REMAP: BREAKING NEW GROUND FOR THE FUTURE OF BLACK MUSIC IN LIVERPOOL
ReMAP: Breaking New Ground for the Future of Black Music in Liverpool
Wednesday 10th April sees the launch of the Liverpool City Region Music Board’s ReMap report. The report presents the results of a two-year research process that explored the experiences and opinions of 57 Black musicians and industry professionals living and working in the Liverpool City Region. As the first regionally focused report of its type in the UK, ReMap covers a breadth of issues from the wealth of opportunities to collaborate on producing tracks, experiences of racism and discrimination, the need for professional mentoring to foster career development, to the contradictions of rapping in Scouse.
Consistent with the findings of UK wide research, ReMap shows that Liverpool’s music sector faces challenges in tackling structural racism, particularly in the workplace and its live industry, and has much work to do in ensuring Global Majority musicians have equity and parity with other demographics. The report presents 16 key findings that range from: the limited opportunities for Liverpool’s Black musicians to perform live and receive regional media exposure, a perceived lack of representation of Black people in senior management positions across regional music businesses, to the challenges young Black people encounter in pursuing a music education, identifying relatable role models, and developing professional level skills and networks.
The report produces 22 recommendations for how the Music Board can engage and support the entire sector to begin to address these challenges. Some are straightforward and easily implemented, like using online channels, such as this one, to raise the profile of Black musicians and professionals already active across the region. This is in order to demonstrate and champion the sectors’ current diversity, and challenge and change longstanding stereotypical narratives of the types of music and musicians Liverpool produces. Other recommendations, such as exploring the feasibility of establishing a dedicated Black music hub space in the city, or proactively engaging Black teenagers in music education, are longer term and more ambitious. However, regardless of the scale and scope of each recommendation, the report makes clear that delivering the changes identified demands action from everyone involved in Liverpool’s music sector, and that extends to audiences passionate about our local music scene supporting emerging Black artists at gigs and online.
The significance of producing a report like ReMap is that for the first time, it establishes a baseline from which to measure progress. As the lead researcher and author of the report, it was a privilege to work with the Music Board’s Black Music Action Group and everyone who contributed to the project, to facilitate and be part of conversations that, as the research shows, do not happen often enough. The first aim of the report is to be a catalyst for wider conversations about meeting the challenges identified, not just within the region’s Black music community but across the entire sector. However, these conversations must drive action. In the process of writing and consulting on ReMap, it became increasingly evident to me that successfully implementing any, and ideally all, of ReMap’s recommendations requires everyone across the sector to take responsibility for their delivery. From this perspective, while ReMap can be viewed as a significant step in the right direction, it will mean very little if by 2030 we cannot point to tangible change and progress toward a fairer and more inclusive music industry both regionally and nationally. To make that ambition a reality, think about what you can do to play your part, and then act on it.
Find the full report here.
The Music Board would also like to hear your views on ReMap, so please have a read and take a couple of minutes to complete this short survey: Click here
