Cathy Runciman wins ‘Campaigner of the year’ at the Women In Music awards

Brian presenting Cathy with her award at the Women In Music Ceremony

EarthPercent’s Co-Executive Director Cathy Runciman has won the Campaigner Award at this year’s Women in Music Awards. She was rightly recognized for her fundamental role in building and leading EarthPercent, from our early days in 2021 to our success today: an organisation with a 300+ strong community of artists and music organisations, a funder of over $2 million to climate & environmental organizations, and a founding partner of the innovative Sounds Right campaign that launched NATURE as an official artist.

Our team at EarthPercent, and many others that know Cathy, know this is more than deserved. Her dedication, passion and insight is an ongoing gift. In the words of Brian Eno, who presented her with the award, speaking about finding help to manage EarthPercent when it first started: “We prayed to the lord, and the lord, who must have been feeling very generous that day, sent us Cathy Runciman”.

You can read or watch Cathy’s inspiring speech below. This was a really special moment, and we’re proud to see Cathy and EarthPercent standing alongside all of the incredible women awarded by Music Week.

CATHY’S FULL SPEECH

“Thank you Brian - for your moral courage and leadership. Working alongside you at EarthPercent - this beautiful organisation - you co-founded with Adam Callan and HIroki Shirasuka - is the honour  of my life. 

And thank you so much Music Week - for this annual joyfest of amazing women in music and for this award. I’m thrilled to join such an inspiring list of Campaigner Award winners. As many have said, campaigning is tough, so recognition truly means a lot. 

But this is not my award - It belongs to the small but huge-hearted team I work with, and to the courageous artists, managers, labels, festivals, promoters, publishers and producers who’ve joined us. 

Together, we’re doing something new: making the Earth a collaborator, a stakeholder, and a beneficiary of music’s incredible power.

And it means so much at this moment in our shared histories because there are serious challenges facing our freedoms and our futures.

Human health, wellbeing and prosperity cannot flourish under collapsing earth systems - and women and girls are disproportionately affected by extreme heat, toxic chemicals and air pollution. 

And as those who control the most harmful industries push back against environmental progress — against a clean energy transition and against protection of nature — they’re also financing the rollback of women’s rights, reproductive rights and trans rights. 

It’s the same people, the same vested interests - from society’s most extractive industries, whether fossil fuels or weapons manufacturing or big tech - pouring money into distracting and dividing us. And the rise of authoritarian politics globally is not a coincidence, it’s deliberate, funded, and frighteningly effective.

I know that scary facts rarely inspire action. But clarity is necessary and in this sliver of an opportunity that remains to act decisively the good news is this - you are all part of the solution.

Music is not a major contributor to environmental harm but it is a huge cultural force. Our climate and nature crises are increasingly understood as a great failure of communications. And it’s also understood that culture - in particular popular culture - sits upstream of all of the areas we need to influence to tackle this emergency - politics, the economy, business. 

And I know you know this, but music has such a special power to communicate.
Music is a space where people come together, to move, feel, to imagine, to believe - and all this can accelerate change. As trust declines in almost all institutions artists are vital communicators. 

For musicians and music businesses to show leadership now is to be an exponential force for good. You can inspire fans to action, shape public conversations and help us raise funds for brilliant climate and nature organisations - so often led by brave women. 

The growing community embracing the ideas we’ve developed together is so exciting. Many here have been part of our work on the Sounds Right initiative in partnership with the Museum for the United Nations to recognise perhaps the greatest woman in music of all time - mother NATURE. 

Rewarding NATURE as a recording artist, or crediting The Earth as a songwriter aren’t gimmicks. They’re culture-shifting innovations that make the planet part of music’s future—and help artists become advocates for life on Earth.

Working for a fairer, healthier, sustainable world is not an optional extra or a budget line. The one supplier your businesses all depend on is NATURE. How we act now is the decision of our lives about the world we leave for future generations.

And let me just add: caring is sexy. And compassion is cool.

So please - let’s continue this work together, whatever the political headwinds. Come and join the EarthPercent family - we’d love to have your awesome talents and energies. If all of us here unite in our protection of what is likely the only home to life in the universe, our collective impact will be significant and beautiful. Every young person you know - and all those who you don’t - is counting on us to get this right. Let’s do this. 

Thank you.”