SoundGirls.org: Continuing to deepen its commitment to education, L-Acoustics recently announced a partnership with SoundGirls, kicking off an annual training grant program to support the organization’s mission to empower women in audio. Following a thorough panel review of numerous applications submitted by SoundGirls members, L-Acoustics is pleased to officially congratulate the three recipients of its 2020 SoundGirls Training Grants: Carolina Antón was awarded the L-ISA Grant, Kim Watson the Advanced Grant, and Eluned “El” Ashwood the Starter Grant.
4 comments:
There are a lot of male dominated industries. That’s not new information for anyone. However, L-Acoustics is really stepping up. The fact that they’re creating an annual training grant program for women in audio is freaking awesome. Also, the women in this article who won the grants are also really cool. I wish that every large company would be required to have a philanthropic addition to the work that they do. Being able to lift up voices while you’re also adding to your industry is really inspiring and demonstrates this company's values. What’s awesome about the winners of this grant is that they’re all at different places in their audio learning journeys. One of them is a younger sound designer, one of them has been in the industry for two whole decades, and the other is still in school learning about audio. To be able to support people at any point along their journey feels really awesome. More power to ya L-Acoustics.
This is a wonderful thing to hear about; as many industries have historically been dominated by (white) men, I’m glad that L-Acoustics is taking a step forward in supporting women in audio and sound work. As many of us have been talking about recently, changing the industry or our community for the better doesn’t happen on its own. It takes active work, and conscious decisions to uplift voices that have not been listened to. I hope to see more of this as we continue, and hope to aid in that work. And, I hope there are more opportunities like this for BIPOC, LGBTQ+, and disabled people, to consciously uplift those artists’ voices too. The three recipients all have unique backgrounds, with different experiences. They can all add wonderful things to the world, from wherever they are, and continue to add to the creativity of our community in theater, and entertainment and arts in general.
Maybe I'm just new to the industry, but I've never heard of "empowerment through audio" which just intrigues me (but also excites me). Such an industry, of sound/system engineers is truly male dominated and highly intimidating for any female to get involved with. Seeing that an organization like SoundGirls exists to uplift young women interested in audio related fields and a company like L-Acoustics ready to provide grants to allow for pursuing their interests really inspires me. The differences in the girls who received the grants, their diversity and unique interests in different fields, is very nice to see - because you can just imagine the impact they will make on the world one day all with the support they received in this one instant. It's in reading stories like these that I get inspired with what I will do with my "future fortune" (we can hope) - I want to give girls everywhere a chance to follow their dreams even if they've only ever seen boys do that. And hopefully, once that happens, more young girls will follow in their footsteps.
I would like to preface this by saying the following colloquial phrase: “this is dope”. In other words, it feels like a breath of fresh air to know there is a whole team behind allotted grants given to women who work with sound. To move forward as a woman in a male dominated industry is hard, and it only gets harder if you’re a woman of color, a disabled woman, a woman part of the LGBTQ+, so forth. One of the grant recipients is Mexican, and although she is the only woman of color from the winners it proves that change is happening right now. I’m a Mexican woman seeking a position somewhere in technical theater, seeing that it is a possibility because someone else is out there doing it feels amazing. Representation matters, seeing yourself shapes the way you perceive the world around you and where you fall within it.
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