Hasta La Creative!

Many Belgian musicians lack the funds to be able to create new music. To make their voices heard, the country’s most famous artists re-recorded their most iconic hits and asked radio stations to play them. The intro sounded as usual, but suddenly the music disappeared. The lyrics were spoken instead of sung. A clear demonstration of what a songs sounds like if the artist is not able to rehearse, play, record or produce. Each song contained a message from the artist: “A song lyric is not music yet. Many musicians don’t have the funds rehearse, play, record or produce their music. Support them on belgianmusicfund.be. Don’t do it for me, but for the K’s Choice / Clouseau / … of tomorrow.” The messages were played on Belgium’s biggest radio stations.

Zambezi believes strongly in utilizing their time and talents to positively affect issues that matter deeply to them and to our society as a whole. Moved by current cultural events and racial injustice, they created a social media and out-of-home campaign which conveys messages such as “My Solidarity is Action” and “My Silence is Deadly,” and signs off with the promise of “I Will Act”. The campaign aims to support the Black Lives Matter movement and to inspire meaningful actions and necessary change. Key messages of this campaign were initially penned by Zambezi’s Black employees, and then amplified by the agency’s employee-led DEI initiative, Open Waters. Open Waters’ commitment is to provide educational opportunities and conversations within the agency surrounding issues of diversity, inclusion and representation in media. What started as the team’s social post to express solidarity with the Black community has now literally been elevated to 58 billboards in 11 major markets across the US (Los Angeles, Oakland, Sacramento, Baltimore, Orlando, Phoenix, New York, Miami, Austin, Philadelphia and Charlotte), thanks to Quan Media, who generously provided these outdoor placements at no cost.

This has been a trying season, and there are likely more challenges ahead but now it’s time to find ME. It’s time to reexamine values and priorities in the sole presence of my mind and nature that surrounds ME.