Tate Modern’s Turbine Hall is today hosting Inspiring Women in the Arts, in partnership with BAFTA. One hundred and fifty high profile women representing a wide range of careers in the arts will be career speed networking with 850 state school girls about their jobs and experiences.
Well known faces from the world of television, theatre and the arts will be taking part such as; actress Jenny Agutter OBE, editor Rosie Boycott, Art of Noise founder and composer Anne Dudley, Call the Midwife script editor Katy Harmer, singer Jamelia, BBC One Show presenter Alex Jones, Jude Kelly OBE Southbank Centre Director, Harry Potter casting director Karen Lindsay-Stewart, and TV presenter June Sarpong.
The Inspiring Women campaign aims to get women pledging one hour a year to talk to girls in school about their job and career route. Research shows that young people at school have little idea about the career options open to them and the exciting range of jobs available in the arts arena, something which urgently needs addressing, in order to inspire the next generation of girls and women to consider a career in the arts.
In addition, the event will mark the formal announcement a key goal of Inspiring the Future has been met: 15,009 Inspiring Women have signed up through Inspiring the Future to be available to speak in state schools and colleges about their jobs and careers. Since the campaign launched in October 2013, a total of 289,974 girls and young women from across the UK have engaged with Inspiring the Future volunteers.
The event is part of the wider Inspiring Women campaign, run by charity the Education and Employers Taskforce, with key strategic partner and lead corporate supporter, Bank of America Merrill Lynch.
“I’m thrilled that we have surpassed our goal and we have now more than 15,000 volunteers willing to go to back to schools to talk to girls across the country,” said Inspiring Women campaign founder and champion Miriam González Durántez. “We are celebrating the success of the Inspiring Women Campaign with the biggest event we have organised so far. It is just wonderful to see the Turbines Hall of the Tate Modern, a truly iconic place for the Arts worldwide, overtaken by hundreds of girls and so many outstanding women. The fact that so many talented women from all different areas of the Arts have come to give up their time to speed date with the girls today is just another sign of the strength of the UK Arts worldwide.”
Amanda Berry OBE, chief executive of BAFTA said: “We are delighted to be working with Miriam González Durántez and Inspiring Women to host this special Inspiring Women in the Arts event at Tate Modern. The arts, including the art forms of the moving image, offer an exciting range of roles that should be available to anyone, regardless of gender or background. At the event hundreds of girls will meet and gain inspiration from successful women, including BAFTA nominees and winners. We are highlighting a number of careers, including areas where women are particularly under-represented across Film, Television and Games. Attendees represent directing, game development and sound design, as well as composing, producing, screenwriting, acting and other crafts.”
Kerstin Mogull, managing director, Tate, added, “We are delighted to be hosting this event in the Turbine Hall at the heart of Tate Modern. The arts sector is one of this country’s great strengths and it offers an incredible range of careers, open to all. You only have to look at the work on display at Tate’s galleries to see how important women are to the arts, and this year we are proud to be staging more exhibitions of female artists than ever before. It is so important for young women to see what opportunities there are out there, and to meet people who can speak from experience about them. I hope this event helps many more people to be inspired and to get involved.”
“As Inspiring the Future’s lead corporate supporter, we are delighted to combine our global support of the arts with that of educating the next generation two areas which we view as crucial for developing strong economies and successful communities,” said Saba Nazar, vice chair in investment banking at Bank of America Merrill Lynch. “The range of careers available within the arts is as dynamic and varied as the women attending this event and we are incredibly proud to be involved in helping to inspire the next generation.”
