SHESAID.SO AND KEYCHANGE LAUNCH ONLINE MENTORING PROGRAMME WE.GROW
In January, Keychange announced the 74 successful participants that will take part in the year-long talent development programme in 2020. With three of the thirteen partner festivals postponed to later in the year, training sessions have been moved online, and today the online mentoring programme with shesaid.so is launched for the talented women and gender minorities from Europe and Canada. we.grow is a bespoke offshoot of shesaid.so’s mentor programme she.grows, which has helped over 200 women from around the world as part of schemes launched in the UK, Portugal and the Netherlands. we.grow pairs Keychange 2020 participants with each other, as well as participants from the first phase of Keychange. Set up as a peer to peer monthly meeting, the programme will help participants to get the most out of their involvement in Keychange, as well as wider career goals and development.
we.grow aims to address a trend of growing concern in the music industry – women and gender minorities not showing the confidence they need in order to fulfil their career goals; and a lack of senior role models. This project seeks to explore some of the drivers of this trend and to equip participants to address any challenges they may face. A key part of this is ensuring that women and gender minorities from all backgrounds have the opportunity to meet, learn and be motivated by positive role models who are part of the same industry sector.
There are 33 pairs in 2020. Andreea Magdalina (Founder) and Harriet Moss (UK Director) from the shesaid.so team will oversee the timeline and structure, as well as training and reporting. They have worked closely with the Keychange Project Management team to pair all participants and set up the programme.
About shesaid.so
shesaid.so is a global community of women in the music industry. Established in London at the end of 2014, shesaid.so has grown to encompass close to 10,000 members around the world across 15 chapters such as London, Los Angeles, France, Spain, South Africa, Mumbai and more. Our international community is diverse, comprising female business owners and women holding medium to senior roles across all sectors of the industry – from tech to record labels, PR to management etc. as well as music artists and other creatives.
Our work is solutions-focused and lobbies for a more diverse, inclusive and equal music industry. We organize and curate discussions that raise awareness about diversity-related issues as well as other areas such as mental health, social mobility, education, and the future of the music business. Our projects include research, social media campaigns, mentoring programs and partnerships with the music, tech and creative industries. Most recently, we launched our annual female-first, music-forward event MEETSSS which aims to explore and inspire the music business through a female lens.
About Keychange
Keychange is a pioneering international initiative which transforms the future of music whilst encouraging festivals and music organisations to achieve a 50:50 gender balance by 2022. 74 emerging artists and innovators each year from across Europe and Canada will take part in international festivals, showcase events, collaborations and a programme of creative labs. Keychange aims to accelerate change and create a better, more inclusive music industry for present and future generations.
Keychange is led by Reeperbahn Festival, PRS Foundation and Musikcentrum Öst, supported by the Creative Europe programme of the European Union, in partnership with Tallinn Music Week, Iceland Airwaves, BIME, Oslo World, Linecheck/Music Innovation Hub, Ireland Music Week, SACEM, Liverpool Sound City, Way Out West, Spring Break, MAMA, MUTEK and Breakout West.
Keychange is sponsored by FACTOR, Fundación SGAE, GEMA, Gorwelion Horizons, IMRO, the Musicians’ Union, Norsk Tipping, Roskilde Festival, Smirnoff Equalising Music, SOCAN Foundation, Songtrust, SoundCloud, STEF, STIM, and Talent Norge.