As part of the KIEM research initiative, there will be a discussion panel presented during Groningen’s greatest annual showcase of international talent. This large scale event features a conference that will host many relevant topics as far as the music industry in 2019 will look and plenty of discussion points to take with us in this year’s research.
In recent years, a general recognition of the gender dynamics within music seems to be on the rise. But the attention is mostly drawn to the gender disparity of professional artists. To understand the practices disadvantaging women on stage, it is time to shift the focus to the talent platforms. While in music education gender is well balanced, the informal route to a professional musical career seems to disadvantage female artists.
In this panel entitled “Hoe Krijgen We Meer Vrouwen op het Podium?” industry experts and gender scholars debate on the gendered practices of talent platforms that play a role in the gender gap in music.
The panelists featured are:
Kristin McGee (Rijksuniversiteit Groningen)
Kristin McGee is Associate Professor in Popular Music in the Arts, Culture and Media Department at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands. She is also the current chair of the board of the International Association for the Study of Popular Music Benelux. In 2018, she received a grant to organize a number of workshops on the Gender Dynamics in the Music Industry with the KIEM project Women Assistants and Male Executives: Exploring the Gender Barriers in the Dutch Music Industry. She has written on the subject of jazz, gender, popular music and audiovisual media within a variety of articles and books, including her monograph Some Liked it Hot: Jazz Women in Film and Television (Wesleyan University Press 2009). She is currently completing a manuscript for Routledge’s Transnational Studies in Jazz Series entitled Remixing European Jazz Culture.
Li Sang Ong (Conservatorium van Amsterdam)
As a program coordinator for the department of the Conservatory of Amsterdam, Li Sang Ong has assisted many great musicians over the past fifteen years and helped them achieve their artistic potential. Her responsibility is to ensure that the curriculum of each student is tailored to their professional needs, so that maximum growth and development goals are achieved in and outside of the academic environment. The department focuses primarily on developing talents to make new and innovative music. The bar has been set high in terms of experimental and ground-breaking music. With perseverance, humor and strategy she helps young talent to win their place in the music industry.
Chris Moorman (Popronde)
Chris Moorman is responsible for marketing, communication and promotion of the traveling festival and talent platform De Popronde. Since this year, he shares the same responsibilities at Welcome to The Village in Leeuwarden. In addition to Popronde & WTTV, he also organizes FestiValderAa, appears regularly on panels, juries or in the academic world as a guest lecturer. You can also find him at festivals as a tour manager or simply as a visitor.
Moderator: Sarah Oranje (Friendly Fire)