Music industry educators Remi Harris and Tamara Gal-On have announced a new iteration of their women’s leadership development programme, the Music Leaders Network. Applications are now open for the seven-month programme, which runs from September 2022 to March 2023.
The Music Leaders Network is open to women with at least five years of music industry experience. The programme features individual coaching and small group sessions, with the aim of helping participants develop their leadership skills. The Network is particularly keen to encourage applications from Black women, and can provide bursaries for self-employed participants to assist with costs. The costs for two staff delegates will be funded by PPL.
Two previous editions of the scheme were commissioned by Brighter Sound as part of their Both Sides Now gender equality project. These instalments ran in 2020 and 2021, and initially focussed on supporting women in music in the north of England. Of the previous cohorts, participants reported an average increase in their income of 66 percent one year down the line. An overwhelming majority also reported that they felt more confident in their abilities as a leader and considered themselves more effective in this area, with those figures at 91 percent and 82 percent respectively.
The programme seeks to include a range of backgrounds and industry sectors in the twelve-person cohort, with previous participants including creators, publishing executives, managers and many others. The Music Leaders Network welcomes nominations for prospective participants from employers via their website. Online launch events will take place on Friday 10 June 2022 and Tuesday 21 June, where prospective participants can ask questions about the programme.
Announcing the initiative, co-creator Remi Harris said, ‘Participating in this kind of leadership development was life-changing for me 15 years ago, it significantly increased my impact and visibility in the industry and lifted me into senior leadership positions. Now, as a trainer and coach, I want to help other women fulfil their leadership potential.’
Co-Creator Tamara Gal-On stated, ‘Seeing the many successes of the participants of the last two editions of the programme which focused specifically on women in music in the North of England, we realised we’d like to proactively encourage Black women to access the September 2022 network as a tangible contribution to supporting the industry in redressing inequity as brought clearly to light during the Blackout Tuesday event.’
