Speed-Dating for Women Composers
- building a network in the area of gender and music
- strengthening public perception of the oeuvre of contemporary Austrian women composers
- helping to place contemporary art at the heart of society and ensuring stable conditions for artistic creation
The music business is yet another area in which gender plays an important role. Whilst the gender ratio in university-level composition programmes has improved in recent years, young women composers and musicians still face challenges in their professional careers due to traditional gender stereotypes.
To counteract this fact, 2012 saw the Arts and Culture Division of the Austrian Federal Chancellery initiate networking events – referred to as “Speed-Dating” – in order to facilitate contacts between women composers and event organizers, music festival directors, ensemble leaders, and music publishers.
The core objective is to increase the number of works by women composers that are performed in concerts and festivals. Eleven ensembles performed works by the thirteen women composers who participated in the first Speed-Dating event. In the light of its success, this format was continued and expanded to also include women composers of electronic music, electro-acoustic works, and sound-design.
- strengthening the perception and appreciation of the oeuvre of contemporary Austrian women composers, in particular among event organizers and music institutions (concert halls, festivals, etc)
- an increase in the number of contemporary works by women composers performed in concerts and festivals
No data available
- significant increase in the number of performances of contemporary works of music, composed by women (evaluation 2015)
- 73,8% of participating event organizers report that their perception of women composers has improved
- 71,4% of participating women composers report that they have the impression the perception of their work has improved