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Home > Blackout Tuesday – PRS Foundation One Year On

Blackout Tuesday – PRS Foundation One Year On

Blackout Tuesday (June 2nd 2020) galvanised many teams to reflect and connect, and for the global music industry to stand in solidarity against anti-Black racism and prejudice.

But to bring about meaningful and lasting change, public solidarity is not enough. Goodwill that is not followed up with commitments, action and accountability means little more than window-dressing. The Black Lives Matter movement was not confined to 2020; Black lives still matter now and the fight for a fairer, more equitable music industry will not be derailed.

A reflection on 2020 commitments

At PRS Foundation, we invest in the future of new music and support talent development across the UK, enabling music creators to realise their potential. We believe that all talented music creators should be able to create innovative and exceptional music, developing sustainable careers and reach audiences internationally.

For over 21 years, the Foundation has been helping music creators to overcome those barriers, and while we’re a relatively small funder offering lower levels of support than some, alongside dedicated independent music expert advisors, we specialise in making sure the right type of funding and investment reaches the right music creators at the right moment.

2020 was a tough year for obvious reasons. Music creators needed us more than ever and we adapted programmes and introduced new interventions to ensure we met the changing needs of songwriters, composers, artists, producers and organisations supporting them on the frontline. Constant adaptation was not just needed from a Covid-19 perspective, since the pandemic highlighted inequities within systems, and barriers faced in several areas of the music sector.

In July 2020, we published ‘Our commitments following Black Lives Matter movement conversations’ to coincide with the launch of a targeted Sustaining Creativity Fund for Black music creators impacted by Covid-19. These long-term commitments form a key part of the Foundation’s Strategic Priorities 2020-23, and are included here as we measure progress annually:

  • We believe that the success of the music we fund is driven by the diversity of the people who create it. Our commitment to representation and inclusion enables the creation and performance of exceptional new music which has a lasting legacy and shapes the future of music.
  • Our team and Board commit to developing a deeper understanding of systemic racism, and as individuals we will challenge everyday prejudice and will shout louder to reject racism and injustice.
  • We will play a crucial role in driving major changes within the music sector and music industry to break down the barriers facing Black music creators and industry professionals.
  • We will reach, champion and offer transformative platforms to a broad range of music creator and organisation grantees, promoting exciting, pioneering and diverse talent in all genres, across the UK and beyond.
  • We will implement targeted action and sustained approaches across all programmes.
  • We will amplify the voices of the creators our funding supports.
  • We commit to improving and sustaining diversity and inclusivity within the PRS Foundation team and Board.

 

As an immediate action following the publishing of our commitments, and since the level of demand and supply was lower in the initial rounds 1 and 2 of our Sustaining Creativity Fund than across other non-‘emergency’ funds, a targeted deadline for the Black music community – impacted by Covid-19 and facing complex barriers to progression and recovery – was created and attracted over 400 applications. Through that round which we ran in partnership with 6 Black-led organisations (Girls I Rate, Jazz re:freshed, MOBO, No Signal, Saffron and Tomorrow’s Warriors) we supported over 50 talented Black grantees in need of support.

Meanwhile behind the scenes we set about developing an ambitious, long-term participant programme and movement called POWER UP which will tackle anti-Black racism and power up Black talent. For me personally, the journey so far has been one of the highlights of my career. Often tough and always challenging, the honest conversations sparked by some of our actions so far have been truly transformative, and I am forever grateful to POWER UP Co-Founder, Ben Wynter, all of our partners (so far) and over 100 Black professionals involved in shaping the POWER UP programme, not least the members of our Executive Steering Committee.

We were proud to announce the first of at least 10 annual cohorts of 40 Black music creators and industry professionals joining our Year 1 Participant Programme. Each will receive holistic support and bring so much to a network. I’m excited about the future of a music sector shaped by those participants, and each will play a vital role in shaping our wider POWER UP Movement which will pick up pace later this year with the development of a Pledge which we will announce in the Autumn to support companies and organisations to go further.

The programme has so far highlighted both the exciting Black talent in the UK, and the severity of anti-Black racism in the UK. Read our POWER UP Black Out Tuesday One Year On Statements  and Key Findings news story for more.

 

Measuring Progress

Where PRS Foundation set tangible and measurable targets, I am pleased to report a lot of progress has been made, not least through those two targeted actions but also across PRS Foundation’s programmes.

In 2020:

  • 25.3% of music creators grantees were Black (compared to 18% in 2019);
  • 14.3% were of Mixed Heritage;
  • 3.9% were Asian;
  • 1.2% identified as belonging to another ethnic group

 

In other areas of D&I:

  • 53% of music creators supported in 2020 were women (47%), mixed gender groups (4%) or gender minority (2%); 47% were men
  • 10% of music creator grantees identified as Disabled

 

We are therefore on track in many areas, though reflect on where much more can be done below.

