26th June, Berlin: EuroFIA Conference on Transition Schemes for Dancers
The International Federation of Actors (FIA) is running a project on career transition schemes for dancers in Europe with the financial support of the European Commission and in cooperation with the International Organization for the Transition of Professional Dancers (IOTPD). The project aims at gaining a better understanding of the career trajectories of dancers in Europe and of how transition schemes could maximise these. It also seeks to highlight which are the key elements for a successful transition scheme and how these can be built in to existing training and life-long learning schemes.
One major event in the running of this FIA project was the organisation of a final conference on the issue of career transition of dancers. It was held in Berlin on the 26th of June, 2011. It not only consisted of presentations of several initiatives in the field of career transition for dancers, but also of two panel discussions which allowed participants to actively debate with the conference’s guest speakers and generate a rich discussion.
Presentations of different programmes allowed participants to discover the variety of existing schemes and players when dealing with career transition of dancers but also to reflect on the role that trade unions can play in accompanying dancers through this singular and difficult professional step. The three presented schemes were: the “Dutch Retraining Programme for Dancers” (NL), “What NXT? – Career Support for Professional Dancers” (BE) and the “French Ministry of Culture Transition Fund” (FR).
Both panel discussions gathered speakers from different fields and horizons, enabling the topic of career transition for dancers to be looked at from a variety of angles, thus offering participants the opportunity to grasp the complexity of this issue. The themes of the panels were: “How to develop, maintain and extend Transition Schemes and ensure transferability of rights?” and “What partnerships and funding for Transition Schemes around Europe?”.
The conference was kindly hosted by our German affiliate Ver.di and gathered national and European politicians, coordinators from national transition schemes, professionals from the dance sector (schools, companies, pedagogues, current and former dancers), trade unions, employers’ organisations, EU mobility experts, etc.
You can download the programme of the conference in three languages below. To find out more about the project’s findings, go to our Project section and keep on eye on our Research section, in which the final report on career transition programmes for professional dancers will be published during the fourth quarter of 2011. If you have questions on this promising project please contact the secretariat of FIA.
 |
This project is financially supported by the European Commission
|
Draft Programme Programme en français Programm auf Deutsch
Gender Portrayal Project Conference
 | Gender Agenda: "Women, Men, Age and Employment in the Performing Arts" |
This conference took place in the Drill Hall in London on the 15-16 September 2008. This page is intended as a follow-up page which will continue to allow access to the resources emerging form that event.
The conference was a key element of the EuroFIA project "“Changing gender portrayal: Promoting employment opportunities for women in the performing arts”. It was centred around the presentation of the findings of the project research and sought more generally to raise awareness on the relationship between gender portrayal and employment opportunities for performers and to highlight effective and innovative ways to promote equal opportunities. More Information about the project.
It was a very sucessful event and was attended by some 120 participants from all over Europe. There was a rich variety of contributions from the various speakers, which ranged over the different elements that contribute to this problem: societal values and the gender stereotypes that inform and reflect them; a fear of risk in an industry that may often be financially straitened; and a failure to recognise the discrimination for what it is. Possible solutions, political, legislative and financial, were also discussed and many ideas emerged from the breakout sessions. The strong testimonies from performers and the artistic contribution of Swedish theatre group Subfrau greatly enriched the day and a half's proceedings.
A preliminary overview of the key findings of the project research were also presented at the conference in London They were compelling and a lively debate followed on from that presentation. The research has since been completed and the final report "Age Gender and Performer Employment in Europe" is available for download in the Research Section.
In meantime, at the request of the participants, the text of the speakers' contributions will be made available on this page. They will be added on an ongoing basis as we receive them. The list is not yet complete, so watch this space! They are listed below in the order in which they appeared on the programme.
This project is supported by the European Commission
Conference Programme Speech of Tomas Bolme, FIA President Speech of Christine Payne, General Secretary of Equity UK Speech of Carol Tongue, Chair of the UK Coalition for Cultural Diversity Presentation of Dr Deborah Dean, Project researcher
Gender Agenda - Speeches Continued I
Speech of Anna Carlson, President of the Swedish Actors' Union Presentation of Dearbhal Murphy, FIA Deputy General Secretary Speech of Treasa Ni Mhurchu, National Women's Council of Ireland Speech of Rynagh O'Grady, Actress, Ireland Speech of Camilia Blereau, Actress, Belgium
Gender Agenda - Speeches Continued II
Speech of Kate Buffery, Actress UK Speech of Pauline Moran, Actress UK Speech of Luk de Konink, Actor and former Casting Director Belgium Speech of Jean Rogers, Vice President Equity
Launching Conference in Riga, Latvia 4-5 April 2008
for the Project "“Changing gender portrayal: Promoting employment opportunities for women in the performing arts”
This conference took place in Riga, Latvia on the 4-5 of April 2008. It gathered some 60 performers and performers' union representatives from across the EU. The discussion aimed to raise awareness on the issue of gender portrayal and representation and its impact on employment opportunities and to therefore build the commitment and interest of the EuroFIA members to the project. For this reason, the opening presentation by Dearbhal Murphy retraced the origins of the project and placed them within the context of the European Year of Equal Opportunities for All. It was followed by a number of very interesting presentations of national level experience on this topic. Members from Sweden and Norway highlighted the work that has been done to investigate the problem of unequal employment opportunities for women performers and the measures that have resulted. You can find the presentations below made by Jaan Kolk/Nina Stone from Teaterforbundet in Sweden and Agnete Haaland from Norsk Skuespillerforbund in Noray. Jean Rogers from equity UK spoke about the situation in the UK, her own experience as an actress, and explained how the steering group of the project had looked to the diverse national experience on this topic in order to shape the aims and activities of the current project.
Deborah Dean from Warwick University also made a presentation, recalling the structure of the research and the use of an online questionnaire to gather information about the situation of performers across the EU. She outlined how the questionnaire has been designed to gather specific data on a number of issues, in a way that is comparable and can be collated to deliver clear results. She strongly emphasised the need for high response rates from performers across the EU. You can read her presentation below.
The steering group of the project also used the opportunity in Riga to hold a planning meeting about the next steps for the project. The agenda and minutes of that meeting are availale on request. For more information about the Riga conference or the Gender Portrayal Project in general, please email: dmurphy@fia-actors.com.
Conference Documents:
Conference Programme Introductory presentation by D Murphy Speech by Agnete Haaland Presentation of Research by Deborah Dean Speech by Jean Rogers, Equity UK
February 20-24, 2006 - Provisional Committee on Proposals Related to a WIPO Development Agenda
WIPO Member States will hold further discussions on the balancing of IP rights protection with the needs of developing and less developed countries. Read the agenda of the meeting.July 20-22, 2005 - Intersessional Intergovernmental Meeting on a Development Agenda for WIPO
The WIPO member States are expected to agree on the future policy of the organisation, reconciling international norm setting in the field of intellectual property with the concerns of developing countries.
Read the relevant WIPO documents...
June 27-28, 2005 - Intergovernmental Committee of the Rome Convention
Meeting in Paris of the 19th session of the Intergovernmental Committee of the International Convention for the Protection of Performers, Producers of Phonograms and Broadcasting Organizations (1961).Read the relevant UNESCO documents...