The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #173123   Message #4198057
Posted By: Joe Offer
26-Feb-24 - 11:33 AM
Thread Name: Sexism in the French trad scene
Subject: RE: Sexism in the French trad scene
Lorraine Aubert

Sylvain Girault - lost :
https://www.facebook.com/sylvain.giraille
"I commit and associate myself with Krismenn's excellent approach, followed by the friends of Ndiaz, FleuveS and others.
The problem isn't just the one of the Nozzles. This is the one of women's place in the world of music and trad music in particular. 86% of men are scheduled to attend music festivals in France!?! This is not normal and not acceptable. There are approximately 50% female artists in theatre and dance. This is huge on the subject of film and visual arts. Why isn't this in music when over 50% of students in music schools and conservatory are women?
If we close the focus on Fest-noz, there have been progress: 16% women on stages between 2010 and 2019, 25% in 2022. But these advances are contradicted by two numbers:
1- 29% of festivals scheduled without any woman on stage between 2010 and 2019 and... 32% in 2022! We backed up ! 487 festivals planned every year without a single woman on the set!
2- out of the 12 biggest festoù-noz in terms of visibility and financial means: 92% men on the plateau! uh...
After the health crisis, it’s time to collectively question ourselves, reinvent ourselves. It's a collective affair. The one of programmers and programmers. Those of the male artists who occupy a 'dominant' place in the music field (and here fest-noz). The one of dancers who speak up about it. The one of the institutions.
There are a lot of female artists who only ask to play, develop, take their place. It's not a problem at all The problem is where we leave them.
Proposal :
For example, we could collectively give ourselves the objective of the "mixing threshold". This 33% threshold is the threshold "by which a social group is no longer perceived as a minority" (Reine Prat, 2009). This is what will eventually make young girls want to get involved because they feel represented on the stages. That's what will make them feel allowed to go on stages too, legitimate to set up groups, to become professional why not. Lets do it for the next generation. That's a collectively attainable goal. The entire music ecosystem will benefit, the entire ecosystem of fest-noz will benefit. And we'll see that there will be more people in the Christmas festivities... Some programs already reach this threshold, I think of the Aperos Klam for example (43%). It's not about stigmatizing any organizer. It's about convincing, opening up and moving forward all together. So shall we get into it?
I invite everyone to read the acts of the professional meetings of the Eurofonik festival 2021 and 2023 on this subject... :
https://www.famdt.com/.../Eurofonik-Actes-2023-web-page-a...
AND
https://www.famdt.com/.../Synthese-Eurofonik-2022-V...
And also the works of Hyacinthe Ravet, Marie Buscatto, the podcasts "Mes couilles sur la table" on the subject, etc. "