I veckan ledde Alfons ett internationellt ECSA-event med fokus på jämställdhet och jämlikhet i musiklivet. Inbjudna experter i panelen bidrog med olika perspektiv för att det välbesökta eventet därefter kunde fortsätta i diskussioner i smågrupper, vilket resulterade i en hel del konkreta förslag för att skapa en mer inkluderande musikbransch.

Att ECSA även lyckats få med representation från EU-kommissionens ansvariga under Creative Europe-paraplyet (som arrangerade eventet), och som har finansiella muskler nog att möjliggöra reell förändring, gjorde självklart detta initiativ ännu viktigare. Dialogen fortsätter nu med EU-kommissionen och deltagarna vid eventet uppmanades att kontakta ECSAs jämställdhets-och mångfaldsgrupp, där Skap representeras av Alfons, för inspel framöver.

Här är experterna som deltog i panelen:

Martin Clarke is a researcher at Panteia (NL), specialising in the cultural and creative sectors. Martin has been involved in a variety of studies for international clients, mostly in the field of European cultural policy, and from 2017 to 2020, Martin was an expert and coordinator of the European Expert Network on Culture and Audio-visual (EENCA), which was established on behalf of DG EAC of the European Commission. Martin has been a key expert in a number of large projects for the European Commission relating to the music sector and working conditions of artists and creative professionals. Martin is co-author of the study on Gender gaps in the Cultural and Creative Sectors by European Expert Network on Culture and Audiovisual (EENCA), of which a summary can be found here.

Anna Neale has worked in the music industry professionally for twenty years as an artist, songwriter, composer, engineer and producer. Anna has toured the world, released three albums and two EP’s independently to critical acclaim, written songs for other artists, radio and TV advertising, and provided vocals for many TV animations, songs and adverts. She’s a member of The Ivors Academy Songwriter Committee and Equality Steer-group, the Musicians Union Writers Committee, as well as being a lecturer in Music Business & Production at the University of Kent and a Doctoral Researcher at Birmingham City University.

Monika Żyła is a musicologist, cultural theorist, author, artistic director, and pianist. She works as a researcher at the University of Salzburg. She is a research associate of Sounds Now. Monika Żyła is working on her Ph.D. dissertation “Contemporary Music and Its Others: Female Composers, Gender Politics and Constructions of National Identity at the Warsaw Autumn Festival” (working title) in the Department of Musicology and Dance Studies at the University of Salzburg. She gives workshops and lectures on gender issues in contemporary music and sound art both in the academic and festival context. Currently teachers at the University of Vienna, and Berlin University of the Arts (UdK). She has published a number of articles on contemporary music matters. She is also an author, director and producer of series of podcasts about contemporary music. She is a president of Frankfurter Gesellschaft für Neue Musik and a member of the Gender Relations in New Music working group. As a pianist, she is member of Para Atrás duo with Lucio Capece.

Ghita Khaldi is a cultural projects’ manager, founder and current chairperson of the Moroccan structure Afrikayna, for intercultural exchange, development and cooperation in Africa. In this context, she designs, writes and directs numerous training, cooperation, co-production and artistic dissemination programs, including the first Moroccan fund for artistic mobility in Africa: Africa Art Lines. Ghita has also been in charge of the coordination and production of the L’boulevard Festival in Casablanca since 2014 and is engaged as an expert / consultant for different structures and projects. Ghita is involved in several regional and international networks for arts and culture as a member of steering committees: African Culture Fund, Music in Africa Foundation, International Music Council.