Classical sector risks losing talent because of outdated working practices, says PiPA

completemusicupdate.com:

The charity Parents And Carers In Performing Arts has published a new report which concludes that the UK classical music sector risks losing talent and decreasing in diversity unless urgent changes are made to employment practices so that they are more inclusive of parents and carers working in the industry.PiPA worked with researchers at Birkbeck, University Of London on the research set out in the new report, and found that 82% of those surveyed founding managing work and family commitments “moderately to extremely stressful”.Self-employed women in the sector are most impacted by working practices that skew against parents and carers, meaning that female performers frequently earn less and are twice as likely to turn down work due to caring responsibilities.

As a result of these challenges, 40% of those surveyed were thinking about leaving their careers in musicProfessor Almuth McDowall – who led the research team – says: “Parents and in particular self-employed women report significant career penalties in terms of access to work and earnings.

Our research signposts a clear need to address outdated work practices and a culture of employers not taking responsibility for duty of care and equal opportunity”.Specific challenges raised by self-employed parents and carers in the sector include: “Lack of flexibility and scheduling; lack of affordable, flexible, ad-hoc childcare; the logistical and financial demands of touring and working away; and the need to meet inflexible demands of additional work, such as teaching, to subsidise earnings”.PiPA is now establishing a working group to design a best practice charter to address the issues the research identifies.