GEC 2020

• Yantra de Vilder (NSW)
• Elizabeth Drake (Chair) (VIC)
• Ken Francis (NSW)
• Angela Little (LA/NSW)
• Bryony Marks (VIC)
• Pru Montin (VIC)

Acknowledgment

The AGSC acknowledges that long-term gender inequity within the screen music sector has led to overall exclusion, lower participation and reduced career success for female composers.

Mission Statement

The AGSC is committed to equality, inclusion and diversity, and is actively working to improve gender diversity in our membership, workplaces, awards, and at leadership/mentor level.

AGSC Policy on Gender

The AGSC acknowledges that inequity is a real and complex issue, and that treating all people equally does not necessarily result in equitable outcomes. In order to be fair, our organisation is committed to targeted support for women to remove barriers and to encourage inclusion.

Rationale

In 2017, APRA AMCOS released the results of research conducted by RMIT, which examined the causes and impacts of gender inequity in screen music. It revealed that only 13% of working screen composers in this country identify as women; one of the lowest rates of participation for any screen category. In line with our broader commitment to inclusion, diversity and equality, the AGSC joins with other national screen bodies, Screen Australia, Screen NSW, Screen Victoria, Australian Directors Guild, WIFT, AWFC, and many others, to redress this imbalance.

Gender Equity Committee

In 2016, the Guild appointed a dedicated Gender Equity Committee (GEC), to develop initiatives which can lead to positive change for women screen composers at every stage of their career. The original members (Amanda Brown, Yantra de Vilder, Felicity Wilcox, Caitlin Yeo), and AGSC Executive Director Jo Smith, completed a series of successful initiatives over 2 years, resulting in the following outcomes:

• Two Gender Equity roundtables (May 2016, July 2018), which examined the blocks women in our community face, and included over 30 people from across industry over a two year period and looked at the changes the industry has made, and continue to make to combat the lack of female identifying composers in our industry.
• The creation of the inaugural APRA AMCOS/AGSC film music mentorship for women, awarded to Nicolette Boaz in 2018 mentored by Nerida Tyson-Chew, and consulting on two other film music mentorships for women awarded in 2017-18. The 2019 APRA AMCOS/AGSC Film mentorship will be mentored by Elliot Wheeler and announced later in the year.
• The creation of the She Scores, She Shoots attachment with the South Australian Film Commission and the South Australian Government’s Music Development Office.
• The appointment of Caitlin Yeo to the Screen Australia Gender Matters Task Force in 2017.
• The appointment of Felicity Wilcox to the Gender Equity and Diversity working group of CIAM (International Council of Music Creators).
• “She Scores” concert at Glories of the Score, AFTRS, (December 2017), showcasing live film music by Australian female screen composers.
• Creation and screening of a video featuring Australian female screen composers in concert for International Women’s Day 2018.

While we’re really proud of these achievements in such a short space of time, we know that to make a sustained difference to how women progress, men need to get involved too.

Our mission of inclusivity

The women of the GEC invite all genders to be a part of further discussion of this complex issue and to be part of the solution. To reflect our commitment to involving men in gender equity work, the GEC recently expanded. We are now a 7-member committee comprised of female and male composers:

How to go forward together?

Please watch out for updates and news, and get involved! We understand that change is not easy for everyone, and we welcome all respectful, positive discourse so we can go forward together. We encourage you to join our forums, click on our links, learn more about this issue, ask questions, reach out to female colleagues, and above all, listen to women, to find out about how to create a more inclusive culture in the AGSC.

​Felicity Wilcox (Immediate Past Chair), on behalf of the GEC and AGSC Executive