Ladies of the Stave: Networking Session For Female Musicians

About the event

Ladies of The Stave and Nimax Theatres are delighted to be hosting this networking event, the latest event in the #LadiesoftheStave initiative to support female musicians and musical directors in theatre. 

This event will offer a relaxed opportunity for female musicians to network with each other, and to meet with fixers, directors, producers and musical directors. The guest speaker for this evening will be the drummer and bassist Caroline Scott, who will give a short talk and take questions on her work in the industry.

It will be held in the bar of the Vaudeville Theatre (kindly opened for the occasion by Nimax Theatres), before the evening's performance of SIX.

Why this event is needed

Recent surveys of MU members indicate that only a small proportion of musicians working on West End musicals are women. In the commercial musical theatre sector most of the Musical Directors, their assistants or associate conductors are male. Yet London boasts many superb female musicians. Theatre musicians are largely recruited through an informal system of networking and socialising that has overwhelmingly favoured men.

Much progress has been made in gender diversity elsewhere in the arts, and among musicians in the classical world and subsidised sector, but the orchestra pits of the commercial West End remain stubbornly male. Change is clearly overdue, and it is hoped that by generating awareness of the disparity, and the availability of so much under-used talent, we can start to bring it about.