Beyond The Valley festival have today officially confirmed their signing to the international Keychange agreement for gender parity at music festivals.
The festival is one of two in Australia that have committed to the agreement so far, with Australian Music Week also announcing their involvement.
Keychange is an international initiative which encourages music festivals around the world to reach 50/50 gender balance on their line-ups by 2022, and has been picked up by festivals around the world, including those held in the US, Europe, Brazil, New Zealand and more.
“Beyond The Valley have joined the Keychange initiative as gender equality is something we feel strongly about, and something that we have been striving for since starting the festival in 2014," says the festival.
"We know there is still work to be done, but believe in representation being crucial to equal opportunity in all industries, and would like to do our small part in helping this, by striving to create a balanced festival bill."
One of this year's Beyond The Valley headlining acts Tash Sultana.
"I believe that artists should be booked based on merit rather than gender, however currently, talented females are not given the same opportunities as their male counterparts," continues BTV campaign manager Casey Katz.
"I think it's important for us to be focusing on striving towards having a 50/50 bill to give female artists the same opportunities as men, in turn giving them the best opportunities for career growth. To be able to give female artists more opportunities and for them to feel like they have a chance. It will also give young women the confidence to pursue their passion and to help set the standards with gender gap in general."
Vera Blue will be appearing at this year's Beyond The Valley festival.
“The saying ‘You can’t be what you can’t see’ is true! At high school and university the rates of enrolment in music subjects are about 50/50 for girls and boys, but post-graduation a much smaller percentage of females go on to work in the music industry, either on stage or behind the scenes," adds artist liaison manager Katie Clough.
"We need more women in public roles so that those young girls can not only see that it’s possible, but to have women they can look up to."
“For festival organisers, it’s in their interest to ensure diverse line-ups,” she continues. "The best festivals capture the spirit of the people attending them, where the energy from the crowd matches the bands and whole things feels sort of like a big collaboration. This only works if all kinds of people are represented in line-ups. It’s much harder to connect if no one on the bill looks, sounds or relates like you."
“Festivals have such an important responsibility in tackling this issue as they have the power to give females the platform to perform in front of thousands of people, in turn empowering them and raising their profiles as musicians," says Laura Hughes, who manages the festival's on site pop-up hotel, as well as working as the general manager for Untitled Group’s Melbourne techno bunker XE54.
"It’s so important that each festival acknowledges the role that they play in allowing for the imbalance to occur and take steps to fix it. All facets of the music industry such as radio stations and record labels also need to get on board in raising the profile of female talent so eventually we can get to a point where it’s not a stretch to book enough females, it’s second nature."
This year's Beyond The Valley festival takes place at Lardner Park in the Victorian Gippsland area from 28 Dec to 1 Jan.
Alex Lahey will be appearing at this year's Beyond The Valley festival.
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