Keychange: Working towards Gender Balance
- Started in: 2017
- Keywords: gender equality, gender balance, underrepresented genders, FLINTA*, marginalized groups, pledge
Keychange was launched in 2017 as a European talent development programme to empower talented underrepresented genders in the music industry, aiming to create an inclusive music industry for current and future generations. Keychange has now developed into a global movement that is co-funded by the Creative Europe Programme of the European Union and led by Reeperbahn Festival (DE) in co-management with the PRS Foundation (UK) and the Musikcentrum Öst (SE) as well as cooperation partners from 12 different countries.
Keychange acts as a comprehensive career development programme, offering various services such as training, mentoring and network support as well as conferences and presentation opportunities at partner festivals. 2017 also saw the launch of the so-called Keychange Pledge and its flagship campaign “50/50 by 2022”: music festivals and conferences could pledge to achieve a 50/50 gender representation of male and FLINTA* artists on their stages by 2022. By signing it, industry players committed to increasing the number of women and marginalised groups in their activities and in the areas most relevant to their own organisations, such as programming, staffing, acts, and commissions.
Examples of this are festivals and conferences committing to including at least 50% women and marginalised groups in their festival programmes. Orchestras can aim for this quota in the number of commissioned composers, orchestra members or main actors and senior staff. Conservatories can strive to attract more female and non-binary people among their students. Agencies, publishers and labels can look at which artists they sign. Radio stations can use the pledge to check how many presenters they have or how many guests they invite to their shows.
To monitor progress, 200 signatories to the Keychange Pledge provided their data via a central database. By 2022, more than 600 festivals and music companies had signed the pledge and 64% of the reporting signatory organizations had achieved or exceeded their goals.
Meanwhile, Keychange has created a four-point Pledge Action Plan with next steps. It is based on feedback from more than 200 global pledge signatories and a data analysis from the Erasmus University Rotterdam. The action plan highlights the progress made, the challenges ahead, and the next steps needed for Keychange to encourage lasting change in the music industry.
There are different ways to join the movement as an individual, as an artist from an underrepresented group, as a music organization or as a company.