• Keychange welcomes 76 new artist and innovator participants from 12 countries to its 2022 talent development programme

• Featuring up-and-coming artistic talent and innovators who are already leaders in their field (in production, marketing, management and beyond), participants are selected by industry experts as future leaders of the music industry

• The innovative year-long talent programme provides women and gender minority participants with the skills, resources and opportunities needed to fast track them to the next stage in their career

• The programme features international network meet-ups, showcases, workshops, seminars, studio sessions and masterclasses, as well as an invitation to a mentoring scheme in collaboration with shesaidso.

• International collaboration lies at the heart of the programme. 

• The programme launches with a digital kick-off February 16th - 18th 2022

Today Keychange, the pioneering international initiative for gender equality in the music industry, welcomes 76 new faces to its 2022 talent development programme. Selected by industry and export experts as future leaders, the new cohort of artists and music industry professionals from 12 different countries will take part in a year-long programme, following an open call that received 590 applications. 

Participants include Shereen Perera, Senior Producer of Women of the World Foundation (UK), Samantha Slattery, Founder of Women in Music Canada (CA), Mathilde Neuville, Co-founder of Consentis for the prevention of sexism and sexual violence in music (FR) and the hotly tipped alternative indie Rough Trade artist, Laura Lee & the Jettes (DE) who is poised to play key festival slots this March at NYC Festival New Colossus and SXSW. 

 

Keychange is delighted to introduce the 76 new participants:

CANADA: (Artists) Alysha Brilla, Liliane Chlela, Mise en Scene, Paris Pick

(Innovators) Flora Garnier, Isabelle Banos, Noreen Hamid, Samantha Slattery

 

ESTONIA: (Artists) Anett, OOPUS, Tuulikki Bartosik, Vera Vice

(Innovators): Britt Randma, Kertu Mägar, Sandra Perens

 

FRANCE: (Artists) ٥٥ گليثرGlitter, Anna Majidson, Bandit Bandit

(Innovators) Emily Gonneau, Gwendolenn Sharp, Mathilde Neuville

 

GERMANY: (Artists) Albertine Sarges, Laura Lee & the Jettes, lùisa

(Innovators): AZLAY, Imke Machura, Katharin Ahrend

 

ICELAND: (Artists) Possimiste, Sunna Margrét, Ultraflex

(Innovators) Anna Dungal, Björt Sigfinnsdóttir, Bryndís Jonatansdóttir, Kim Wagenaar

 

IRELAND: (Artists): Dani Larkin, NIMF, shiv

(Innovators): Ismay Bourke, Laura McCabe, Naoise Roo Callan

 

ITALY: (Artists) Anna Bassy, Arya, effe effe

(Innovators): Flavia Guarino, Sara Colantonio, Silvia Nocentini aka NoOx

 

NORWAY: (Artists): Nedja, Cham Léon

(Innovators): Camilla Christensen, Kine Lundervold, Lennea Lyssand, Sofie Søndervik Sæther

 

POLAND: (Artists) IFI UDE, Misia Furtak, Moriah Woods

(Innovators) Gosia Bego, Inga Plewicka, Tamara Kaminska

 

SPAIN: (Artists): airu, Efe Ce Ele, LAU

(Innovators): Alayna Hughes, Ariane Paras, Jeanny Ricci

 

SWEDEN: (Artists) Fågelle, The Magnettes - Rebecka Digervall, Sissel Wincent

(Innovators) Affa Alizadeh, Ivy Ofori,Sofia Sandqvist

 

UK: (Artists): caro♡, Eliza Shaddad, IMOGEN

(Innovators): Bishi, Eve Horne, Shereen Perera

 

Listen to the Keychange 2022 artist playlists here: SoundCloud, Spotify. Read more about each of the brilliant participants on the Keychange website here, which also serves as a vital resource of fresh international talent for festivals and Keychange signatories to draw upon. 

 

Keychange Talent Development Programme 2022

Launching with a digital kick-off on February 16th - 18th 2022, this extensive programme aims to equip the 76 women and gender minority participants with the skills, resources and opportunities needed to fast track them to the next stage in their career. 

Alongside the full network meet-ups, participants will take part in Creative Labs at the 13 festivals that are partnered with Keychange in Europe and Canada. The Creative Labs will take the form of workshops, seminars, studio sessions, masterclasses and more. In addition to these opportunities, the programme’s artists will take part in international showcases, Innovators will be invited to international music conferences and each participant will be invited to benefit from a mentoring scheme created in collaboration with shesaid.so.

International collaboration lies at the heart of the programme, which will be curated by Sofie Marin throughout 2022. 

