Joe GallopIndependent festival Standon Calling (cap. 17,000) has announced a gender-balanced lineup, with more than 50% female and non-binary artists set to play the Hertfordshire event.
The event is one of more than 500 music organisations to have signed the Keychange pledge for gender balance by 2022.
Standon Calling, which is independently owned by Alex Trenchard, with We Organise Chaos heading production, was the first major indie event to run last year after Covid-19 restrictions were lifted, but was cut short on the final day due to a storm.
Standon Calling founder and director Trenchard said, “When we signed up to Keychange back in 2018, we pledged that we would commit to ensuring 50:50 gender balance on our line up by 2022. At the time this felt like a huge challenge, but we’re delighted to say that we’re on track to exceed that figure with 54% of acts on our 2022 lineup identifying as female or non-binary.”
Keychange has been working towards gender equality in the music industry since launching in 2018 in response to a perceived lack of representation on festival posters.
S&C Productions’ Strawberries & Creem recently booked a 60% female artist line-up for its 17-19 June event in Cambridge this year, exceeding its Girls I Rate pledge, supported by Keychange.
Keychange project manager (UK) Francine Gorman said, “By demonstrating that gender representative line ups can be achieved, and by giving under-represented artists their rightful space on a prominent festival stage, we hope that others will be encouraged to follow suit and to take positive action towards achieving gender equality throughout the music industry.”
This year’s edition of Standon Calling on 21-24 July will host acts including Anne-Marie, Self Esteem, Sigrid and Annie Mac, along with Loyle Carner, Madness Primal Scream, Craig David and Example.