org.  

1. INCLUSIVITY  

• Promote and empower a talented and young artistic line-up  
• Ensure gender equality and equal representation on stage  
• Keep gender equality and gender representation front and center when inviting the artists  
• Make sure the line-up is diverse to reflect our multicultural societies 

The Turning Point Dialogues, launched as part of the 2021 edition of the Global Festival of Action, are a series of 10-15 minute ‘in-conversation’ style interviews featuring established and emerging changemakers and inspirational actors, sharing personal insights, ideas and calls to action through an intimate conversation format. 

All of us have a responsibility to accelerate action on tackling the climate crisis. We must do our part in turning it around for people and planet – especially as we emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic.    

Within this framing, inspirational figures are asked to share their knowledge, share their vision and share their inspiration. This series will continue to convene established and emerging changemakers throughout the year in the lead up to Global Week to Act4SDGs in September. 

The Turning Point Dialogue series were broadcasted in the three days leading up to the music activation, from 14-16 July. They are available at Media page, UN SDG Action Campaign YouTube channel, and UN WebTV.

• Prioritize a plant-based diet;  
• Calculate your carbon footprint and offset your emissions with the ActNow app – http://un.org/actnow. 
• Advocate for sustainable and green policies at a local level: demand that your elected representatives have climate as a priority on their agendas. 

The Global Week to #Act4SDGs, will take place from 17-218 September, is designed to provide a focal point for collective action on the Goals and to remind world leaders that people around the world are playing their part and are expecting decisive action to accelerate progress for people and planet. Our mobilization ambition for 2021 is to inspire at least 100 million people to take individual and collective SDG action – from 56 million in 2020 – with an overall target of mobilizing 1 billion actions by 2030. Viste ACT4SDGs – WE THE PEOPLE #ACT4SDGS