ICELANDIC MUSIC INDUSTRY COMMITS TO EQUALITY
- 14 Icelandic organisations sign the Keychange gender pledge this week; FTT, FÍH, Gaukurinn, Harpa, KÍTÓN, Icelandic Opera, Iceland Symphony Orchestra, INNI Music, Nordic House, Nordic Music Days, Reykjavik Music City, ÚTÓN / Iceland Music and Þjóðleikhúsið.
- Eliza Reid, First Lady of Iceland and Co-Founder of Iceland Writers Retreat, and composer Anna Thorvaldsdóttir announced as Icelandic Ambassadors
- Iceland Airwaves and STEF lead Keychange movement in Iceland
Keychange along with partners Iceland Airwaves, sponsors STEF, and collaborators Iceland Music are proud to announce an expansion of the Keychange movement in Iceland.
16 Icelandic organisations in total have now signed the Keychange gender pledge; Iceland Airwaves, LungA Arts Festival, FTT, FÍH, Gaukurinn, Harpa, KÍTÓN, Icelandic Opera, Iceland Symphony Orchestra, Reykjavik Music City, ÚTÓN (Iceland Music), Nordic Music Days, Nordic House, Þjóðleikhúsið, INNI Music. Sponsors STEF have also extended their commitment to the Keychange movement with a new pledge. All organisations have signed the Keychange gender equality pledge towards achieving 50% representation of women and under-represented genders - find the full list of icelandic signatories here.
Furthermore, Eliza Reid, the First Lady of Iceland has joined the movement as an Ambassador alongside Nordic Council Music Prize winner Anna Thorvaldsdóttir.
Will Larnach-Jones, Director of Iceland Airwaves, said “It’s incredibly encouraging to see more local organisations join the Keychange Pledge. The Pledge is gathering momentum, bringing real change to the world’s musical and cultural landscape. Iceland ranks highly globally for gender equality in society, it makes sense for its cultural institutions to stand up and be counted as part of this very important movement."
New Keychange Ambassador and First Lady of Iceland, Eliza Reid said, “Music and culture are windows into the soul; they ought to reflect the diversity of the human experience. I applaud Keychange for encouraging those working in the music industry to maintain gender equality and diversity as a guiding principle, and I encourage all consumers of music to demand it. Equality does not happen of its own accord, with some social media likes or shares, or with well-intentioned phrases. It takes concerted and sustained effort, a commitment to fight complacency. To quote some of Iceland’s leading equity fighters of the last century: “We dare, we can, we will.”
Her first book, ‘Secrets of the Sprakkar: How the extraordinary women of Iceland are bringing gender equality within reach’ will be published in spring 2022.
New Keychange Ambassador, composer Anna Thorvaldsdóttir said, “It is a pleasure to be a part of Keychange as an Ambassador, and to take part in this important aim for positive and necessary improvements in the various genres of the music industry. In the year 2021 it is frankly surprising that there is still a reason to ask questions on ‘what it is like to be a woman composer’ and the like, whereas composing music knows no gender or other generalising non-music-related labels. Fully embracing diversity organically and without gender or other labels — and to recognise the non-difference therein — is in my belief the ultimate aim and the way forward.”
Keychange participant Cell7 (Ragna Kjartansdóttir) said, "Striving for gender equality is important to me because it’s a means of rectifying the imbalance of our current situation. It’s fairness and justice of benefits, power, resources, and responsibilities between women and men. Gender equity strategies should be important to us all because the end goal is to eventually attain equality.”
While striving for gender equality for many years, Iceland Airwaves formally reached the 50% representation of women and gender minorities in 2018, 4 years ahead of the 2022 Pledge Target, and discussed their positive action in a recent IQ Magazine feature. In this Icelandic focus week STEF have extended their commitment with the Keychange pledge and also reveal new stats showing the gender make-up of their membership. In 2012 only 17.6% of their membership said they were women, which has grown to 19.8% in 2020. Additionally, STEF have launched a mentoring programme for women and gender minorities and have also supported an online songwriting camp, connecting Icelandic women writers to industry creatives in Los Angeles.
Panel Event Exploring Gender in Iceland
On Thursday 18th February at 12:30pm GMT / 1:30pm CET, a panel titled ‘Gender, Language and Inclusion’ will be broadcast on the Keychange Facebook page here.
The panel will focus on language as not only a pillar of communication but also a foundation of artistic expression, creative thinking and mental freedom. This conversation will explore how language can be inherently gendered, how it can affect not only how we communicate to one another, but also to ourselves. In a testing time of parallel truths and alternative facts, how do we strive for authenticity and represent all genders in our language moving forward?
