PANDORAFEST 2016, is a new type of festival that supports women musicians and celebrates female music making across all genres.
PANDORAFEST: 2016 will be its debut year and our aim is to make this an annual event.
As an insight into the reason why we are organizing PANDORAFEST let us first explain a major problem within the current festival scene by citing an excerpt from the Guardian Newspaper Music Section by Alexandra Pollard, February 2015.
“In the world of Reading and Leeds, female acts are all but non-existent… Of the 87 acts announced so far this year, 78 are all male, three are female and six are mixed. That’s an 89.6% all-male line-up, and that is not OK. And it’s not just Reading and Leeds. Isle Of Wight festival, T in the Park, End of the Road … all of these festivals are significantly male-dominated. Fifteen years into the 21st century, the music industry is looking more male than it has in a very long time.
This is not just a festival problem. But as an enduring and influential platform for both new and established artists, festivals like Reading and Leeds must shoulder some of the responsibility. Many bands start being played on the radio after making an impact on the festival circuit, which then translates to album sales and gig attendance – both of which the festival promoters take notice of when they’re booking for 2016. This is a vicious cycle that needs to be broken, and it needs to be broken now, before another generation of women become disenfranchised.”
After reading this article, we realised that we should step up and enable female musicians and female music making to be where they should be: centre stage.
PANDORAFEST 2016, will be set within the beautiful location of DUNCARRON, a fortified Medieval Village, situated beside the Carron Valley Reservoir in Scotland.
Among our collaborators we have Attack Agency, which is the music industry arm of Art Attack Films, based in central Scotland. Their aim is to deliver world class artist management; event organisation; talent development and recently, a record label exclusively for women and female led musical enterprises.
Another collaboration is with The Clanranald Trust for Scotland, who raise funding for the Fort through their educational activities and their work as combat performers for the film and television industries. The Clanranald Trust have many dedicated volunteers that are involved in the organisation and daily running of the Fort and they will be joining us in making the reality of PANDORAFEST 2016 strike hard and true for Scotland.
To redress the balance of female artists playing within the festival scene, submissions for PANDORAFEST 2016, will ONLY be open to female singers, bands and musicians or at least female fronted bands where there is a good mix of the genders.
PANDORAFEST will be a new type of festival.
We cannot over emphasize the fact that PANDORAFEST will not be anti-men but it will definitely be pro-women. Guys in bands and in the crowd will definitely be welcome as they support this important initiative.
By working alongside the Clanranald Trust For Scotland, and holding PANDORAFEST at their fort, we will be able to introduce festival attendees from different cultures and backgrounds (and as many Scots as possible)to an important view of Scottish heritage and history. Duncarron is a magnificent educational centre in itself.
It is significant that, due to the pro-female nature of PANDORAFEST, we have had many skilled volunteersalready coming forward to commit to the event.
We are currently seeking funding from Creative Scotland for a portion of our costs but we are looking to raise another £30,000 to enable us realise the 1st year of PANDORAFEST 2016.
We are now seeking like-minded folk who wish to help us re-balance the quota of female singer/songwriters, musicians and bands within the festival scene – and therefore in the music industry itself – to help us in meeting our remaining costs.
PANDORAFEST will be a one day event, including camping, and will be running 3 stages of live music from all genres from 12 noon until 11pm.
Any money donated will go towards printing and media costs; on site facilities; stage rental; sound and crew hire and advertising. Let’s not forget the fee of our headlining act: this will enable us to make PANDORAFEST the most talked about festival in 2016.
If you love female singer/songwriters, women musicians and you celebrate female music making, please help us with a donation!
And if you can, please join us this July for a truly memorable music experience in DUNCARRON, Scotland.
Thank you for taking the time to consider our event.