Heidi Lenffer of Cloud Control has launched FEAT., a solar fund for artists to fund new and existing solar farms around Australia.
Artists can invest in the fund as part of their touring revenue and benefit from the returns the solar farm generates. The first of the farms will be the Brigalow Solar Farm in south-west Queensland.
Brigalow will be powerful enough to work 11,300 homes for the next 30 years.
“We’re literally building the energy system that will give humans a future on earth, and I want artists to take ownership of this future. The stakes have never been higher, there’s never been a better time to invest in renewables, and this is a way for our whole industry to step up. Artists create songs out of nothing on a daily basis — now we’re upping the game by creating solar farms,” Lenffer said.
Artists involved so far include Annie Hamilton, Big Scary, Breathe, Cloud Control, Cub Sport, Jack River, Little May, Mansionair, Midnight Oil, Peking Duk, Regurgitator, Set Mo, The Jezabels, The Rubens, Urthboy, Vallis Alps, Vance Joy, Washington.
Lenffer said, “The fact is that this was just one small tour in an album cycle which also took us to the U.S. three times… then you think about multiplying this out with a 64-billion dollar industry worldwide and you’ve got a serious problem. Touring is easily the biggest source of income for artists, so when I understood how something as important as live music could be creating so much damage at this critical time in human history, I knew we could do so much better. I also knew that a progressive community like the music industry would have the guts and imagination to embrace change.”
Music fans and everyday Australians will be able to invest into the new fund later in the year, but for now there’s a waiting list they can join on the FEAT.website.
For further information on FEAT. visit www.feat.ltd.
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