MUTEK ES welcomes Pat Quinteiro as new director
MUTEK’s international network has named Pat Quinteiro as the new director of its Spanish platform, MUTEK ES.
Quinteiro has been in charge of press and PR of the MUTEK Barcelona festival of digital creativity and electronic music since its second edition. It will celebrate its 13th event from 7-13 March, when acts will include Anz (UK), Ascendant Vierge (BE), Astrid Sonne (DK) and Bendik Giske (NO).
“It is an honour to assume the direction of the project with which I have undoubtedly felt more identified in my entire career.,” says Quinteiro. “I feel very proud of the impact that our model of institutional cooperation and alliances – through our values with private brands – is achieving in our creative and professional community.”
“Consolidating everything achieved under the direction of Alberto Nerone and continuing to amplify it will be one of my main missions”
Quinteiro, who succeeds Alberto Nerone in the role, has also directed the MUTEK ES Symposium on gender and diversity for the past three years and is a representative of the SheSaid.so global community of women in the music industry.
“Working with a real and effective gender perspective for our community, promoting initiatives and creating institutional synergies that promote equal opportunities for creators of diverse gender identities and/or underrepresented scenes is a founding mandate of our entire international network and one of the main objectives of the work we have been doing at MUTEK ES.
“Consolidating everything achieved under the direction of Alberto Nerone and continuing to amplify it will be one of my main missions.”
Launched in Canada more than 20 years ago, the MUTEK network has grown to span the US, Europe and Asia and will also host festivals in Montreal, Mexico, Japan and Argentina in 2022.
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Keychange expands in Canada with Tegan and Sara
Canadian indie-pop icons Tegan and Sara have been appointed as the country’s ambassadors for gender equality initiative Keychange.
The Creative Europe-funded campaign encourages festivals, conferences, music organisations and institutions to sign a pledge to include at least 50% women and under-represented genders in their programming, staffing and beyond by 2022.
“We encourage members of our industry who have tremendous power to sign, fund, promote, nominate, support, acknowledge, and celebrate the diverse population working in the arts today,” say Tegan and Sara.
“The demographic breakdown of awards nominations and festival lineups reflects the structural confines of our society and industry. We must do better, as it sends an outdated message to the next generation about whose art and voice and message is valuable.”
The appointment is part of Keychange’s gradual expansion in Canada, this year an official country partner in the movement, which now includes two lead festival partners, eight participants and seven new signatories.
Breakout West, the annual conference and music festival, and Mutek, a Montreal-based electronic music festival, are lead festival partners and will host four international Keychange participants each, as well as the Canadian participants in 2021.
“We must do better, as it sends an outdated message to the next generation about whose art and voice and message is valuable”
The Canadian participants include: artist manager and talent buyer Rebecca Szymkow at Birthday Cake Media; music composer Kroy aka Camille Poliquin; Katrina Lopes, president of KL Management; Savannah Wellman, co-founder of Vancouver record label and management company Tiny Kingdom Music and Mar Sellars, an artist manager and radio host with her own company Mar On Music.
Artist participants are former Keychange ambassador Iskwē; Kimmortal, a queer Filipino nonbinary musician from Vancouver and Dana Beeler, frontwoman of Hello Delaware.
The seven new Canadian organisations which have signed the Keychange gender pledge include the Polaris Music Prize, a not-for-profit organisation that annually honours and rewards artists who produce Canadian music albums of distinction and MMF Canada, a non-profit trade association that offers education, networking and advocacy on behalf of its members, their artists, and the wider Canadian music community.
Other new signatories include music festival Folk on the Rocks; association Musique NB (MNB); record label and publisher Birthday Cake Media; Kaneshii Vinyl Press; and radio station n10.as.
Robyn Stewart, Breakout West says: “BreakOut West is committed to highlighting the diverse voices or our artists and industry. Our commitment as Keychange partners is one part of this as we strive to support female and non-binary leaders and the incredible mix of talent in Western Canada.”
Marie-Laure Saidani, Mutek Montreal says: “Gender equality is one of Mutek’s core values. Joining the Keychange movement in 2018 has definitely acted as a catalyst as we have achieved parity in our programming since. We are proud to belong to this international network which advocates positive change in the music industry.”
Keychange recently expanded into Poland, in the midst of clashes over abortion law and LGBTQ+ rights. Read more here.
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