Conference 'The Roadmap for Equality in the Arts in the Netherlands'
ArtEZ University of the Arts, Arnhem. January 18, 2020
The conference The Roadmap to Equality in the Arts in the Netherlands aims to raise awareness, gather available data and mobilise existing networks and collective knowledge in order to establish a gender equality roadmap in the arts in the Netherlands. With performances, keynotes, presentations and panels on data as a catalyst for change, quota, new platforms, art education, discrimination and harassment and models for change.
The Roadmap to Equality in the Arts is an ongoing project to address the position of women artists, non-binary and genderqueer artists in the Netherlands. The initiative is born in the aftermath of the #metoo movement, personal experiences and various surveys recently published in the arts and in the industry in the Netherlands and in Europe. This intersectional and strategic coalition aims to advocate for equality, solidarity and diversity on every level, and address the under-representation and misrepresentation of women artists, women artists of colour, nonbinary and genderqueer artists. Due to a lack of data collection and monitoring, there is no overview of the situation in the visual arts in terms of income, parental leave, pensions, art education, exhibitions, public collections, grants and residencies, etc. Many institutions still haven’t implemented a system of reporting racism, discrimination or harassment. How can we address this situation collectively?
CONFERENCE PANEL: ART EDUCATION, DISCRIMINATION AND HARASSMENT.
The afternoon session focused on the situation in Dutch higher art education. Art education holds a key position in the chain as it is the place where it all begins. Female students dominate the art schools in the Netherlands: between 2005 and 2013, 70% of the intake in fine art courses were women, but the balance has started to shift. It is startling to realise that although the majority is female students, the art-world continues to be mostly male dominated. Even if art schools should offer safe and challenging spaces, sexist and racist mechanisms still are at play today. How can we work at a change in art education and its
institutions?
Marjolijn Brussaard
Isis Germano: Talk ‘Powertools for Art and Social Justice’ Nagaré Willemsen: Talk ‘The Black Student Union’
