Leeds Conservatoire has joined PRS Foundation’s Keychange, which is an initiative to tackle gender imbalance in the music industry.
Keychange invests in emerging talent whilst encouraging festivals, conferences and a growing range of music organisations and institutions to sign up to a 50:50 by 2022 gender balance pledge.
As part of the initiative, Leeds Conservatoire pledges to:
- Achieve 50:50 gender balance in masterclasses and workshops across the institution by 2022
- Maintain 50:50 gender balance on appointed members of the Leeds Conservatoire Board
- Achieve 50:50 gender balance on Leeds Conservatoire Committees
- Achieve 50:50 gender balance in Leeds Conservatoire Fellowships
- Maintain 50:50 gender balance for the Sounds Like THIS festival
Leeds Conservatoire’s flagship festival Sounds Like THIS signed up to Keychange in 2018 when the initiative first began, aimed at encouraging festivals to bring equality to their programming. The festival achieved a gender-balanced programme in both 2018 and 2019.
Prof. Joe Wilson, Vice Principal & Director of Curriculum at Leeds Conservatoire, said: “The gender imbalance in the music industry is a long-standing issue and we are committed to playing our part to make the industry fairer and more inclusive for everyone. Our Keychange pledge is just one example of positive action we are taking to help make music more accessible.”
Today PRSF reveals that 200+ organisations in the music industry have now signed up to the pledge.
Speaking on the extended Keychange initiative, Vanessa Reed, CEO of PRS Foundation, Founder of Keychange, and Leeds Conservatoire Fellow, said: “It’s really encouraging that major music organisations 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.”
