Agendas for Change
Cracks in the Glass Ceiling: Women Conductors, Challenges, Training Programs and New Trends
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Carolyn Watson
In 2017, women conductors are arguably somewhat "in vogue" with a raft of recent and high profile appointments alongside increased media coverage, awareness and debate. Nevertheless the statistics on the number of women conductors – particularly those working at the upper-most echelons internationally – paint an indisputable picture. As The League of American Orchestras reports in 2016, the percentage of music directors were 91% male and 9% female. For conducting positions that are not music directorships it was 79% male and 21% female. This presentation will survey current and historic data and industry trends alongside the more recent appearance of gender-specific training and professional programs available to emerging female conductors, namely the Taki Concordia Fellowship, Dallas Opera Institute for Women Conductors, Royal Philharmonic Society Women Conductors and the New York Conducting Institute’s Womens Conducting Workshop. Presenter Carolyn Watson has participated in the Dallas Opera Institute for Women Conductors and a recent Southbank Centre Workshop for Women Conductors. She has spent time working with and observing the leading female conductors of our time – Marin Alsop with the Baltimore Symphony, and renowned opera specialists Simone Young and Karen Kamensek.
Unpacking Predictors of Income and Income Satisfaction for Artists
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Angie Miller, Alexander Cuntz
The stereotype of the “starving artist” is pervasive in modern Western culture, but previous research on artists and income is mixed. The goal of this study is to explore how several demographic variables, along with financial incentives and rewards, predict income and income satisfaction for artists. Using survey data from the 2011-2013 administrations of the Strategic National Arts Alumni Project, responses from over 44,000 current working artists were examined in two regression models. Results suggest that being male, older in age, with more educated parents, more percentage of income from art, viewing investment capital as important, and receiving financial support from patrons are positive predictors of income. Conversely, working multiple jobs, working primarily in an arts field, viewing grants as important, and receiving financial support from family are negative predictors of income. However, some differences in patterns of results were found for income satisfaction, most notably that those working primarily in an arts field and those with an artist parent are more satisfied with their income. Overall, these findings indicate that artists may have different criteria and conceptualizations when it comes to income, and they may derive value from their work in a variety of ways aside from income.
Making Sense of "I" in the 1972-1981 Martial Law
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Danielle Lois Afuang
This study is about the reflective process of young artists of the Philippine High School for the Arts on creating a graduation performance using narratives of victims of the 1972-1981 Martial Law. The study is done through the intensive analysis of the created monologues of the students and the interview transcripts on each creative process of making a production. The discovery of "I" entails the artist’s understanding of their own connection to existing and historical social issues like that of Martial Law. The two main theories which guided this study are Autoethnography and Embodied Knowing. The objectives of this study are to explore the reflexive processes that the help shaped the young artists of their created performance on Marcos’ Martial Law, and understand the insights gained by the young artist about Martial Law from the whole reflexive process. 'I’ is mainly used throughout, and the main perspective shown is that of the participating artists’. The findings of this study are the actual reflective stages realized by the artists: performance making and sense making. These two processes are then broken down to themes that surfaced in the analysis of the monologues of the students, conversation notes, and in-depth interviews.
