Women in Leadership
Women Working in Culture Network
From facing initial resistance to launching a new reality, women working in arts and culture have had a profound impact on cultural institutions and their working environment over the years. Not only have female cultural practitioners contributed to the transformation of societies, but also the growing number of women in leading positions.
“Women have become more and more evident in leadership roles within cultural organisations. And I think that has had a slow, but very profound effect on the values we work with and the systems and structures we work within,” says Frances Morris, director of the Tate Modern.
In order to share and discuss innovative aspects of female leadership and empowerment, an international group of female leaders regularly comes together for the Women Working in Culture Network. The network was initiated by the Goethe-Institut in Europe.
In reaction to the corona crisis in 2020:
All participants joined together online to reflect together on the challenges but also on chances which each one is seeing both in their personal and in their professional context. Also, the group collected pressing issues in terms of addressing the current crisis in their respective leadership roles such as envisioning the roles of arts institutions in ten or twenty years or how to implement models of improvisation within arts- and cultural institutions as long-term planning has become almost impossible in these times. Within the discussion the focus was placed on the possible role of artists in these times of change. The group will continue to work on these questions in different working sessions until autimn 2020.
Topic: ThinKing Future Anews – Part 2
16 June 2020With philospher Susan Neiman and Tate Modern director Francis Morris.
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Domestic Issues were privatised and locked away - even in people's heads. -
Discrimination is not a private problem! -
Not creative enough to be capitalised? White bourgeois women: omogenic ideas, wannabe self-optimised, multi-tasking abilities, very well-educated -
Gay, transnational, female, hardcore, nationalist? -
I am (not) an old-fashioned dinosaur feminist. -
Feminism is not conform. -
Lines of conflicts: where do white and Black feminism cross? -
Femininity and masculinity are social constructs, not biological categories. – Nikita Dhawan -
Choose a label, from "woman" to "gender". -
Never use feminism in singular! Put it in context to be precise. -
Female leaders = better crises management? -
Female leaders = another quality of listening? -
Grassroots movements need a multidirectional strategy -
"People qualify out there." – "How about YOU invest as an institution in more equal social structures?" -
Beware of "Instagram feminism" - Attention of "happy, happy solidarity!" -
Solidarity is not "happy happy harmony". It deals with the vulnerability of people. -
Globalisation of Compassion – We instantly know what happens on the other side of the world.
Topic: Sustainability
3 June 2020
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Topic: Thinking Future Anew – part 1
The pandemic, the challenges, and the opportunities that lie in uncertainty.
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The arts are a universe of possibilities. Schools should show their potential. -
Arts have the power to poke and wake up the heart -
Is art that's most expensive most important? -
Many ways lead to the arts sector if the arts are open on all sides. -
How to believe that after the "Big Rething" something will change. -
"Stop flying!" - "Not yet! I am waiting for a virus." -
The conflict of the economy's political pressure hidden under the table at which the lives of people, theatened by a virus that doesn't go away, are discussed -
It's horror! Massive growth carries the danger to lead to massive explosions. -
Facing all these problems and confusion, everyone also has their very own. -
The obession with getting back to normal might just be a canvas on which we project yet another unrealistic film. -
Uncertainty can encourage experimentation. -
Uncertainty can be something to rely on. -
Going backwards can be a way to go forward. -
Moment of radical rethinking: our sceptical and our hopeful selves are all part of us. Let's listen to the latter! -
The heart dived... -
Let's start building what's broken!
Topic: How Are Women Changing the World of Arts and Culture?
29 - 30 November 2019
During the first Women Working in Culture Network meeting, we asked five participants to share their thoughts with us. How are women changing the art and cultural scene worldwide? Are women better visionaries for the future of our cities? And are female directors changing the world? Watch their answers below and join the debate on social media!
#WomenInCulture
Frances Morris, director of the Tate Modern, on the question:
"How are women changing the art and cultural scene?"
Milota Sidorova, head of participatory planning at the Metropolitný inštitút Bratislavy, on the question:
"Are women better visionaries for our future cities?"
Khadija El Bennaoui, director of Art Moves Africa (AMA), on the question:
"Can women transform the Arab world through arts and culture?"
Juliette Duret, Head of Cinema at BOZAR, on the question:
"Are female directors changing the world?"
Alisa Prudnikova, regional development director of the ГЦСИ-NCCA in Moscow, on the question:
"What impact do women have on Russian art and culture?"