Music, Crime, and Social Change
National Symposium
Monday 15 September 2025
Webb Centre Function Room
Griffith University
South Bank Brisbane
Music, Crime, and Social Change
Throughout history, music has provided individuals and social groups with more than a soundtrack to daily life, serving as an arena for self- and world-making, a platform for political expression, a means of protest and resistance, and fuel for social change.
Music has been at once recognised as a resource for social connectedness and wellbeing and as an effective method of torture.
Music has been wielded as a civilizing and colonial power, and a scaffolding for identity development and personal expression.
The sonic architecture of public spaces can enhance safety, while soundtracks of culture and community can also incite violence.
The complex and multivalent associations between music and crime are emerging as an important focus of scholarly attention, with isolated pockets of knowledge developing across a variety of disciplines. In bringing together these understandings and perspectives, we invite scholars from music studies, sociology, law, criminology, health, social work, education, media and related disciplines to submit critical and creative proposals for the upcoming in-person symposium in Brisbane:
Music, Crime, and Social Change.
Submissions
We encourage interdisciplinary and critical approaches, with topics such as:
- The representation of crime in music genres, scenes, and histories
- The role of music in constructions of criminality
- Music as a form of resistance, protest, and revolution
- Formal music education, youth, and morality
- The impact of crime/crime control on musicians and their work
- Music censorship
- Music in prisons and youth detention
- Sonic agency and soundscapes of resistance and revolution
Submission guidelines:
Please submit a 300-word abstract and 150-word biography, specifying preferred presentation format by 6 June 2025 to e.myers@griffith.edu.au.
Program
Monday 15 September 2025
8:30am – 5:00pm
Schedule of events TBA, including special presentations, workshops, panel sessions, and performances.
Guest Speakers
Banksia Beats
Banskia Beats is a music program founded by Optamus (Scott Griffiths) and delivered together with fellow rappers and youth mentors Flewnt (Josh Eggington), Rush (Te Hiiritanga Wepiha) and producer Ray Tanielu at Banksia Hill Youth Detention Centre and Unit 18 of Casuarina maximum-security adult prison, Western Australia.
Musicians share their lived experiences, hopes for the future, and passion for social change with young people in the Justice system through open dialogue and mutual respect in and through music. Together, they hope to continue building on this work and pushing for a better understanding of music as a powerful tool for amplifying marginalised voices and creating lasting change.
Optamus
Optamus (Scott Griffiths) is a founding member of Downsyde and a veteran of the Australian hip-hop scene. Growing up with ADHD and channelling his struggles into music, he found healing through hip-hop. Now, he works in detention centres and schools using lyric writing and beat-making as therapy. His programs help young people process trauma, build identity, and reconnect with their stories.
For over a decade, Optamus has worked with young people in justice and the wider community using culture as a bridge to wellbeing. The focus of this work is listening, healing, and creating pathways forward through the power of hip-hop. He now leads a team including WA’s leading hip-hop facilitators, Rush and Flewnt, and has built a unique, therapeutic-based studio space inside Banksia Hill Detention Centre.
Flewnt
Joshua “Flewnt MC” Eggington is an award winning, Proud Noongar rapper from Boorloo (Perth), Western Australia. With a strong family legacy rooted in activism, Flewnt uses hip-hop as his platform to articulate a powerful, positive, and uplifting message for his people.
Bursting on to the scene with his breakthrough single “Kya Kyana” (West Australian Music (WAM) Song of the year 2018) a roaring Noongar anthem and tribute to the strong history of his family, culture, and people. Kya Kyana is a nod to the past while striving and thriving towards a better future.
Its follow up track, the autobiographical “Black Boy” ft Emily Wurramara (NAIDOC Award “best song & best hip hop song 2019”) saw Flewnt connect on a more personal level reflecting not only his own family struggles, but a lived experience shared by many indigenous youths today.
Flewnt continues to tear up the Boorloo music scene performing live, writing music, engaging with youth, activism, public speaking, and more.
Rush Wepiha
Location
The symposium will take place in the Webb Centre Function Room (S02 Level 7), located in the South Bank campus of Griffith University’s Queensland College of Art and Design.
The South Bank campus is located in the heart of Brisbane’s South Bank Parklands, a 10-minute walk from the city centre, and is easily accessible by public transport.
Accommodation Options
Several hotels are located within walking distance of South Bank, offering a range of options to suit different budgets. Please contact us to secure a special discount code for delegates to use at the following hotels:
Registration
The following registration fees apply to symposium delegates:
- $50 registration fee for salaried academics and professionals
- $30 registration fee for HDR candidates and students
- $0 registration fee for unwaged individuals
Coffee and tea will be provided.
Lunch will be provided for presenting delegates only, with Brisbane’s South Bank offering a variety of options for other attendees.
