Australian Music Week has joined the international Keychange agreement, pledging to achieve gender parity across its artist and speaker lineups by 2022.
They're the first industry event and second festival to sign onto the agreement, with Victorian music festival Beyond The Valley also committing to the agreement.
The initiative was started by the PRS Foundation as a European talent development programme for female artists and has been picked up by festivals around the world, including those held in the US, Europe, Brazil, New Zealand and more.
“Heaps of great awareness has been raised around the lack of diversity and gender imbalance in our music community world-wide. You can feel the momentum and possibility of real change in the air," says Australian Music Week festival director Geoff Trio.
"Signing the Keychange Agreement is a positive step forward in showing Australian Music Week’s commitment to changing the state of play for women in our industry.
"We have work to do. And will be looking at a range of initiatives to sustainably achieve gender parity across our own artist and speaker lineups by 2022, if not before."
