Kristina Kolbe is an Assistant Professor in Sociology of Arts and Culture at the Erasmus School of History, Culture and Communication at ErasmusUniversity Rotterdam and a Visiting Fellow at the International Inequalities Institute at the London School of Economics and Political Science. Holding aPhD in Sociology from the LSE, she is the recipient of a VENI grant from the Dutch Research Council (2023-2027) and an Early Career Fellow of theIndependent Social Research Foundation (2023-2025). Her works explores key sociological questions around inequality, social reproduction and socialchange with a focus on the role of music, the arts and the media. Her first book 'The sound of difference: race, class and the politics of "diversity"'(Manchester University Press, 2024) was shortlisted for the 2025 British Sociological Association’s Philip Abrams Memorial Prize for the best first, sole-authored book within the discipline of Sociology. Kristina’s current research explores how grassroots music collectives in Germany, the UK, France andthe Netherlands engage in care practices, protest and activism both in and beyond the creative industries.