Creating Utopia: A Design Based Research Study on Activist Musicians in the U.K.

For my bachelor thesis I worked with Lie Ning, a queer, black and non-binary musician from germany. He developed an interest in dance, fashion, and the arts while growing up in Berlin since he was exposed to a variety of languages, visuals, and melodies at a young age. Music, in particular, so his voice stood out as the most expressive medium. Lie ning writes songs to express what he isunable to say with words.

My thesis analysed the generation of worldwide recognition with a special focus on developing an audience in the UK composed of Gen-Z QTIPOC followers. The study employs a design-based research methodology, as well as desk and field research approaches.

The key results suggest that in order to engage with a new audience, Lie Ning must give some type of fan service. The target demographic prefers to connect in LGBT areas and has a significant interest in social issues such as diversity, equity, and inclusion. As a result, the
ideal outcome selected for this study was the creation of a documentary series highlighting the artist's activity, in collaboration with musicians and activists from the United Kingdom.

My study aims to contribute to emphasise the relevance of queer spaces and to show how independent artists from marginalised populations can help to promote social change. Furthermore, it intends to contribute to the conversation about diversity, equity, and inclusion in creative industries. 

Given the lack of scholarly materials on QTIPOCs' musical behaviour, this study takes a novel perspective to the subject. 

I am happy to say that this project was rewarded a perfect grade score of 100%. One of my assessors mentioned that he could see this topic be brought all the way to a PhD level in the future.