Womxn Composers' Club - WCC
In 2020, Rūta Vitkauskaitė initiated the Womxn Composers’ Club (WCC) in response to the gender imbalance within the classical music industry. The club’s goal is to connect international female, non-binary, and those who identify as female, composers who work in the concert music industry and who want to support each other.
In her invitation letter, Rūta conveyed that being a classical composer is already a lonely profession, and female composers are often spread sparsely around the world, making it difficult for them to maintain a sense of “connection, friendship, peer-ship and union”. The competitive music industry only adds to the distance, making it hard for female composers to receive the benefits and empowerment that come with being part of a like-minded community.
The WCC community meets three to four times a year on Zoom to discuss the achievements and struggles among its members. Facilitated group discussions on a wide range of topics, from managing workload, commissioning fees and contracts, balancing composing and teaching practices, to creative inspirations and working with musicians and communities, and one-to-one conversations on individual achievements take place. WCC members also offer each other online peer-to-peer mentoring on works-in-progress. In the future, the club also has plans to run peer-to-peer mentoring retreats, facilitated online or in-person residencies for womxn composers, and score clubs (something equivalent to book clubs).
While Rūta facilitates the meetings, the club is very much led by its members. Each new member brings in new developments, and their ideas shape the future of the community.
The club is designed to acknowledge the busy lives of working professionals, and members are not expected to engage in extensive emailing or social media activities. Invitation emails are sent once every three months, and connection through ‘live’ conversation only during the meetings is maintained. The meetings typically last for 90 minutes and are set to take place on Sundays every few months at 5 pm UK time.
Anyone interested in joining should contact Rūta Vitkauskaitė directly. A short representation of the core members of the club can be found on this Soundcloud page.