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Festivals make pledge towards gender-balanced line-ups by 2022

March 01, 2018 12:50·
Dozens of international music festivals and conferences pledge to tackle gender equality

Dozens of international music festivals and conferences pledge to tackle gender equality

The project is coming from UK's PRS and their foundation Keychange, an organisation aimed at empowering women to make positive change in the music industry.

45 global music festivals are coming together to make a change in their lineups, which have notoriously skewed heavily towards male acts.

CEO of PRS Foundation Vanessa Reed says that the focus on gender diversity this year, "aligns with the centenary for some women being given the vote in the United Kingdom".

PRS Foundation CEO Vanessa Reed says of the news: "We support diverse talent across every programme we run at PRS Foundation".

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Other festivals who have signed the 50/50 pledge include Gilles Peterson's Worldwide Festival (France), Norway's Trondheim Calling, Scotland's Wide Days, Germany's Pop-Kultur, England's Kendal Calling and more.

Some festivals that have signed the pledge as of this writing include the Americas' A2IM Indie Week and Winter Jazzfest, Canadian Music Week, the Netherlands' Eurosonic Noorderslag, Iceland Airwaves, the U.K.'s BBC Proms and BBC Music Introducing Stages, and more. (A 2017 Pitchfork study of the 23 biggest festivals in the country found that none had achieved a 50/50 gender balance, and 74 percent of all the lineups were men.) Music festivals have to sell tickets, of course, and obviously not all artists have the same drawing power, but a festival poster is a declarative statement reflecting the priorities of the organizers.

She goes on: "The Keychange network of female artists and industry professionals and the festival partners' idea of establishing a collective pledge will significantly accelerate change". Glastonbury organiser Emily Eavis is also on-board as a Keychange ambassador, along with Garbage singer Shirley Manson, Madrid rockers Hinds and Bowie producer Tony Visconti.

"An initiative like Keychange provides clear goals and measures for festivals who are already committed to presenting audiences with more diverse line-ups", added Emma Zillmann from United Kingdom promoters From The Fields, who run Kendal Calling, Blue Dot and Off The Record. "For example, even in 2018, there are still fewer female artists that can headline festivals".

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