International Women’s Day goes for an Un-Conventional style
Could you create an album in a day? That’s the challenge on offer to women in Manchester at this year’s International Women’s Day celebrations.
An innovative and exciting interactive programme of events is being planned to engage more young women in the event at Manchester Town Hall on March 4.
With a particular emphasis on women in the music industry, the highlight of the day will be the opportunity for women of all ages to record, design and produce an album from start to finish with local female musicians.
Coordinated by a local grassroots music and community group, Un-Convention, the Great Hall will be turned into a fully operational studio space where young women can get involved in music production and learn about the music industry from experienced women in the industry including radio djs, record label directors, sound crew and festival organisers.
There will also be panels featuring key women in music including Julie Weir (Visible Noise), Hannah Overton (XL Recordings), Kerry Harvey-Piper (Cherry Red Records), Jo Good (BBC 6 Music), Viv Albertine (The Slits) plus many, many more. There will also be a practical element, including design, screen printing and digital workshops.
Inspiring Futures is the overarching theme of IWD 2012 and all the activities at the event will support, inspire and develop women’s skills.
Councillor Suzanne Richards, lead member for women’s issues at Manchester City Council said: “We have gone for a totally new approach to this year’s event working in partnership with the Co-operative Group, MediaCity UK, the Pankhurst centre and the voluntary sector.
“I have been overwhelmed by the number of people, business and organisations volunteering their support and services. We are all working together to make this year’s event a positive, engaging and most of all inspiring experience for young women in our city. Its girl power in action!
“We want women to come along and participate and leave the event with new aspirations, more skills, greater confidence and a positive outlook to help support them in whatever their next steps in life are.”
Ruth Daniels from Un- Convention said ” This will be the 6th edition of the Un-Convention Factory event and the 31st edition of Un-Convention. We have never before had a Un-Convention Factory run by an all female crew. It is a very exciting proposition and I am excited to see the results. I hope this will be a truly inspirational and thought provoking day for all involved. Women face many challenges in music and media and we hope this event will go some way to redress the inequalities.”
All the activities on the day will be incorporated into rooms with the themes, recognise, represent and resolve.
In the recognition room, there will be recognition and appreciation of the skills that women have and the opportunity to learn new ones for example, in music production but also in other fields such as photography, IT, science and sport to name but a few.
In the represent room, successful women will talk about how they have carved out their chosen careers, often in traditionally male-dominated environments, with the chance to ask questions.
And in the resolve room, women will be given the chance to find out about next steps in education, employment or training with information and advice on cv writing, skills, apprenticeships, business start up support with agencies on hand to give their support.
Further details will be available closer to the event.