Jacob Bilabel[DE]

Photo by Gavin Evans.

Jacob Sylvester Bilabel is the founder of the pan-European Green Music Initiative (GMI), an independent cross industry think-tank that works to inspire people in the music festival and events industry to run greener and smarter operations.

The non-profit brings together more than 350 festivals and 500 venues and reaches out to more than 3 million young europeans through its activities. GMI acts as a cross-sector innovation and research agency for Europe's music and entertainment industry.

As project leader of the EE MUSIC project, Bilabel was responsible for a series of more than 60 workshops which took place in 27 European countries to encourage and equip festivals, clubs, and venues with key knowledge and tools to begin understanding and improving energy efficiency. In 2018 he was appointed as part of a research consortium developing off-grid hydrogen generator sets for festivals and events. Both projects received funding for European Commission’s research and innovation programs.

Prior to that, Bilabel worked in the management of Universal Music Germany. He set up MySpace’s operations in Germany, and is a mentor at the Akademie der Künste (University of the Arts) in Berlin and a founding member of the ReDesign Deutschland initiative. He is a board member of Berlin's Chamber of Commerce for Creative Industries, and also serves as a part of the German Technical mirror committee for the new ISO 20121 standard for Sustainability in Event Management. In 2015, he helped set up Festival Kombinat, a network of more than 30 independent festivals. In 2016, he was appointed by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy as an expert on innovation processes in the creative sector. In 2017, he became ambassador for the European Take A Stand network, promoting cultural values to young Europeans.

In Search of Greener Practices

KQB Projektraum, Fri 31.01.2020, 16:30

Chal Ravens, Eilidh McLaughlin, Gigsta, Jacob Bilabel, Juan Arminandi, Ruggero Pietromarchi