Popakademie signs Keychange Pledge
04. April 2022
The Popakademie Baden-Württemberg is the first German higher education institution to sign the Keychange Pledge. By signing the pledge, the Poppakademie commits to increasing the number of women and marginalised genders in different areas and thus striving for gender equality within the Popakademie. This concerns both the number of female students in the respective departments and the team of lecturers and guest lecturers.
"The Popakademie has been an institution of tolerance and freedom for many years in its attitude to diversity and in its understanding of difference. By setting topics at our events, we try to draw attention to gender balance in music. With the Keychange Pledge, we are now pleased to once again focus on our goals and implement them with the help of the Keychange programme," explain Prof. Udo Dahmen, Artistic Director and Prof. Hubert Wandjo Business Director, both Managing Directors of the Popakademie Baden-Württemberg."For almost 20 years, the Popakademie Baden-Württemberg has been shaping the future of our industry with excellently trained music and creative professionals, and for just as long, a distinct and authentically lived understanding of gender balance has been part of the university's DNA," says Merle Bremer Project Lead Keychange. "We are therefore extremely pleased that with the Popakademie, a partner has signed the Keychange Pledge that not only teaches the topic of gender diversity in an exemplary way as part of the degree programme, but also carries a sustainable understanding of a gender-balanced music industry into the industry with every graduate."About KeychangeKeychange is a global movement working for a sustainable music industry. Keychange supports talented, underrepresented musicians with training, mentoring and networking support, and encourages institutions to strive for gender equality. Keychange is supported by the German Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media Claudia Roth and the Creative Europe Programme of the European Union. From 2019 to 2024, the Reeperbahn Festival will lead the second phase of the Keychange 2.0 initiative in close coordination with the UK PRS Foundation and Musikcentrum Öst (Sweden).In the Keychange Talent Programme 2022 is Popakademie student Asli Kaymaz with her project DJ AZLAY (Master's degree in Music and Creative Industries). In 2020, Popakademie student Antonia Rug was also supported with her project Novaa, among others. The Popakademie is dedicated to the issue of gender balance in various projects, for example at the Zukunft Pop conference in 2019 and 2021 or at the Popakademie Talks with the lecture "#GenderMachtPop". In addition, the Music BW Women are supported.