
It was a "dream come true" for Bega Valley artist Corinne Gibbons, when she found out she'd be leading the global youth anthem at the 28th United Nations Climate Change conference in Dubai (COP28).
"It's a real privilege to be commissioned by Youth4planet and to get the opportunity to work with so many like-minded brilliant people, who are all passionate about giving youth a voice for the climate action dialogue at COP28," Ms Gibbons said.
Over the two-week global UN event in the Dubai exhibition centre, Ms Gibbons will connect student communities from around the globe to support their rehearsals.
Ms Gibbons will also work with choir directors and tour through United Arab Emirates (UAE) schools to prepare over 200 youth to sing the youth anthem live at COP28 hosted at the Green Arch - Belgian Pavilion in Dubai on December 8.
"I'm really looking to meet the wonderful children in the UAE, while we're conducting workshops with Linda Cruse," she said.
"The students will be collaborating with different schools from within the UAE which will be such a lovely experience for them."

Ms Gibbons said the kids singing the anthem 'All of Us' in Dubai at COP28 would also be joined with footage of choirs from around the world singing along.
"In a world first, school teams from seven continents, including the three Poles - the Antarctic, the Arctic and the Himalayas will participate in the COP28 youth anthem," she said.
Ms Gibbons explained that youth choirs and schools worldwide had been given the opportunity to submit pre-recordings singing the anthem 'All of Us', submissions being due by December 1, 2023.
The song 'All of Us' was first created by Ms Gibbons when she was on the Far South Coast of NSW Australia, in collaboration with Yamatji Widi woman Chelsy Atkins and Ricky Bloomfield in 2020.

Now set for the global stage, Ms Gibbons hoped the song would become a global youth anthem for climate change, "promoting awareness and action while providing youth a platform for their voices".
Within a short time she had driven to her friends' house and together they started creating the song that three years later would be sung by the Global Youth Choir at COP28.

"The whole idea is to create something that really forges a mass connection around the planet for children's voices, united to sing for climate action," she said.
Ms Gibbons said while she was excited that the song was going to be performed at such a big event, the part she was most looking forward to was to see kids feeling empowered and encouraged to stand together in "epic connection for epic action".
"I think this is going to be a really special and magical moment for the children to share together and it will be a big moment for them to remember," she said.
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