 

Sofie Marin, Keychange Capacity Building Lead, founder and CEO of From Sweden Productions says, It is a great honour to curate the programme for the 2022 cohort in close partnership with esteemed Keychange colleagues and partners across Europe and Canada. Keychange is a unique project in the sense that as a capacity building initiative it not only provides the strategies, tools and connections for up-skilling, mastery and growth. It also empowers the participants with a voice, clarity and direction to bring about positive change as emerging cultural leaders in their respective fields. Something that is much needed in the world today. She continues: Now more than ever there’s a need for human connection, interaction, inclusion, and support across the borders which will be at the core of everything we do; whether physical, hybrid and/or digital. More details about the programme will be presented in London 16-18 February.
 

Merle Bremer, Project Lead Keychange (Reeperbahn Festival) says, With joy and excitement, I look forward to the coming year and to seeing the many talented artists and innovators who will participate in the Keychange Capacity Building Programme 2022.

Unfortunately, Covid is still ubiquitous. Studies show that women and non-binary people are more affected by the impact of the pandemic than others. However, I am confident that with Keychange we are creating a motivating programme that will support all participants to (re)build their professional and personal skills and achieve their career goals in 2022. In this context, Keychange is working hard to deliver a better experience for participants and use all the tools at its disposal to create a robust and truly worldwide network - even across European borders.

 

The announcement comes at an exciting moment for Keychange, as the number of music organisations that have signed up to the gender balance pledge surpasses 550 - with latest signatories including Believe, Snowbombing festival and Ted Baker’s Street Party Sessions, who also join the movement as a Sponsor. Watch the Ted Baker X Keychange: Clare Amfo in conversation with Jamz Supernova piece here.

To date, 133 participants have taken part in the Keychange programme, the impressive achievements of its alumna include: 
The Business with Attitude 2020 prize (FR) awarded to CEO & Cofounder of NomadPlay / NoMadMusic Clothilde Chalot. Organised by Madame Figaro, it is part of the annual 100 Femmes de Culture list selection (Top 100 women of the French cultural sector). Folk artist Hafdis Huld received double platinum recognition for her album Vogguvisur, ranking Top Artist Iceland #1 in Spotify Charts. In Canada, indigenous indie electronic artist Iskwe received a Juno Award 2020 (CA) for ‘Video of the Year’, and was nominated for the SOCAN prize shortly after.

 

we.grow Mentorship Programme extends to 2022

Keychange and shesaid.so are proud to reveal that their mentoring collaboration, we.grow will continue into 2022, providing the latest participants of the Keychange talent development programme with one-to-one mentoring throughout the coming year.

The we.grow mentorship collaboration was launched in April 2020, when Keychange and shesaid.so united to develop a bespoke peer to peer mentoring programme for women and gender minority artists and innovators. This collaboration has endured throughout the pandemic so far, providing invaluable connections and professional support through difficult times, by bringing more than 35 mentoring pairs together for both peer-to-peer sessions, as well as providing participants with mentorship from music industry professionals from multiple sectors. 

 

Andreea Magdalina, founder of shesaid.so says
Following the success of our partnership in 2021, we’re excited to be able to continue our journey with Keychange to deliver a high impact mentorship programme for the 2022 Cohort. At shesaid.so we believe in the transformative power of mentoring on an international level - to develop careers in the music industry and help build businesses that have a strong understanding of cultures and markets worldwide. At such a pivotal time for the industry, it's more important than ever to provide individualized professional development for women and gender minorities that allows them to create connections, and be guided by role models.

 

Quotes from 2021 Keychange participant
Magda Cholyst, Founder of Artist in Bloom, Artist Coach, Educator (PL) says
Keychange is like a huge mastermind. You get a unique opportunity to be in active conversation with an experienced, inspiring, open-minded international community. For people who seek not only for business growth, but also understanding of themselves as well as the world changing everyday, this experience is priceless. For me, as a woman in the music industry, cultural entrepreneur and human being, Keychange is one of the turning points in my personal and professional story.

07 Jan 2026

• Streamed and retail entertainment sales grew four times faster than UK economy in 2025 (see News)

• UMG announces collaboration with NVIDIA to pioneer responsible AI for music discovery, creation, and engagement (see News)

06 Jan 2026

• 2026 music industry predictions (see Features)

05 Jan 2026

• New wave of global British breakthrough talent helps UK recorded music grow for 11th consecutive year (see News)

19 Dec 2025

• What’s going to give you the marketing edge in 2026? (see Features)

18 Dec 2025

• The global value of music copyright hits an all-time high (see Reports)

17 Dec 2025

• The 'metamorphosis' of Atlantic Records (see Features)

16 Dec 2025

• Looking ahead to 2026 (see Opinion)

• Boost for artists in AI copyright battle as only 3% back UK active opt-out plan (see News)

15 Dec 2025

• Music discovery: More channels, more problems (see Reports)

12 Dec 2025

• The 10 biggest AI music stories of 2025 (see Features)

11 Dec 2025

• Do pop stars write their own hits—and if not, who does? (see Analysis)