Audiotrain, run by audio producers’ trade body AudioUK, has announced a week of special events to mark International Women’s Day, which is on March 8.
There will be a series of lunchtime webinars with five exceptional women working at the top of their game in different parts of the audio world. All the conversations will be from a different perspective but will have in common inspirational stories, ideas, skills, inside tips and life lessons and some of their favourite audio moments.
The Audiotrain events will feature journalist and presenter Kirsty Wark, podcaster and activist Sangeeta Pillai, multi-award winning audio producer Georgia Catt, radio presenter and DJ Stephanie Hirst and innovative sound artist Vicky Clarke.
The Audiotrain programme is also scheduling an ongoing series of events to promote diversity and enable the production community to draw on the widest range of talent possible.
The next of these will be ‘Trade Secrets – Thinking Outside the Box’, featuring Jenny Sealey and Polly Thomas, who as co-directors of audio drama have pushed boundaries to find commissions for deaf and disabled actors, writers and performers. This event takes place on Friday April 9.
This is part of AudioUK’s ongoing work to ensure diversity is integrated into all of its work and also involves providing resources and information for its members to assist on making audio as diverse as possible throughout the sector. AudioUK also provide details of audio careers to young people looking to get into the creative industries via the Discover! Creative Careers website.
David Prest of Audiotrain / AudioUK, said:
“AudioUK is really pleased to be able to present these opportunities to hear from such a terrific range of women. Through Audiotrain and other initiatives, we are highlighting the need for greater diversity in Audio. We’re proud signatories of the Equality in Audio Pact and have put in place a series of actions which we will be delivering not just over the next twelve months but on an ongoing basis to ensure our sector is truly diverse. These actions are in addition to our members’ ongoing support of initiatives such as Multitrack. We are also working with the BBC to seek to ensure they take a practical and proportionate approach to increasing diversity through their own commissioning processes”
More information at https://www.audiouk.org.uk/audiotrain/