In the summer of 2019, Keychange received €1,4 million from Creative Europe to continue our international campaign and network for gender equality, founded in 2017. In providing these funds, Creative Europe once again acknowledged the necessity of tearing down barriers that hinder women and gender minorities to prosper and grow professionally in the music industry. 

Keychange phase two started out by selecting a cohort of 74 exceptional women and gender minority artists and innovators to the Keychange programme from over 700 applicants. The jury included Europe and Canada’s most cutting edge international music festivals, with the resulting selection reflecting some of the industry’s most exciting and innovative music creators and future industry leaders. 

In February 2020, the whole group gathered at the Stim house in Stockholm Sweden, to meet, exchange ideas and create a worldwide network to spark international careers. There was vegan food, inspirational speakers, workshops, panels, lectures and visualisations. But for most of the time, there were discussions. Discussions about being a woman or a gender minority in the business. Discussions about the various problems in the 12 countries represented. And discussions on how to change the future. 

Today, the February meet up with over 100 people seems like a distant memory of a world which we all greatly miss. Three weeks after our first Keychange gathering at Stockholm, Covid-19 hit the world. The importance of intersectional equality became even more central to our work when the hardship of the pandemic was followed by the salient resurgence of the Black Lives Matter movement. 

We paused and reflected on how we could address systemic racism in the world and within ourselves and we were once again reminded that we can do more to fight for equality in music and in the everyday. 

The Keychange project has two initial cornerstones; travels and music festival attendance. Both of these activities were severely impacted in 2020 and like many others, we were forced to navigate uncharted waters in those insecure months in the early summer of 2020. After many twists and turns, we managed to find ways to continue supporting our Keychange 2020 cohort during the pandemic, whilst working actively with our generous and inventive partners.

First, we extended the Keychange programme to be able to offer the very vital, IRL opportunities at music festivals we had set out to do. Second, we launched an online Capacity Building Programme designed by Chimes to strengthen our artists and innovators, both personally and professionally, and increase their skills. And third, we set out to work proactively within every partner country to grow our signatories and enhance the focus of gender equality in the music business, as well as to promote all contributors and participators in our movement within their local framework. 

Additionally, we launched a brand new Keychange website to present and expand our movement. With the help of Acne Studios, we managed to find our voice and tonality, and Deloitte Sweden helped us create a website design and a database to promote all aspects of our movement. All pieces clicked into place when Eeden Studios provided us with the graphic framework and a key visual of what Keychange stands for – a music industry where everyone is represented. 

Another close collaborator throughout 2020 was Shesaid.so with whom we created the mentorship programme we.grow. A key part of the programme was to ensure that women and gender minorities from all backgrounds had the opportunity to meet, learn and be motivated by positive role models. Little did we know when we launched we.grow that in 2020, this element of Keychange would prove to be of even more importance. The outcome of we.grow will be officially presented in 2021 but we know for a fact that having a mentor prevented  some of our Keychange talent from leaving the industry during this difficult year. 

In the autumn of 2020 we saw our partner festivals deal with the Covid-19 situation in various and highly innovative ways. We suffered with those who were forced to postpone and cancel, but we were also amazed by all the new initiatives and alternatives that were presented to the music industry. 

We kicked off the season with a hybrid version of Tallinn Music Week and started our 2020 online journey with a panel on “Organisations and activists making positive change in the music industry and beyond”. The Estonian week was followed by other prosperous Keychange nation focus weeks that highlighted important aspects of each of our partner countries’ current industry situation.

During the autumn we danced in our homes to the online edition of Reeperbahn Festival’s magnificent opening ceremony. We cheered at Canadian partner Break Out West and their focus on “Parenting in the music industry” and were stunned by the technical innovations created at MUTEK Montreal. We rejoiced with the UK and its industry’s massive rallying for the Keychange Pledge and we were deeply touched by the Spring Break Festival panel on “The power of art and creative resistance” during the Polish outbreaks.

We visited Spain and BIME online with another spotlight on mentoring, had a Keychange focus day in Germany, and were provided with numerous thorough insights – as well as good recipes – by Linecheck in Italy. With Ireland Music Week we argued for the urgency of gender balance in music and at Oslo World in Norway we reflected deeply on solidarity - and found ourselves dress up as avatars! We closed the season with a sensational French focus week that provided hands on tips to musicians on how to keep music alive despite the health crisis and a final week that highlighted our generous sponsors who made all of this possible.

In 2020 Keychange welcomed 15 new Ambassadors and a substantial number of new organisations, festivals and companies decided to join the movement and work together with us for an equitable future industry via the Keychange Pledge. We are so grateful for all our contributors on this 2020 roller coaster journey – partners, sponsors, collaborators and participants, not all mentioned here but none forgotten in our hearts. 

We wish to end the year with thanking our dear colleague Christina Schäfers for her outstanding work as Keychange Project Lead over the last few years and to wish her the best for her upcoming adventure as a parent. We would also like to seize the opportunity to introduce our new Keychange lead, Merle Bremer, and let her have the last say in 2020:

“Today we are looking back on a year that was special in many ways. The covid-19 pandemic was and still is a major challenge for all of us. Nevertheless, the relevance of Keychange is even stronger due to the pandemic period and encouraged us in our actions. From this, I draw great motivation for the coming year and I am sure that the work that never rested despite the pandemic will continue to bear fruit in 2021. 

I am particularly looking forward to working with the highly motivated Keychange team, to make a lasting difference to the music industry on an international level and to bring about real change. I am inspired and motivated by the holistic Keychange idea, which addresses many levels, not only making demands but also providing the means to address and improve the industries concretely. 

Keychange has the opportunity to make it clear that our society and economy will only be truly successful if we live diversely.  With so many allies, we feel we are in good company to deal with the future and its challenges. Let’s achieve this change together!”