Moderator: Andie Fontaine (News Editor, The Reykjavík Grapevine)
Panelists: Eliza Reid (First Lady of Iceland), Andri Snær Magnason (Author), Ragna Kjartansdóttir (Musician, Cell 7), and Sóley Tómasdóttir (Consultant, Gender and Diversity)
Tune in via the Keychange Facebook page here.
Keychange in 2021
As campaigners for gender equality in music, Keychange invests in emerging talent with a yearly participation programme, whilst continuing to encourage festivals, conferences and a growing range of music organisations and institutions to sign a pledge to include at least 50% women and under-represented genders in their programming, staffing and beyond. The current list spans 40 countries and over 400 organisations. See the full list here. Icelandic partners Iceland Airwaves have achieved 50% representation of women and gender minorities on their line-ups for many years.
In addition to the ongoing Keychange Pledge, 74 participants – a roster made up of emerging artists and innovators within the music industry – are selected each year from across Europe and Canada to take part in international festivals, showcase events, collaborations and a programme of creative labs. Exceptionally, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Keychange 2020 participants will see their involvement extended until December 2021, in order to allow for travel and development to take place in 2021 with online mentoring, panels, and workshops run by Capacity Building Lead, Chimes in 2020. Partners across Europe and Canada have hosted discussions around the national gender equality climate during 2020 and 2021.
Iceland’s Keychange participants for 2020/21 are:
Hafdis Huld is an Icelandic acoustic folk/pop artist. She has over 17 million Spotify streams and her songs have topped the charts in her home country. Sharply observed lyrics and deceptively simple arrangements reveal dark and twisted undercurrents to the stories at the heart of her music. Aged 16, she toured the world with Icelandic electro-collective Gus Gus, before collaborating with FC Kahuna. Other collaborations include Tricky and Lisbon Kid.
As a veteran of the Icelandic rap scene, Cell7 is constantly cited as an inspiration for established artists and women breaking into the genre. Cell7´s second solo album, Is Anybody Listening? exudes the confidence of an established artist but also exhibits the vitality of a growing one, with real soul, strength and insight, steeped in infectious grooves, melodies and a full frontal arsenal of rhymes.
In 2016 Guðrún Ýr began writing her own music and adopted the stage name GDRN. Following the release of her first single, ‘Ein’, her first concert was broadcast live on Icelandic national television. She subsequently signed a record deal to record her first album, Hvað ef, released in August 2018. The album was named album of the year at the Reykjavík Grapevine Music Awards; and was nominated for the Nordic Music Awards. In 2019 GDRN was honoured with four awards at the Icelandic Music Awards, and her sophomore eponymous album was released in 2020.
Valdís Þorkelsdóttir graduated with a BA in classical trumpet from the DIT School of Music in Dublin in 2013 and then with a Masters in Cultural Management from the City University of London in 2014. She has completed world tours with Florence + The Machine and Björk, taken posts as General Manager of the Dark Music Days Festival, General Manager of the Reykjavík edition of the Nordic Music Festival, overseen concerts at Icelandic museum Gljúfrasteinn, and was Label Manager of Les Fréres Stefson/101derland. Valdís currently holds the role of Events & Project Manager for the Iceland Symphony Orchestra.
Soffia Kristin is an Artist Manager, Concert Producer and Music Rights Activist from Iceland. In 2012 she received a Bachelor’s degree in Music Business from Full Sail University, graduating as Valedictorian with an Advanced Achievement Award. In 2014 she founded talent management company Iceland Sync alongside Camilla Stones, with current talent including Auður, Ragga, SunCity, Bríet, Krassasig, Klara Eliasand Siggy.
Björt Sigfinnsdóttir has studied music for her whole life and has a degree in project management and creative businesses from the Kaospilot school in Aarhus, Denmark. At 15 years of age Björt co-founded the LungA art festival.Now 20 years later Björt is the director of this very same international art festival + the LungA art school, which she co-founded together with a friend back in 2014. Björt has also pursued an artistic career, with focus on music and installation performing under the name FURA.
Iceland Airwaves is the Keychange partner coordinating and supporting activities in Iceland, alongside sponsors STEF. Iceland Airwaves is also the festival partner for Keychange in Iceland so will host 6 international Keychange participants, as well as the Icelandic participants in 2021.
Listen to the Icelandic Keychange artists on Spotify here and on SoundCloud here.