LONDON (CelebrityAccess) – PRS Foundation has today (June 25) announced it is extending the global Keychange 50/50 festival pledge to include conservatoires, orchestras, broadcasters, concert halls, agents, labels and any music organizations seeking to achieve a better gender balance across the industry.
The international initiative – led by PRS Foundation and supported by the Creative Europe programme of the European Union – was launched in 2018 and has since seen more than 180 festivals sign up and commit to programming gender balanced line-ups by 2022.
Speaking on the extended Keychange initiative, Vanessa Reed, CEO of PRS Foundation and founder of Keychange, said: “It’s really encouraging that major music organizations and independent companies are demonstrating their commitment to gender equality in music alongside hundreds of festivals worldwide. From world-leading concert halls and orchestras to Bella Union, (the first indie label to approach us), pledge signatories are creating an industry-wide movement. This will increase choice, quality and opportunity for future generations of music lovers, industry professionals, music creators and artists.”
Alexander Schulz, who came up with the idea of the Keychange 50/50 gender pledge, and is CEO and Founder of Reeperbahn Festival added: “This is much more than we were expecting and a wonderful add on to the original Keychange program. It’s a logical step in equal measures that the initiative has now been transferred to neighbouring businesses within the music industry and the media. We are very much looking forward to see the change in a broader way.”
Keychange ambassador, conductor Mirga Grazinyte-Tyla, said: “Being a female conductor I’ve probably heard the question ‘How is it to be a female conductor?’ more than any other question during my life so far, so I’m absolutely aware that as a society we still do have the work to be done for the right balance. I am glad and very proud to be a Keychange ambassador [and] with the whole City Of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, we are proud to sign up to the Keychange pledge”.
For further details on the Keychange initiative or to view the more than 250 new signees, click here.
