Irish Studies Seminar Series: ‘Gender Trouble: Key Issues in the Contemporary Irish Music Industry’

Irish Studies Seminar Series Semester 1, 2023-24 (in person and on zoom) 

‘Gender Trouble: Key Issues in the Contemporary Irish Music Industry’

Dr Ann-Marie Hanlon  

The seminar will take place in the Seminar Room, Centre for Irish Studies, School of Geography, Archaeology and Irish Studies, 4 Distillery Road, University of Galway, and on zoom here: https://universityofgalway-ie.zoom.us/j/92432099826?pwd=Q2NpYVVPVmprYXF6WDZOcFRpbTlLQT09 

Dr Hanlon’s paper, ‘Gender Trouble: Key Issues in the Contemporary Irish Music Industry’, will explore the research findings from the report Gendered Experiences of the Irish Music Industry, published earlier this year. This research encompassed a national study on gender and music in Ireland,  exploring how gender might impact a career as a musician within the contemporary music industry. The report is available on open access via the University of Galway Aran repository: https://doi.org/10.13025/ps89-rw52 and further details on the seminar and Dr Hanlon’s research are available below.

As a reminder to our Irish Studies community at home and abroad, all of our research seminars will be run this year as hybrid events. While we are delighted to welcome you to join us in person here on campus, we are particularly delighted to have those of you who may be unable to travel to Galway to join us in our zoom room on the day.

Seminar Abstract 

In February 2023 the report Gendered Experiences of the Irish Music Industry (University of Galway) was published. This research was based on the responses of over 500 musicians and is the first mixed-methods research on this topic to explore the potential impact of gender on musicians’ day-to-day experiences and career trajectory in the Irish context. Respondents comprised men (50%), women (44%), and non-binary musicians (6%). Sexism is a significant issue within the music industry and in all aspects of a musicians’ career, from the early days of learning an instrument, to performing music in professional live settings. While many forms of discrimination that occur on the grounds of gender are common to participants of all genders, the extent to which these issues are experienced can differ considerably between gender groupings. In this seminar, the report’s author will discuss the key issues related to gender raised by this report and reflect upon these findings in light of recent research in related artistic contexts. Findings will be discussed in relation to different gender groupings, highlighting the current gaps in research and the extent to which various issues are experienced by men, women and non-binary musicians. Furthermore, the author will discuss strategies – that adopt a collective feminist approach to activist organizing – currently being explored in regard to how to make this data matter and contribute to systemic change in the music industry in Ireland. The report is free to access via the University of Galway Aran repository: https://doi.org/10.13025/ps89-rw52.

Biography:

Ann-Marie Hanlon is a musicologist with specialisms in cultural theories of music, popular music and French modernism. Her research in popular music focuses on the area of music and social change, and explores the role of music and musicking in social movements related to women’s rights and queer culture in Ireland and the U.S.. Publications include the report Gendered Experiences of the Irish Music Industry (2023) and contributions to the books The Bloomsbury Handbook of Music & Art (Bloomsbury, 2023), Media Narratives in Popular Music (Bloomsbury, 2021), Made in Ireland: Popular Music Studies (Routledge, 2020) and Music, Art and Performance from Liszt to Riot Grrrl (Bloomsbury, 2018). She is a Lecturer of Music at the University of Galway, Ireland.