Sunderland Echo

By working together

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We recently published its biennial Diversity Report

which finds that the music industry is slowly becoming more diverse, with greater representa­tion of women and people from non-white background­s.

It’s certainly promising to see but, more work is needed to smash barriers and ensure the industry is truly inclusive.

As we enter a new and unchartere­d era following significan­t world events, there’s a real opportunit­y to use everything 2020 has thrown at us to build a fairer and more diverse music industry that works for everyone: because at the moment, we’re still not there.

We know from Youth Music’s A Blueprint for the Future report that women are still less likely to be earning through music than men, and have less access to support to help them succeed in the music industries.

People from lower income background­s are also less likely to earn through music and have fewer networking

opportunit­ies while people from non-white background­s find it harder to gain experience, with less access to internship­s than people who are white.

And our new research report Reshape Music found that disabled musicians are, all too often, absent from music education and miss out on music-making.

As a result, policies, programmes and infrastruc­ture are developed in a way that can exclude their involvemen­t and participat­ion.

Music is a force for inclusion and the industry has, time and time again, reinvented itself for the better.

By working together now, collective­ly, we can create the change that’s needed and ensure the very best future for the UK’s beloved music scene.

“Wearing a poppy to show our pride is the only thing we can do.”

 ??  ?? “The pride we feel for our free county will never die.”
Matt Griffiths. Chief Executive at Youth Music – the national music and young people’s charity which funds community music making projects in the UK.
“The pride we feel for our free county will never die.” Matt Griffiths. Chief Executive at Youth Music – the national music and young people’s charity which funds community music making projects in the UK.

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