Women in the arts are being pushed to the fore in a new scheme being promoted by ACE’s Cultural Leadership Programme.
The CLP is appealing for nominations for a new “Women to Watch” list of female leaders in the arts in an attempt to enhance recognition of the achievement and potneital of emerging women in the sector.
“We firmly believe that an important part of the drive to tackle under-representation is to recognise and celebrate good practice and, crucially, to support and encourage emerging and mid-career women leaders in the sector” said Hilary Carty, director of the CLP. “By launching this list we are hoping to engage a variety of senior leaders in supporting the advancement of talented women across our industries.”
The list will be launched in March to coincide with International Women’s Day, with submissions being judged by a panel chaired by Jenni Murray, presenter of BBC Radio’s Woman’s House.
The panel are looking for submissions from the realms of advertising, archives, crafts, design, libraries, literature, museums, music, performing and visual arts, the historic environment and other creative businesses. They should be for women in the positions of artistic director, chief executive, managing director, chair or organisational lead.
“There are nowhere near enough women in positions of power and influence, whether it be in the cultural and creative industries or other sectors” Ms Murray said. “We need to do everything we can to enable and encourage the next generation.”
The arts have traditionally been more encouraging to talented women, and currently a number of key posts are held by females. Arts Council England and the Heritage Lottery Fund both have female chairs, and the latter’s chief executive is also a woman. The London Symphony Orchestra’s managing director is a woman, as is the Southbank’s artistic director and the Minister for Culture.
However, CLP believes that despite culture being worth £56.5 billion and 8% of the overall UK economy, there is a lack of investment in leadership in the creative and cultural sector and in particular there are significantly fewer women in positions of leadership than men.