Outside of our programmes, we also set short and long-term targets relating to PRS Foundation’s workforce development, communications and outreach work. We have engaged in continued conversations within our networks and across the UK and wish to go further to combine efforts with likeminded organisations, companies and individuals in order to reach a broader range of potential applicants and to champion the outstanding music of UK creators from all backgrounds.

In terms of workforce development, I was pleased to welcome Kwame Safo to the role of Grants & Programmes Manger (Industry Funds), and to appoint Yaw Owusu to a new Senior Management role as Senior POWER UP Programme Manager. Both Kwame and Yaw have done an incredible job so far and we will integrate learnings from POWER UP across the organisation. Our Staff and Board continue to engage in deep conversations about racism in music and in society and we are on a continuous journey.

 

Where more needs to be done

Dismantling anti-Black racism requires much more than short-term commitment and we must reimagine our practice, review and quickly change policies and procedures through the lens of anti-Black racism and solidarity and action for other marginalised and underrepresented people.

In terms of PRS Foundation’s workforce, with 23% of our small team being from Black, Asian or Mixed Heritage, our ethnic representation falls short of our medium-term target to be representative of the cities in which we are based and the music community we represent. 28% of PRS Foundation’s management team are from a Black, Asian or ethnic minority background, compared with only 20% of the Senior Management team – with the appointment of Yaw Owusu being only the first non-White Senior Management appointment in its 21-year history.

PRS Foundation benefits greatly from having a diverse Board of expert Trustees. At time of writing, the Board consists of 11 expert Trustees, made up of six White, two Black, two Asian and one Mixed Heritage trustees, with a nominations committee set to fill current and upcoming vacancies this year.

We are committed to making improvements in terms of recruitment, retention and training – going far beyond performative box-ticking to develop a deeper understanding of barriers, learn from others, share best practice and further develop a culture of inclusivity, equity and fairness.

From the perspective of PRS Foundation programmes, we will build on our previous track-record and learn from targeted programmes which focus on meaningful long-term change.

Our commitment to gender equality is reflected in targeted programmes – from the pioneering Keychange and Women Make Music – and in positive statistics across other programmes, and in our team and Board. But we strive to tackle several intersectional barriers so that our programmes tackle various complex barriers.

We must also recognise and more urgently eliminate the barriers encountered by talented disabled and neurodiverse music creators and industry professionals. We will do so through a steering committee co-founded with Attitude is Everything who highlight best practice within guides and toolkits, and through dialogue with expert Talent Development Partners and disabled music creators, and have set measurable targets within our Strategic Plan.

To further tackle economic inequality we have been monitoring the socio-economic backgrounds of Open Programme applicants and will roll this out across all programmes this year while continuing like-minded partnerships with Youth Music and co-investing in the Weston Jerwood Creative Bursaries 2020-22 programme which supports individuals across the UK from lower socio-economic backgrounds.

While POWER UP addresses specific barriers facing Black music professionals and will tackle anti-Black racism, we’re committed to developing a deeper understanding of the complex barriers for Asian music creators and for music creators from other underrepresented ethnic groups.

Although this is being addressed through strategic priorities and other commitments from our Team and Board, we know more needs to be done. So far, POWER UP has opened doors for more honest and effective conversations with those from other underrepresented backgrounds who face racial disparities and everyday racism.

 

POWER UP Movement

Picking up pace now our first annual cohort of Participants has been announced, the POWER UP Movement is a force for change that harnesses the experiences of individuals in the music industry to inform powerful, meaningful and wide-reaching action. The Movement will fight for a fairer, more equitable music industry for Black creators and industry professionals. Action will be taken to empower underrepresented talent and we will accelerate change by collaborating across the sector through a POWER UP Pledge which as mentioned above will launch this Autumn to ensure that organisations, companies and individuals go further to increase in the number of Black creators and professionals forging successful, long-term careers on their own terms.

The Movement will be developed in alliance with the Black Music Coalition, alongside our Executive Steering Committee. And we will work alongside and complement like-minded initiatives and organisations including partners the Black Music Coalition, plus Black Lives in Music, the UK Music Diversity Task Force, and Action for Diversity & Development. We also take inspiration from our own Keychange programme, plus initiatives in North America including the Black Music Action Coalition, the Color of Change and Recording Academy’s #ChangeMusic roadmap, and the BDRB Declaration in Canada.

And of course, I have deep admiration for American music executives Brianna Agyemang and Jamila Thomas whose original initiative #TheShowMustBePaused inspired Blackout Tuesday and industry-wide solidarity and action.

 

An annual marker of progress

From a music industry perspective, I hope that Blackout Tuesday acts as an annual marker of progress towards racial equality. PRS Foundation’s commitments are designed to have a lasting impact, but I know that they are not easy to achieve. I share a long-term commitment with my team and with the PRS Foundation Board of Trustees to go further than before to bring about change, and I’m excited about what the next year can bring if we all work together to stand against racism, bigotry and prejudice, to forge a better music sector.

If you have any questions at all about PRS Foundation’s commitments, please feel free to contact me via email .

Joe Frankland, CEO, PRS Foundation