Thank you, many many times, Silvia Costa, Italian MEP and Rapporteur for the Creative Europe Programme 2014-2020. There is now a new tool with which to combat discrimination for women in music and the Performing Arts: “European Keychanges for Women in Music and the Performing Arts”.
This book, with support from the “Group of the Progressive Alliance of the Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament”, is dedicated to the unsung heroines in music and the performing arts, those who make a substantive yet unrecognized contribution to art and culture. Author George Eliot wrote “It is painful to be told that everything is very fine and not feel that it is fine – something like being blind, while people talk of the sky”. Women artists never give up and continue to believe in equal opportunities even when these seem to be far away.
With these words, Silvia Costa, Member of European Parliament from July 2009, Vice-Chair of Delegation for relations with Iraq, Member of Committee on Culture and Education, Member of Committee on Women's Rights and Gender Equality, introduces the long awaited publication “European Keychanges for Women in Music and the Performing Arts”.
Long time supporter and member of the International Honour Committee of the Fondazione Adkins Chiti: Donne in Musica, the Honourable Silvia Costa was a Member of the Italian Chamber of Deputies for three parliamentary terms and sat on Committees for internal affairs, for culture, science and education, radio and television as well as being Under Secretary for universities, scientific research and technology, member of the national committee for gender equality and chair of the national commission for equal opportunities. Successively she was chair of the European advisory committee on Equal Opportunities, head of the EU delegation to the annual session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women, and a member of the National Council for Economy and Labour.
This publication is the result of a necessity that I was aware of while I was Rapporteur for Creative Europe, the new European programme dedicated to the cultural and creative sectors and created to sustain projects and transnational initiatives with a double objective: to ensure that European works, artists and participants in the cultural sector are able to move freely within and without national frontiers thereby rendering the entire European cultural and audiovisual sector more competitive. In order to ensure total effectiveness and impact for this programme in the next seven years, one billion four hundred and sixty million Euros have been invested, while underlining particular attention for the access to culture and all forms of artistic expression by underrepresented groups. It is, therefore, necessary to implement specific measures to reinforce the presence of women in the cultural and creative sectors as well guaranteeing the circulation of their works within and without the Union.
A situation currently the result, to a large extent, of the scarce number of women present in decisional positions in cultural institutions. It appeared essential, therefore, to present in this book the precious work undertaken by the Fondazione Adkins Chiti: Donne in Musica (responsible for the largest network of organizations working on behalf of women in music in the world in 108 countries) which refers to the current European and International legislation, directives and proposals that should, if put into effect, radically change the world of the performing arts. The ample overview is followed by three addenda which make this text a concrete instrument to support policy makers and all interested organisations: a bibliographical listing of European and international documents referring to gender mainstreaming in the performing arts, a bibliographical listing of European and international documents referring to Equal Opportunities and Gender Equality and a bibliographical listing of European and international documents referring to women in music, the performing arts and in cultural policies. It is my hope that this research may encourage the preparation of a Motion to the European Parliament to ensure Equal Status and Opportunities for Composers and their liberation from Discrimination and to sustain the extension of the application regarding obligatory quotas in Boards of Directors to include those in Cultural Institutions and in public audiovisual organisations. For all of this it is necessary that Member States assume strong initiatives to achieve this, and where it is not immediately possible, will use moral persuasion towards all the cultural institutions and large organisations within the field of music and the performing arts “European Keychanges for Women in Music and the Performing Arts” is divided into three main sections. A presentation by Silvia Costa, An Overview, “Documenting tools to support, promote and mainstream female artists in European cultural and creative sectors” by Patricia Adkins Chiti, followed by the text of the EUP 2009 Resolution referring to Equal Opportunities for Women in the field of performing arts, and a section entitled “The Worst Practices around – Discrimination, Harassment and Coercion through composers’ and songwriters’ eyes” around, based on research and information from the European women in music organisations participating in the WIMUST project.
Ignorance: “Artistic or Programming committees have little knowledge of women composers whether from the past or the present so the general public is unaware that there are so many women writing music.”
Discrimination: “Decision makers are mainly men. As confirmed by the French Culture Ministry, 98% of all public funding for music goes to works by male composers, 94 % of all conductors are male and 86% of all training institutions are directed by men. Constant discrimination against women composers produces unstable economic and social situations for them including the spectra of poverty in old age. Italian figures for the earnings of independent artists, including women composers, show that the majority have earnings below national poverty level.”The three Addenda were prepared by librarians Roberta Quattrociocchi and Tiziana Morsanuto, with the help of Jenny Dünser (Austria), Genevieve Mathon (France), Rosemary Evans (Great Britain), Vilma Campitelli (Italy), Jelena Arnautović (Serbia), Aránzaxa Hernández and Sara Navarro (Spain), Anna-Lena Laurin (Sweden) and Selen Gulun (Turkey), input from the European “Women in Music” organizations and from Nicoletta Del Monte (Italy) and Carole Kost (USA).
FIFTITU – Vernetzungsstelle für Frauen in Kunst & Kultur, Austria
Vienna Modern Masters, Austria
IRDECOF, Belgium
Women in Music, European University Cyprus
Hudbaby/The Musicrones, Czech Republic
Kvinder i Muzik Denmark
IMPRA, Denmark
Nainen Ja Musiikkiry (NaMury), Finland
Rencontres Internationales Musicales En Catalogne, France
CdMC, Centre de Documentation de la Musique Contemporaine, France
Association Plurielles 34, France
Frau Musica (nova), Germany
Archiv Frau und Musik, Germany
GEDOK, Germany
Artemusi(c)a – Compositrici per le Marche, Italy
Associazione Parnaso Donne in Musica, Italy
Centro Veneto per le Donne in Musica, Italy
Conservatorio “Fausto Torrefranca”, Vibo Valentia, Italy
Gender Interuniversity Observatory, Italy
Università Roma Tre, Italy
Neo Musica, Kosova
Le forum Femmes et Musique au Cid-femmes, Luxembourg
Muzičkicentar Crne Gore, Montenegro
Stichting Vrouw en Muziek, Netherlands
ATRIA institute on gender equality and women’s history, Netherlands
Stichting Tera de Marez Oyens Fonds, Netherlands
Miso Music, National Centre for Musical Creation, Portugal
Asociatia Romana pentru Femei in Arta (A.R.F.A.), Romania
Udruzenje “Zena u muzici”, Kragujevac, Serbia
Music Centre Slovakia
Ustanova Gallus, Slovenia
Euterpe Musica y Mujer, Spain
Asociación Mujeres en la Música, Spain
Evterpe – Kvinnor i Musik, Sweden
IMPRA, Sweden
KVAST, Sweden
Forum Musik Diversität, Switzerland
Women in Music Turkey
Women in Music UK
