International Women's Day and the Jazz Camp for Girls weekend

Helena Summerfield at Manchester University with students taking part in the Jazz North improvisation seminar and workshop.

On Saturday 8th March Jazz North will be joining supporters around the globe to celebrate International Women’s Day and, closer to home, our ‘Jazz Camp for Girls’ weekend. 

Earlier in the week jazz camp project manager Helena Summerfield visited Manchester University to deliver a seminar and improvisation workshop for music students as part of their Musica Festival programme. This student-run festival aims to make a positive impact on the gender gap in the music industry by creating a space where people whose gender is a minority can feel represented. There are a range of Musica Festival events including lunchtime concerts, workshops, jazz jams and talks with female and non-binary musicians.

Helena was honoured to join renowned composers Laura Bowler and Dominique LeGendre for the Musica Festival Symposium chaired by Dr Alessandra Palidda. During the course of this thought provoking event, the panel discussed their respective career paths and answered questions posed by the audience about emerging pathways for women, trans and gender diverse musicians. Amy Browne, president of the Musica Festival commented that the symposium had inspired the students and ended on an uplifting note. 

#AccelerateAction

The campaign theme for International Women’s Day 2025 is #AccelerateAction and supporters will be sharing images of themselves adopting the ‘strong arm’ pose. As individuals, we can all take steps to positively impact women's advancement. For example, we can call out stereotypes, challenge discrimination, question bias and celebrate women's success. Jazz North believes that our ‘Jazz Camp for Girls’ project embodies these principles and we will be encouraging girls at our camps to adopt the strong arm pose demonstrating solidarity with their international counterparts. 

On social media tag your favourite jazz musicians (that just happen to be female) and together let’s celebrate women’s success and #Accelerate Action towards a better balanced music industry.