Inclusiveness in the live music industry

Music, and music festivals, undoubtedly bring people together. But, there is still a lot to be done to make the music industry more inclusive. There is still a wide gender gap in festival line-ups, not all festivals are adequately safe spaces for LGBTQIIA+ individuals, and, for people with a disability, concerts or festivals can often be inaccessible or unsafe. How can we improve the situation for these groups? And how can we involve these groups more within the music industry?

DEIBA (diversity, equity, inclusion, belonging and accessibility) are 21st -century themes that play a big role in companies’ and organizations’ culture shifts. Eurosonic Noorderslag (ESNS) is one of the biggest showcase festivals in the European Union. It is not only a showcase for bookers of festivals all over the world to find new talent for their line-up, but the foundation also wants to showcase what a modern festival can look like. That is why they organize the ESNS conference, where topics like sustainability and inclusiveness in the music industry have their place. In this joint research project, students from the Master’s program in Arts and Culture and the Research Master in Arts, Media, and Literary Studies (University of Groningen) team up with ESNS policy and programme officers and MiscBerlin, a bureau that promotes and advises on inclusiveness, to further investigate and crystallize this broad and complex theme, and translate this to concrete policies for the music industry.

Research groups

The students form research groups that will be led by an experienced MA student. They will choose their own approach and perspective related to the DEIBA theme and the network of institutions that coordinate with ESNS, and will formulate their own research question in collaboration with the teaching staff. The students will conduct a historiographical research that gives an insight into the present academic discourse of the theme, conduct a survey or interview partners from ESNS (festivals within the EU), and eventually write a research paper.