Hannah Seymour and Sinéad Walsh from EMPOWER on building ecosystems to promote gender equity

In this episode, David speaks with Hannah Seymour and Sinéad Walsh from EMPOWER.An oboist and a flautist, Hannah and Sinéad founded EMPOWER: Women Changing Music while studying at music colleges. EMPOWER: Women Changing Music is a platform championing women’s voices in music, both historically and today, through performance, commissioning, advocacy and community.Since its launch, they have worked with hundreds of performers and composers through concerts, commissions, panel discussions and collaborative projects across the UK and Ireland.In this conversation, we dive into why creating an ecosystem has benefits over just tackling one area when it comes to promoting fairness and gender equity in the music industry. We look at how EMPOWER: Women Changing Music was born out of Hannah and Sinéad’s experiences of studying at music college, the challenges of creating an arts organisation and how to work with your friends, and why we still need to have more organisations tackling the issues facing society.Join us in Katowice, Poland for Classical:NEXT 2027 from the 11th to the 14th of May: www.classicalnext.comFollow us on: Facebook | Instagram | LinkedInThe Classical:NEXT Podcast:Hosted by David TaylorProduced by Aliena HaigLearn more: classicalnext.com/update/introducing-the-classicalnext-podcastwww.classicalnext.com