The Women's Musical Leadership Online Network (WMLON)

The Women's Musical Leadership Online Network (WMLON) is a collaborative research network which brings together music scholars and students with a wide range of non-academic stakeholders, including musicians, educators, music industry professionals, activists, and collectives. WMLON has the dual function of researching women's musical leadership and acting as a support network for women musical leaders and potential leaders. WMLON asks:

1. What is the nature of women's musical leadership within contemporary musical practices? 2. What are the issues and challenges that women musical leaders (or potential leaders) face? 3. How can these issues be resolved to enable greater equality in contemporary music education and within the industry?

4. What role does mentorship play in developing women's musical leadership potential?

Although WMLON's research focus is upon women (embracing all who identify as women), membership of the network is open to all (regardless of gender identity).

Musical leadership remains one of the most male-dominated musical areas. Women conductors achieved a significant first, when Marin Alsop became the first woman to direct the BBC's Last Night of the Proms (2013). A recent report by Caitlin Kelley (2019) found that, within the popular music industry, women comprise only '21.7 percent of artists, 12.3 percent of songwriters and 2.1 percent of producers'.

Although women composers, songwriters, and performers have attracted significant scholarly attention and Women in Music Studies is now a well-established academic field, women's musical leadership remains intriguingly under researched. WMLON moves beyond considering musical leadership as residing solely in those who hold senior musical positions, such as conductors, to embrace artists, educators, and activists who have influenced and driven change within music education and the industries.

WMLON will organise 5 online workshops and the project will culminate in the Second International Conference on Women and/in Musical Leadership. The workshops will consider women leaders within music education and the music industries, grouped around the following themes: women leaders within the classical music industries; women leading EDI in music education; feminist collectives and activists leading musical change; women leaders within the popular music industries; and women leading change in music broadcasting and journalism.

Each workshop will consist of a panel discussion of 4 invited speakers, and a 2-hour practical workshop, facilitated by a woman music activist. Each practical workshop will generate a digital toolkit which will provide essential resources, such as careers advice, links to other sources of information and organisations, training apps, and tutorials. WMLON will also offer a free mentorship scheme for early career women music scholars, practitioners, and industry professionals.

WMLON's open-access outputs will be made freely available to all via the network's website. Recordings (plus full transcriptions) of all panel discussions will be embedded, alongside the digital toolkits, on WMLON's website. The network will also generate a published edited collection and a co-authored conversation piece about mentorship (by participants in the mentorship scheme).

All findings from the project will be actively shared with UK and ROI-based music societies, such as the Royal Musical Association, Society for Musicology in Ireland, MusicHE, Incorporated Society of Musicians, and PRS for Music. Thus WMLON's findings will flow into the music industry where they will influence practice. By functioning as an online network, WMLON opens access to those who would be unable to attend face-to-face events, including those with caring responsibilities (which often disproportionately affects women) and those who lack institutional support.

The online nature of the network also enables international participation and positively benefits the environment.