Pillow Queens, SYLK and Elaine Mai announced as Irish participants for Keychange development programme 2020

Industry and export experts have selected the participants for the 2020 Keychange development programme, and Irish artists Pillow Queens, SYLK and Elaine Mai are on the list. They're part of the 74 artists and music industry professionals chosen from over 650 applications.

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.

Launching with a full network meetup in Stockholm on February 13, this extensive programme led by Reeperbahn Festival in partnership with PRS Foundation and Musikcentrum Öst will give the 74 women and gender minority participants all the skills and opportunities they need to get to the next stage in their career. This is the first of three cohorts that will take part in the ambitious and future-facing four year programme that was announced in Summer 2019, when Keychange was awarded €1.4 million from the Creative Europe programme of the European Union.

Alongside the full network meet-ups and mentoring, participants will take part in a ‘Creative Lab’ at one of the 13 festivals that are partnered with Keychange (Ireland Music Week in October). The Creative Labs will offer showcasing opportunities to artists, public speaking opportunities to Innovators, plus workshops, seminars, studio sessions, masterclasses and more. International collaboration lies at the heart of the programme, and Polish company Chimes have been recruited to oversee all training.

Christina Schäfers, Keychange Lead and Head of Reeperbahn Festival's programmes in arts, word and film says: “The Keychange talent development programme lies at the core of the initiative. While the pledge encourages organisations to book diverse talent, we’re helping the talent get to their stages. Following dialogue with many creators and experts during phase one, we are particularly pleased that a more inclusive approach to recruitment has resulted in a very diverse and exciting group of participants for 2020. We are proud to represent many more gender minority participants and a diverse range of ethnicities, genres and career levels."

Check out an official artist playlist below: