You Won’t Believe These Stats…

Even I was surprised by this…

On Friday 30th Sept 22, I was honoured to be part of a panel of composers at Donne Foundation's Launch of it's 2021-2022 Equality and Diversity in Global Repertoire report.

I was there, specifically, to talk about my experience of being a woman in the Classical Music Industry.

I had been feeling really dejected of late about being part of an industry (industries! including film and music industries) that essentially doesn't give a fuck about living composers, let alone women or Global Majority composers.

And yet, even with my knowledge and experience, I was SURPRISED by the numbers.

"Composers’ works scheduled for the 2021–2022 season by 111 orchestras across 31 countries:

Of the 20,400 compositions lined up, 87.7% were written by white men, and only 7.7% by women, most of them white (5.5%).
Looking a bit closer, only:

1.02% of the works were written by Black women;
0.66% of the works were written by Asian women;
0.31% of the works were written by Mixed Heritage women;
0.05% of the works were written by Middle Eastern women;
0.09% of the works were written by Indigenous women composers."

Donne Foundation, #DonneReport2022 https://donne-uk.org/research-...

Some people might read this report and go:

Fuck it. I need to get a job. There's no hope in hell.

But this has made me angry. And more determined.

WE ARE HERE

WE ARE EXTRAORDINARY MUSIC CREATORS

WE EXIST

AND WE ARE NOT ASKING FOR PERMISSION

There is enough room for all living composers if the industry stops its worshipping of white men who died hundreds of years ago.

Because if composers and music creators aren't valued now, then where is the future of music?

We have a stark future already, given how music is falling out of the curriculum at schools.

But what is there for those children, those who do get the support they need, when they grow up and find that actually people value the music rather than the humans behind it?

I don't have an answer right now. There won't be just one solution.

But I do ask of you.

Read the report. Take it in. Really understand what these numbers mean.

This is not just about the Classical Music industry. This is about all music.

Read The Report Now

Want to take action now?

Stock women composers' music in your music library

Suggest women composers' scores to your students

Perform and record women composers' music

Commission women composers

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