Our society is diverse. People differ in numerous aspects of individuality such as gender, origin and physical appearance, sexual self-image and orientation, intellectual, emotional, and physical abilities, religion or worldview, age, education, and socioeconomic and marital status. A society that is aware of this diversity therefore understands diversity as a matter of course, perceives differences without judgment, and creates diverse structures and offerings.

For society, diversity means the opportunity for the personal development of each individual in his or her uniqueness through conscious appreciation of differences. To achieve this, it is of central importance to confront ignorance and fear and to create spaces for communication, thus transforming ignorance and fear into curiosity and promoting mutual empathy, understanding, and co-operation.

Since its inception, the German Music Council has therefore aimed to make diversity visible and to encourage it - both with its music policy work and with its projects. UNESCO’s 2005 Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions has given significant additional impetus to this orientation. Its basic pillars - the protection and promotion of cultural herit-age, contemporary forms of artistic expression (regardless of style and including the well-known youth cultures), and the cultures of other countries in Germany - are also guidelines for the work of the German Music Council. The growing focus on the three pillars of this convention has been accompanied by an expansion of the German Music Council's self-image: the German Music Council sees itself as a participant in the creation of a functioning and consciously diverse society. After all, music policy is always social policy as well!

Nomen est omen: The German Music Council's Federal Diversity Committee in particular has been working intensively for years on the various dimensions of this topic. At its suggestion, the Execu-tive Committee decided in March 2023 on fields of activity that could contribute to increasing diversity in the German Music Council itself as well as in musical life as a whole. Using its influence in the public arena, and within the framework of its fields of work - including political communication and public relations - the DMR will increasingly shape the discussion of diversity in the future. With its long-term projects as well as its temporary support programs - as sounding ambassadors of the DMR's music policy goals and ideals - the association at the same time embodies diversity in many ways. The spectrum of projects ranges from classical music, including New Music, to jazz, rock, pop, and avant-garde, and support is given to both professional and amateur musicians. At the same time, the German Music Council promotes awareness of issues such as gender equality, non-discriminatory interaction, diversity-conscious hiring practices, transcultural exchange, and inclusive project work - as was recently the case with a joint project between the German Youth Orchestra and young people from the Stegen Education and Counseling Center for the Hearing Impaired.

Berlin and Bonn, May 2, 2023