Festival Republic, supported by PRS Foundation, have announced a new 3 year project based in Leeds, that will provide a step-up for female led bands and solo artists. The project called ReBalance: Addressing the Gender Imbalance within the Music Industry, will give successful candidates a week of studio time, travel, accommodation, mentor access, and a performance slot at a Live Nation or Festival Republic festival. The project will also launch an apprenticeship scheme for studio engineers with an emphasis on encouraging female applicants. Read on for more information.
REBALANCE: ABOUT THE PROGRAMME:
ReBalance is a pioneering 3 year programme which will provide one week’s studio recording time to a core female band, female musician or female solo artist each month in 2018, 2019, and 2020. As well as the studio and engineer, they will be provided with accommodation and travel (applicants must be based within the UK), which will be covered by Festival Republic. At the end of the year, Festival Republic would commit to giving these successful acts a slot at a Festival Republic or Live Nation Festival. In addition, we’ll be supporting women who want to work in sound engineering and production, by offering studio apprenticeships.
In the recent ‘Women Make Music Evaluation’ carried out by PRS Foundation, it was highlighted that women represent 16% of UK songwriters and composers, and that there is a lack of women in other roles across the industry e.g. “…Engineering, in particular, is viewed as an almost entirely male ‘closed shop’”. ReBalance responds to this by supporting both artists and up and coming female engineers, in a programme which offers valuable studio time and industry support. The aim of the project is to strengthen the talent pipeline and progression routes for female artists and engineers.
SELECTION PROCESS AND PANELS:
Artists and engineers will be nominated by industry experts (labels, managers, streaming services, publishers, promoters, agents, journalists, etc.) who will be invited by Festival Republic and PRS Foundation to nominate their choices. A selection panel will then shortlist and select the successful artists and engineers, from this nominated shortlist. The selection panel will change over the year in line with availability and demand.
Our selection panels will take place quarterly and will include Melvin Benn (MD of Festival Republic), Vanessa Reed (Chief Executive of PRS Foundation) & Lucy Wood (Festival Republic, Talent Booker) alongside a rotating pool of industry experts including Nadine Shah (Songwriter & Musician), Alexis Petridis (Journalist), Jen Long (East,DICE), Natti Shiner (Fickle Friends), Natasha Bent (CODA Agency), Laura Barton (Guardian/ BBC Radio), Stephen Bass (Moshi Moshi), Jen Long (East, DICE), Kelly Chappel (VP Touring, Live Nation), Isla Angus (ATC Live), Tim Dellow and Toby Langley (Transgressive), Kate Hutchinson (DJ and Journalist), Ghostpoet (artist), Mandy Parnell (Mastering Engineer), Grace Banks (Artist/Producer), plus many more.
APPRENTICESHIP SCHEME:
There will be two chosen apprentices over the three year programme. During the first 18 months they will work with engineers in-house at Old Chapel Music Studio (based in Leeds), during the second 18 months of the programme they will be the lead/co-engineers on the project.
Go to rebalancemusic.com for further information.
