Co-founded by PRS Foundation, Keychange is an international initiative on a mission to increase the presence and representation of women and marginalised genders in programming, staffing and the wider music industry. Seventy-four artists and professionals from 13 countries across the UK, Europe and Canada have been participating in the programme's international festivals, showcase events, collaborations and creative labs every year. Keychange is designed to increase exposure and experience for its diverse programme participants, and a new Keychange Leaders open call launches in December.
We interviewed Christina Hazboun, UK Project Manager of Keychange to learn more about the initiative's ethos of being as inclusive as possible of all backgrounds in an intersectional manner. We explore the practical details of the programme and how its success at levelling the gender playing field in the music industry is manifesting.
Can you tell us more about where your EDI project began?
The project started in 2017 and it was co-founded by PRS Foundation based on a report that highlighted the lack of women in the music industry. At that time, PRS Foundation was running the Women Make Music programme—which is still running—and a group of partners came together, including PRS Foundation UK, Musikcentrum Öst in Sweden and Reeperbahn Festival in Germany, who are both still core partners, as well as others from across Europe. The partnership was formed initially to increase the representation of women on stage and behind the scenes. However, we quickly realised that we need to be more gender diverse and that we really need to be very inclusive of all genders because there is a lack of that.
What are you hoping to achieve from the work you’re doing with Keychange?
The original goal was to achieve at least 50% gender representation on stages and behind stages at Keychange. Now, we would like it to be an equal balance of women and gender-diverse people within the music industry. We also want to get more women and gender-diverse people in leading positions, particularly in positions where we can see they're mainly CIS, white, male-dominated. We want our whole work to empower women and gender-diverse people from all backgrounds to reach those positions and to build networks around that great set of goals.
How does Keychange support the wider company strategy?
So, talking about PRS Foundation and how this work sits within their own intentions, it certainly builds on all of the other projects that are running. If we look at other PRS Foundation initiatives like Power Up and Women in Music, there has been a real drive to have a more diverse industry, especially in the last few years. And when we talk about diversity, it's not just about gender diversity, but also about looking into ethnicities and socioeconomic backgrounds as well. The Foundation set and achieved its own Keychange Pledge target (ensuring that even outside of what we call ‘targeted action’ schemes, women, gender-diverse and mixed gender groups make up at least 50% of the talent we fund). And we’ve applied learnings from Keychange to all of our work.
There is this ethos to try to be as inclusive as possible of all backgrounds in an intersectional manner.
Can you tell us a bit more about how the programme works and what's involved?
We have an open call that launches in December and closes mid-January. We then select women and gender-diverse artists and professionals based in Europe and Canada. We then empower selected participants through the programme, and this helps to shape a fairer industry.
Each festival or partner organisation has its own staff, and they oversee delivering support to the network. And we have a code of conduct that we share with participants and the partners to explain the basic requirements of us talking to each other, addressing each other and what to do if something happens. We have allocated people from our team within the code of conduct that anyone can approach and help tackle any situation that may arise.
Throughout the year, we also do what we call a 'full network meet-up' where everyone meets together. That happens at the start of the programme and towards the end of it and helps foster collaboration between many of the artists and professionals who take part.
We have historically also teamed up with She Said So to deliver mentorship, which usually runs from March to September. Our participants are paired with mentors from the music industry to help advance their skills or knowledge in a topic they choose.
What do you believe are the risks of not addressing gender imbalance and equality within the music industry?
There are many risks. Music is a reflection of society and if we look at that, we do not have enough women and gender-diverse people getting to the positions that they should be. A lot of the time, besides it being a matter of access, it's also a matter of attitude and a matter of safety. We launched a manifesto in April 2024 working with artists and professionals from across the music sector, across Europe and the UK. We found that safety was one of the main concerns, especially for women and gender-diverse people. So, I think the risk of not achieving better values and mottos is, in many ways, a personal risk to all of the people who are involved in the industry.
What have been some of the key outcomes and success stories you've seen so far from Keychange?
It's seeing the women and gender-diverse artists flourish within the work they're doing. It's not easy to sustain a career within the music industry and studies have also shown a decline in women and gender-diverse people the older we get. There's a lot of people in the industry in their 20s and early 30s and then there's a drop in the 50s. So, seeing women and gender-diverse people of all backgrounds persevere and find ways of practising their art is important and inspiring for others. And for them to be able to share that with the people around them is key because artists nowadays have to do a lot on their own.
When you discuss matters with others and when you're within a network of like-minded people, you can gain experiences from other people as opposed to just enrolling in a course, for example, and investing your own money. Through Keychange, we're investing in those people and giving them a learning experience that they can take away. Part of the next phase of Keychange will be producing toolkits and materials that are readily available for people to access and refer to.
What do you think makes Keychange successful?
I think it's mainly the participants to be honest and how, amongst themselves, they have fostered relationships and maintained them. The first cohorts still provide advice to each other today. So, when you see that communication and collaboration happening even years after, I think that's a testimony to the fact that Keychange is working.
We commissioned an impact evaluation study that was launched in April 2024 at Talon Music Week. That clearly highlighted the impact Keychange has had on the participants through case studies and interviews as well as the relationships that were built over the years. It was conducted with a number of former participants alongside Dr. Matina Magkou, a Greek researcher based in France. It clearly showed the impact of Keychange in terms of network growth, exposure and gaining further bookings for artists or in terms of professionals, speaking and travel engagements.
A lot of the value that is gained within Keychange is through the network itself and the knowledge shared. Value and success don't necessarily have to be material. Culture is intangible and there are many intangible assets within culture that are important to pass on and to share.
I also think it's the fact that all of us who are within this sphere of work are passionate about our work and that we all believe in equity from our own internal experiences. We all come into the project with this belief with us and we try to implement it in how we work.
What challenges or barriers have you experienced so far in delivering the Keychange programme?
I mean, the main challenge is always financial. There's never enough money to cover everything for everyone. However, I have to say FACTOR in Canada (the music publishing society) give an incredible amount of support to their artists, especially for travel abroad. Our budgets, on the other hand, are tight in terms of the amount of money allocated to travel and accommodation and other similar matters. The Canadians have a lot of external support, which I think we all need—both the artists and the professionals.
Another challenge is also accessing the people who make the decisions within the music industry—talking to them and having meaningful conversations about how you change programming in a way that is more diverse and more inclusive. There are structural challenges but there are also challenges in access to education and knowledge. We're trying to close these gaps but it's not something we can do on our own. We all need to work together.
Can you tell us more about the Keychange Inspiration Award?
The Keychange Inspiration Award is something we grant at some of the festivals. With our festival partners, we try to identify either people or organisations who have been really important in achieving change within their environments. So, it's through this award we really try to highlight the work of others. Where we can, we also try to incorporate this work through our festivals as a workshop or as a talk to highlight it with participants or with audiences for wider outreach. It's about supporting knowledge and accessibility.
What key advice or learning would you share with other organisations considering delivering similar initiatives?
I would say talk to each other, collaborate with each other and be open with each other because you will find intersections between all of us. Plus, some of us have done these things before so we can build on each other's knowledge and experience.
Definitely do it because it is still much needed—we're not there yet and a lot of work is needed before we achieve true equity, inclusivity and accessibility. I mean, our whole world is mainly designed by men—even the sizes of doors, cars and tables. Until everything around us is more inclusive, there's still a lot of work to do.
For more information or to get involved in the amazing EDI work Keychange is doing, head to www.keychange.eu.
Explore other case studies today at diversity.wearecreative.uk/case-studies.
