APRA AMCOS has introduced the 14 songwriter and composer members who will participate on this yr’s 23% mentorship program for ladies and gender various music creators.
This yr’s mentees are Alice Hurwood, Ange Nishimwe (Ange-Bella), Athanasia Sakoutis (Athanasia), Ayda Akbal, Doolie Shadforth (Doolie), Georgia Slater (Solly Fern), Kyah Parrott (Hayku Kyah), Layla George (Jean Elliot), Lucie O’Connor (Lucie Tiger), Naomi Geste, Nicole Issa, Roz Yuen, Sasha Gavlek and Siobhan McGinnity (Magnets).
Every mentee is paired with a mentor specifically chosen to align with profession stage, objectives and priorities for a three-month interval. This yr’s mentors embody a number of the business’s main figures primarily based in Australia, the UK and the US together with Bumpy, KLP, Mo’Ju, Milan Ring, Nat Dunn and Tammy Ari. Every profitable applicant additionally receives $3,000 in direction of initiatives or work-related bills and/or journey.
Display composer, Ayda Akbal, who shall be working with LA-based composer Tammy Ari, provides: “Tammy Ari shouldn’t be solely a rare composer, but additionally a fellow Melburnian who has been residing and dealing in Los Angeles for a few years. She’s trodden a path that I’d be proud to comply with, which makes our one-on-one mentorship notably significant, particularly since we’re capable of meet in particular person in a metropolis that’s new to me, simply because it as soon as was for her.”
23% is a reference to the share of APRA AMCOS members who determine as ladies or gender various. It’s a part of a collection of commitments from the organisation geared toward addressing gender disparity in music by means of impactful packages, funding and advocacy, together with a 40/40/20 dedication to a minimal of 40% illustration of ladies throughout all packages and judging panels.
Karen Don, Head of Membership at APRA AMCOS, concludes: “Congratulations to all of this yr’s mentees! We all know that moving into and sustaining a profession within the music business may be robust at the perfect of instances, however for ladies and gender various songwriters and composers it may be much more difficult. Applications like 23% are hopefully one small step in the best path to help and obtain gender parity in our business.”
