Why Artemis?
Current statistics from 32 of the orchestras with the highest salaries showed that only 15 out of 226 bassists (6.6%) were women, and 18 orchestras have zero women in their bass sections.
This is a substantial decrease from 2017, where the statistics showed 22 women out of 229 bassists (9.6%) and only 15 orchestras with no women employed in the bass section.
This is not a pipeline problem. Those who teach at the middle and high school level can attest anecdotally to the growing numbers of girls choosing to play bass. Data from the past ten years shows the gender balances in the young bassist program at the International Society of Bassists convention nearing 50/50.
And yet, there is a drop off in the numbers of women who choose to pursue the double bass in college and a more significant drop off in the proportion of women representation in the bass sections of professional orchestras, especially the most prestigious and highly paid.
The main factors contributing to this drop off are:
A lack of access to role models
Less access to networking and performance opportunities due to gender dynamics and discrimination
Systemic lack of confidence to pursue the “risk” of a challenging career path
Low representation of women in faculty positions
Orchestras continuing to hire from unblind processes
A feeling of otherness and exclusion in male-dominated environments
Transgender and nonbinary people face many of the same challenges as women and in some ways these challenges are compounded. Social stigma encourages transgender and nonbinary people to stay closeted which not only reinforces norms of gender identity and expression but also ensures a continued lack of representation. This also makes it harder to gather accurate data about our communities.
The institutions of classical music are inherently conservative. From dress codes to facilities, culture and beyond, the strong resistance of our organizations to change and the few openly trans and nonbinary people makes advocating for change a daunting task. For transgender and nonbinary people, to live inside of systems that were created to only accommodate cisgender people can be uncomfortable and exhausting. It creates additional barriers to their participation and inhibits their ability to live authentically as themselves and be accepted for who they are.
Our goal is to support and empower the next generation of women and nonbinary bassists as they enter the college pipeline and give them the tools and a network that will help them to succeed when they enter the professional field.
