Gender Diversity Across Scottish Folk & Traditional Music Festivals: The Numbers
Fair Plé’s ‘Festival Line-Up Challenge’, which explored the (lack of) gender diversity among performers at folk and traditional music festivals in Ireland, found that across 40 festivals analysed, women made up only 36.2% of performers. We thought it would be useful to do some digging into the situation in Scotland.
Our analysis includes the line-ups of 20 folk and traditional music festivals which were scheduled between January and October 2023 (for the list, see below). We found that of 1268 performers, 845 (66.6%) were men, 417 (33.0%) were women, and 5 (0.4%) were gender non-conforming and/or non-binary.
Of 1268 performers, 845 (66.6%) were men, 417 (33.0%) were women, and 5 (0.4%) were gender non-conforming and/or non-binary.
Please note the following:
We did our best to correctly identify the gender of performers and the line-ups of acts at each festival, and aimed to account for everyone on stage, not just those fronting bands. This involved looking at social media and online to ensure performers’ correct pronouns were found. There may therefore be marginal error in our figures, but the results provide an overall snapshot. If you think we’ve made a mistake, we are happy to be corrected so please get in touch.
Our results do not consider the gender diversity among headline acts, and it is likely that these figures would show further imbalance.
We acknowledge that representation in festival line-ups is only one way to understand gender diversity across the sector. We encourage festival organisers to also consider equality and diversity among those they hire in the organisation and production of events. This includes platforming new artists, and improving the inclusion of marginalised groups at festivals - especially people of colour, religious and ethnic minorities, LGBTQ+ people, and those with disabilities.
We did not include larger bands, such as pipe bands, strathspey and reel societies, or large youth initiatives in our analysis, as it would be difficult to accurately identify the gender identities of those performing.
We recognise that many festivals are putting in significant effort to improve gender diversity, and that the lack of representation of women, non-binary, transgender, and gender non-conforming people goes beyond festival line-ups, and is affected by safety and safeguarding, and opportunities for learning, getting involved, and staying involved in traditional music.
This blog aims to shed light on the current situation when it comes to gender diversity at Scotland’s folk and traditional music festivals, but also how festivals can improve diversity in their line-ups. Here are some suggestions and avenues for creating change:
Alphabetise your line-ups. This allows attendees to choose their own headliners.
Create spaces for young or up and coming artists at festivals and beyond. Be part of platforming the next generation of performers.
We often hear of festivals not knowing where to find women and gender minority artists. Need inspiration? Check out our playlist of ‘Women in Trad’. The Bothy Society also have some great playlists which highlight LGBT+ and women neo-trad artists.
Make your festival a safe space for all. Be outward in your safeguarding practices by promoting your policies and procedures for protecting both audiences, performers, volunteers, and staff. For more information on safeguarding and reducing sexual abuse and harassment at festivals Friendly Fests Scotland and Esperance have some great resources available.
Create a welcoming and accessible atmosphere for performers, staff, and attendees by ensuring good practice when it comes to access riders and compering. Find resources created by Esperance here.
Take a Keychange Pledge for gender equality at your festival to show you are committed to instigating change.
Representation goes a long way in demonstrating meaningful commitment to change and inspiring attendees to follow and take part in traditional music. For many attendees, festivals may provide an entry point into the wonderful world of folk and traditional music, and it is important that everyone feels represented by line-ups. People of all genders and identities have so much to offer musically, and ultimately improving the diversity of festival line-ups will be to all of our benefit!
Find out more about the issue here:
Our analysis only included festivals that were predominately made up of folk and traditional music acts.
The festivals we included were: Tiree Music Festival, HebCelt, Skye Live, Orkney Folk Festival, Mull of Kintyre Music Festival, Shetland Folk Festival, Shetland Folk Festival, Edinburgh Trad Fest, Stonehaven Folk Festival, Jura Music Festival, Arran Folk Festival, Gig in the Goil, Killin Music Festival, The Gathering, Niel Gow Fiddle Festival, Edinburgh International Harp Festival, Mull Music Festival, Girvan Folk Festival, SpeyFest, Piping Live!, and Ceol Cholasa.
