MU to Host Panel and Workshop at Liverpool Sound City Conference

This year’s Sound City Conference - founded to champion the rich and diverse creative output of the North of England in particular, but welcoming and celebrating exciting artists and leading executives from all over the world every year - will take place on 2 May across various venues in the heart of Liverpool.

The MU North of England team will be collaborating with the Union’s Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (ED&I) department for an ‘Access All Areas’ panel, a discussion aimed at changing attitudes and perceptions to access requirements for touring artists.

We will be discussing raising standards and improving practice for musicians who identify as having a disability or long-term health condition, and how we as the industry and a city can better support them. MU Head of EDI, John Shortell, will be in conversation with musician activists Maddie Morris, and Stu and Keith Xander from ‘Xander and the Peace Pirates’, to better understand the requirements of musicians living and working with disabilities.

The panel will be taking place within FACT’s Media Room at 3:00 pm on Friday 2 May, as part of Liverpool Sound City Conference.

Workshop

MU ED&I Official, Dr Diljeet Bhachu, will also be facilitating a hands-on workshop earlier in the day, that brings music professionals and artists together to explore what each of us individually can do to implement change within our spheres of influence.

Drawing on existing tools to transform gender (im)balance in the music landscape - including the Keychange Pledge and Manifesto, in addition to MU resources - participants will work and think together to identify their own positions and agency, and everyday actions for change.

Discounted tickets for MU members

MU Members have been offered an exclusive 20% discount code “INDUSTRY20” for conference and festival tickets. Find out more below, including line up and accessibility information.