In a historic move, Arts Council England has agreed to establish a year-long taskforce to investigate the under-representation of and discrimination against women in the arts. The announcement follows five years of sustained advocacy and research by the Women in Theatre project, run in partnership with organizations including The Writers' Guild of Great Britain, Equity, WOW, ERA 50:50, Black Womxn in Theatre, Parents and Carers in Performing Arts (PiPA), and others.
Arts Council England has invited the attendees of a historic Women in Theatre research project meeting in March back to the Arts Council to hear what actions it has decided it is possible for ACE to take to address the under-representation of and discrimination against women in the arts.
Milton Keynes-based theatre company, The Play's The Thing, brings its four-day festival which celebrates inspirational women from theatre and the arts to Milton Keynes Gallery from 16th - 19th October.
Leading women in theatre, including Jude Kelly and Lesley Gannon, met with Arts Council England to conclude a five-year research project on gender equality.
The Women in Theatre Lab has been launched to support female playwrights in the UK. The scheme will mirror existing writing schemes in the US and Australia and has been set up to combat gender disparity in the theatre industry.
Casting is announced for the not-for-profit production of Grenfell: Value Engineering – Scenes from The Inquiry, which will run at the recently renovated Tabernacle in Notting Hill from 13 October - 13 November and Birmingham Repertory Theatre from 16 - 20 November.
Arts Council England has agreed to provide a written response to and in person meeting on recommendations for gender equality emerging from last week's major Women in Theatre Forum at Trafalgar Studios in London.
The UK's leading women's theatre company Sphinx Theatre, University Women in the Arts, the mentoring programme to improve the transition for women from studying the arts to working in the arts, and the December Group, a new group of leading women in theatre, have announced a major forum on Women in Theatre in the UK.
