‘The Year of Women In Jazz’ marks a huge breakthrough for the Women In Jazz organisation. The launch of the campaign - supported by major industry partners including Love Supreme Festival, Soho House, London Jazz Festival, Soho Radio and more - is the result of rigorous and ongoing research conducted within their community last year, focusing particularly on the roles and challenges for women in the UK Jazz scene.
The research carried out has revealed strong insight of underrepresentation of women in UK Jazz. Most significantly, data showed that 55.8% of people agreed that women were ‘very poorly’ or ‘poorly’ represented - and only 16.4% felt women were well represented. Consequently, in response to these findings, Women In Jazz have identified six key areas that they will be spotlighting over the next 12 months. These areas are as follows:
The need for more representation and visibility Mentorship and career development Inclusive, collaborative spaces Support for behind the scenes roles Financial and educational support Gender equal programming and networking
At the core of the programme, we will be releasing 12 tracks in 12 months from some of the incredible artists in the WIJ community. All artists involved will receive ongoing support in the form of mentoring, studio time, live music opportunities and more.