Female musicians empowered by dedicated funding but industry-wide sexism persists

Dedicated funding can increase the confidence, creativity and annual income of female musicians, though sexism in the industry remains a challenge, according to an evaluation of PRS Foundation’s Women Make Music scheme.

It also finds that the majority of supported projects would not have been possible without funding and calls on national institutions such as the BBC to champion high-profile female role models.

“While some of the supported music creators expressed initial reservations regarding Women Make Music – because they wanted to be recognised for their talent and not their gender – all have come to appreciate that without such support they might have struggled to overcome gender barriers in the music industry,” the report says.

Programme

Women Make Music, set up to increase the proportion of women applying for funding from PRS Foundation, has awarded £523k worth of funding to 157 female musicians since 2011. A large proportion of the successful applicants had had no previous connection to PRS Foundation.

The evaluation found surveyed grant recipients’ income rose by an average of £3.6k, and the programme has “signalled the potential for more women to flourish in the music industry”.

But it noted the music industry remains challenging for women. No compositions in schools’ music curriculum at any level were by women composers, and almost 80% of interviewees said they had experienced sexism in the industry.

In addition, the report reveals a clear lack of female role models, particularly in classical music and academia, and a continued lack of recognition about what women contribute and achieve in the industry.

Recommendations

In response, it suggests gender balancing lecturers at music colleges and conservatoires and providing specialist funding, marketing and business support for grantees.

It also outlines a series of recommendations for national institutions:

• Arts Council England should widen the evidence base on diversity and gender equality and emphasise gender equality through work on cultural education and talent pathways
• UK Music should monitor and communicate music industry progress against a diversity strategy
• PRS Foundation should identify networking and mentoring opportunities for women, continue the Women Make Music fund, and achieve a 50-50 balance of male-female grantees through PRS Foundation by 2022.

The Government is urged to feed recommendations highlighted in the report into its Industrial Strategy.

“Based on everything we’ve learnt from this evaluation, there’s no doubt that our Women Make Music fund is still needed in the short term…,” wrote Vanessa Reed, CEO of PRS Foundation.

“In the longer term, the success of this fund will be determined by how soon it becomes redundant.”