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Welcome to the 13th Newsletter!
Somehow we have made it through to 2021, and it seems as though there may be a small glimmer of light at the end of the very long dark tunnel… However, it will still be a while before things go back to normal so hang in there, and as always you can reach out to us or in the Facebook Group if you need some support ❤️
Here’s a recap of WILM activities since you last heard from us.
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December – WILMAwards Virtual Christmas Party
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WILMAward Winner, Emilie Tondeur (Belgium), in the category “Merchandise”
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On the 17th December WILM turned three! Due to the lockdown all over Europe, we celebrated online this time with a virtual Christmas party and awards ceremony.
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For the third time, we took the occasion to highlight some of the talented and dedicated few women out there in the venues and on the road and celebrated the winners of the WILMAwards!
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Members who joined our live stream had fun taking part in our Bullsh** Bingo and Crew Quiz, where Co-director Hannah Brodrick showed her excellent talent for being a Bingo Host, and where we learned the true story behind Michael Jackson’s ‘Billie Jean’ in the Crew Quiz!
The lucky winners scooped up some excellent prizes including our ‘Sabaton Touring Crew Jigsaw’, and the special WILM 2021 Calendar with photos featuring some of our members..
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Lucky winners received special WILM merch!
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We were excited to reveal the winners of the 2020 Awards from our studio in Copenhagen, where we had 28 categories from Audio System Tech to Catering. A big congratulations to all of the winners!
Close to 4,000 people voted for the many great candidates, and we reached more than 50,000 facebook users during the voting period at the beginning of December. We are very pleased to see so many people out there had a chance to get familiar with the dedicated and talented female crew members that were nominated.
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The WILM team was thrilled that technology allowed us to have live interviews on the night with members from Russia, Finland, Germany to name a few. It was great to check in with them and hear a little bit of their story.
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If you didn’t get the chance to watch it in December, we are happy to let you know that a recap is on it’s way.
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And also a big thank you to the beautiful Natalia Liossi from Pin-Up Denmark for being an excellent host.
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The studio at FX team from where the WILMAwards was live-streamed.
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And here they are, the WILMAward Winners 2020!
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Speaking of the WILMA winners, we asked a couple to write us a mini-blog about their career paths. Check out:
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January – Eurosonic Netherlands
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Sadly the biggest showcase festival in Europe had to take place online this year, however, we were fortunate enough to participate in the program with three talks consisting of topics such as: Motherhood combined with a career in live music – How are we doing backstage with diversity? and How are the crews doing during lockdown, when no tours or gigs can be conducted?
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We had a great time with lot’s of insightful discussion. You can rewatch the festival here: Eurosonic 2021
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February – ISE Amsterdam
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We had the honour and pleasure to host a network session at this platform provided by ISE the world’s leading trade show for audiovisual system integration, and TPi Magazine. For an hour we talked about WILM’s work for more diversity backstage and about how we are really doing these days. It was quite an entertaining session, and WILM hopes to be participating in ISE 2021, June 1st-4th in Barcelona, and meet up with some of our members!
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(ISE will on March 1st determine whether to go through with the event in June or cancel this year)
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Upcoming:
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Last month WILM began to host a monthly podcast hour in association with the awesome Ancroo Live Radio, made by crew for their crew family,
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Erin Lynch from the WILM team, who is normally dedicated to a life on the road as a Tour Manager, has made the transition to becoming a phenomenal radio host, and has done interviews with the first female roadie, Tana Douglas (AC/DC, Elton John etc.), Touring Mums and ‘Bamo’ the Backline Tech.
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The show is aired every month on the 27th – 18.00 GMT (19.00 GMT+1)
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If you can’t catch it live, don’t worry as you can listen back anytime: WILM Radio Shows
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Have you thought about being on our Crewlist?:
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The goal of the WILM Crewlist is to highlight the many qualified and competent female crew members out there. It is an easy tool for booking agencies, venues, rental companies etc to find the right person for their team. However, the Crewlist is also a chance for you to find colleagues, when you are touring around Europe or just want to check out who is in your local neighborhood.
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It costs 5 € annually to be on the Crewlist, and is paid via PayPal. WILM is a non-profit organisation and the fee just goes to cover the expenses WILM has, such as maintaining the website.
We have recently updated our profession categories and added roles such as Automation, Touring Nanny and Catering but if you don’t see your job title in the list and want to sign up, let us know at info@womeninlivemusic.eu.
You can join the Crewlist here.
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Mentorship:
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We are looking for mentors of all genders, workfields, nationalities etc.
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It could be a one-off session on the fly on your next tour. Or it could be somewhere in your local town – or….? If you are up for this, please let us know by either sending us a PM on Facebook or by emailing us at info@womeninlivemusic.eu We will be happy to inform more on what it requires to be a WILM mentor.
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Mothergroup:
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We have noticed that some of our members have chosen to become mothers during downtime. We are very happy for all of you who are expecting or have already had your baby. We know through our Motherhood Report that it isn’t an easy task, being part of the Live Music Industry and becoming a mother. WILM has therefore created a platform on our website that will be an exclusive place for gig-crew-touring mums and expecting mums to meet up in an exclusive forum to find comfort, support or just to enjoy the expertise/experience from other mums.
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The Mothergroup will be announced on March 8th – International Women’s Day.
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P.S You will also soon be able to buy a WILM jumpsuit for your baby in our Webshop!
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Contie Ridley’s new baby girl with mum on a gig (Contie is an LD & Pyro Tech).
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We are now in our 4th year of WILM
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When we started out a little over three years ago, we were afraid no one would have an interest in this initiative. We thought that in six month’s time, nobody would care anymore because by then the world would definitely have changed, and we wouldn’t have to talk about diversity backstage as it would already a thing.
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Little did we know…..WILM, this ‘little’ community has grown to over 3600 members in the facebook group, and new members are joining us on a daily basis. We got more than 200 members on the Crewlist to show off to the live music industry.
So WILM is indeed very much alive and kicking – still.
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So we reckon this community will go on for a while…..and as the world opens up some more, we will see more members connect across workfields, country borders etc. And we will do our best to help our members increase their skills, encourage them to go higher, and support them in every way we can.
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The WILM Team
(Malle, Hannah, Aiste, Tejka, Sana, Anna, Malene, Erin, Liv & Marianne)
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That’s all for now!
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Stay safe, and stay tuned and we hope we will see you very soon.
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Women In Live Music is a non profit organisation and we highly appreciate any donations in order for us to continue our work for minorities backstage. Please don’t hesitate to contact us if you would like to make a donation.
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Please like our Facebook Page, where we put up dates for training, tradeshows etc. on a regular basis.
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Oh, and please don’t forget to check out our website for merch and show your support for WILM ?
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