Women Make Music Findings

The findings of a report on PRS Foundation’s Women Make Music fund will be revealed at a Parliamentary round table later today. The fund was created in 2011 to draw attention to the gender gap between men and women in the music industry and encourage more female music creators to apply for funding.

Grants are used to support a range of projects that help artists develop their careers, including tours, recordings and commissions. The report found that 79% of grantees said the fund significantly helped their confidence by enabling them to grow their professional profile. However, 78% stated that they had experienced sexism in the industry, which they described as male dominated.

Respondents also said they felt there was a lack of recognition of what woman contribute and achieve within the music industry, and pressure on women to conform to an image of being sexy and beautiful- pertinent themes considering wider conversations in the industry including The Gen’s call to tackle diversity.

PRSF Chief Executive Vanessa Reed commented: “We’re pleased that the findings of our evaluation are being discussed in Parliament today and that Matt Hancock (minister for culture and digital) and Caroline Dinenage (minister for women, equalities and early years) have shown their interest and support of this work. We look forward to working with Government, other funders and industry partners to grow this fund so that we can reach more of the women who deserve our support and accelerate change in an industry which would benefit from increased representation of talented women”.

The application form for Women Make Music reopens on 2 March, with submissions due by 8 May.