New Wellington music festival featuring all-female line-up wants to level gender representation

April 3, 2021

Boh Runga and Foley are among those playing at the inaugural Peachy Keen festival.

A new music festival is underway in Wellington and it's levelling out the gender playing field for performers.

The all-female line-up features some of the biggest names in Kiwi music, from Benee, Gin Wigmore, Ladi6, Foley to Boh Runga.

Peachy Keen is a festival run by women, showcasing women's music.

“We didn't sort of go in with this is a female-heavy line up cause it just kind of happened to be it cause the line-up stands by itself,” says organiser Amber Mossman.

“To be honest, I think it's great vibe that the women will all have as front people and just it’s a different kind of energy,” Boh Runga says.

With a small crowd of 4500 people, it's hoped everyone will feel welcome and safe.

“We really only have one other large festival and some people feel a little bit intimidated by that, so we've been trying to keep it chill. Everyone's calm," Mossman says.

"For example, our security aren’t dressed in high-vis. They’re there to host rather than police."

Female representation has been a focus at music festivals recently.

Singer Ria Hall called for women to be given headliner time slots at Homegrown. And, at Splore last weekend, every act over the three-day line up featured women or was gender-mixed.

“A lot of females get put on line-ups as a sort of, 'Oh we'll tick that gender box, we'll tick that diversity box'. And you'll notice on a lot of the big festivals, the ladies are down the bottom of the bill.

"And it's like, nah, lets pay them what they’re worth,” Mossman says.

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