45 major music festivals have signed up to a new initiative to drive gender equality on line ups.

The initiative is being driven by Keychange, a movement from the PRS Foundation that wants to achieve real change in live music.

The opening spell of festival announcements this summer have indicated that this conversation still needs to be had, with many major events still hopelessly male dominated.

The new pledge finds 45 events aiming to achieve gender equality on their line ups by 2022, with featured festivals including Liverpool International Music Festival, Pop-Kultur, Canadian Music Week, and BBC Proms.

The new additions join partnering festivals Reeperbahn Festival, Way Out West, The Great Escape and more, all of whom have pledged to gain gender equality on their bills within five years.

Vanessa Reed, CEO of PRS Foundation said:

“We support diverse talent across every programme we run at PRS Foundation. 40% of our grantees in 2017 were from a BAME background and 53% featured female artists. Our focus on gender equality in 2018 aligns with the centenary for some women being given the vote in the UK. 100 years on, the push for gender parity across society continues and with increased public awareness of inequalities across the creative industries we have an opportunity to respond and commit to tangible change in music.”

“The Keychange network of female artists and industry professionals and the festival partners’ idea of establishing a collective pledge will significantly accelerate change. I hope that this will be the start of a more balanced industry which will result in benefits for everyone.”

For more on Keychange click HERE.

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