The University of Groningen will host an international symposium about gender dynamics in the music industry on 17 and 18 May.
Initiatives to achieve a better balance between men and women on festival line ups have been experiencing some success, but women remain a minority in paid positions within the music industry behind the scenes. During the Exploring Gender Dynamics in the Music Industry symposium, the Department of Arts, Culture and Media at the University of Groningen is seeking to shed light on the state of the industry and how to affect change.
Along with Spektre Management and PhD candidate Marjan Wynia, University of Groningen associate professor Kristin McGee is one of the project collaborators. In a press release on the symposium McGee says that their goal is to “share resources and create a dialogue to better address the lack of gender parity within the music industry.”
The symposium will consist of two full days of panel discussions focused on the role that women currently play in musical performance (from classical to pop), talent platforms, change within the industry, and how women are depicted in song lyrics, among others.
The programme will kick off with a keynote speech by associate professor Ann Werner from Södertörn University in Stockholm, and Marion Leonard, a senior lecturer at the University of Liverpool’s department of music, will deliver another keynote at the end of the symposium on Saturday.
The conference is an initiative of the KIEM project: Knowledge and Innovation Mapping of the Creative Industry. This is the fourth KIEM event focused on gender within the music industry to be hosted in Groningen during this academic year.
Photo source: Illmicrofono Oggiono/Flickr
