{"id":177,"date":"2020-03-04T02:40:04","date_gmt":"2020-03-04T02:40:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.r-t-w.com\/index.php\/about\/gender-parity-in-the-arts\/"},"modified":"2023-06-14T19:17:17","modified_gmt":"2023-06-14T19:17:17","slug":"gender-parity-in-the-arts","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.r-t-w.com\/about\/gender-parity-in-the-arts\/","title":{"rendered":"Gender Parity in the Arts"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\t\t<h1>\n\t\t\t2023 &#8211; 2024 Season\n\t\t<\/h1>\n\t\t\t<p><em><strong>Theater By Women For Everyone<\/strong><\/em>!<\/p>\t\t\n\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.r-t-w.com\/give\/donate\/\" target=\"_self\" role=\"button\" rel=\"noopener\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tDonate\n\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.r-t-w.com\/22-23-season\/\" target=\"_self\" role=\"button\" rel=\"noopener\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tBuy Tickets\n\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.r-t-w.com\/my-account\/\" target=\"_self\" role=\"button\" rel=\"noopener\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tAccount\n\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.r-t-w.com\/cart\/\" target=\"_self\" role=\"button\" rel=\"noopener\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCart\n\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t<a href=\"\" target=\"_self\" role=\"button\" rel=\"noopener\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCall: 414-278-0765\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t<h1>\n\t\t\tGender Parity in the Arts\n\t\t<\/h1>\n\t\t\t<p>Since 1993, Renaissance Theaterworks has been dedicated to promoting the work of women theater artists onstage and off, becoming a leader in the global movement toward improving gender parity in the arts.<\/p>\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p><em>[In Wisconsin] only Renaissance Theaterworks &#8211; founded and run by women to give women in theater more opportunities &#8211; came close to achieving parity (49.3 percent of its produced plays in this 20-year period were written by women; nearly 85 percent of the plays staged by Renaissance between 2015 and 2020 were written by women).<\/em><\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<h3>Mike Fischer, Milwaukee Theater Critic, 2021<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t<!-- \/.pp-testimonials -->\n\t\t<h3>Empowering Women in Theater<\/h3>\n\t\t\tAt the inception of Renaissance Theaterworks in 1993, BACKSTAGE Magazine noted that women comprised 70-80% of theater ticket buying audience in the U.S.; however, only 17% of plays produced were written by women, 11% were directed by women, and most importantly only 6% of U.S. professional theaters were run by women.\u00a0<p><strong>At that time Milwaukee mirrored the rest of the country:<\/strong><ul id=\"u107429-22\"><li id=\"u107429-15\">No female producers<\/li><li id=\"u107429-17\">Less than 5% of plays produced were written by women<\/li><li id=\"u107429-19\">Less than 10% of plays produced were directed by women<\/li><li id=\"u107429-21\">Less than 35% of 200+ acting roles were filled by women<\/li><\/ul>To date, <strong>Renaissance Theaterworks has been a leader in the global movement toward gender parity<\/strong>, having produced over 100 full productions and staged-readings. Among these are 9 original works by Wisconsin playwrights, 7 world premieres, and one North American premiere, providing opportunities to over 700 theater professionals, 75% of whom have been women.Through our example and by empowering women theater artists to reach their full potential, we challenge biases about the plays we write and the stories we tell.<\/p>\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.r-t-w.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/theater-by-women-for-everyone802x802.jpg\" alt=\"Image to illustrate Renaissance Theaterworks Theater By Women For Everyone.\" itemprop=\"image\" height=\"802\" width=\"802\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.r-t-w.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/theater-by-women-for-everyone802x802.jpg 802w, https:\/\/www.r-t-w.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/theater-by-women-for-everyone802x802-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.r-t-w.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/theater-by-women-for-everyone802x802-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.r-t-w.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/theater-by-women-for-everyone802x802-768x768.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 802px) 100vw, 802px\" title=\"theater by women for everyone802x802\" onerror=\"this.style.display='none'\"  \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>If life worked like the theater, four out of five things you had ever heard would have been said by men.\u00a0<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<h3>Pulitzer Prize-Winning playwright Marsha Norman at the Dramatists Guild National Conference July 17, 2015<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t<!-- \/.pp-testimonials -->\n\t\t<h2>\n\t\t\tQuantifying\n\t\t\t\t\t\tGender &#038; Racial Disparity\n\t\t<\/h2>\n\t\t\t<p>Across the country, women are underrepresented as actors, directors, producers, designers, playwrights, and more.At the <strong>2015 Dramatists Guild National Conference<\/strong> the results of the Guild&#8217;s three-year study, <em>The Count<\/em>, quantifying gender and racial disparity in American theater, revealed that <strong>only 22% of plays produced in the U.S. were written by women.<\/strong><em>The Count<\/em> asked the question, <strong>&#8220;Who is being produced in American Theater?&#8221;<\/strong> And the answer, while not surprising, is disheartening to anyone with an interest in basic fairness.<em>The Count<\/em> found that out of 2605 plays produced between 2011-2015:<ul><li data-content-guid=\"u897073-19_content\">62% were written by white men;<\/li><li data-content-guid=\"u897073-19_content\">12% were written by people of color;<\/li><li data-content-guid=\"u897073-19_content\">Only 3% were written by women of color.\u00a0<\/li><\/ul>The most important variable to being produced is to be male: 82% of white writers are men and 63% of writers of color also male.<\/p>\t\t\n\t\t\t\tWhat do we miss if we don&#8217;t hear women&#8217;s voices?\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Half of life. We miss half of life. Women live half of the stories in the world but only 20% of them are told.<\/strong>\nThe absence of Women&#8217;s Stories has a profound economic impact on women, too. A lack of plays by and about women results in a chronic lack of employment opportunities for women in all areas of professional theatre &#8211; directing, acting, designing and management. U.S. Department of Labor statistics reveal that <strong>women account for less that 25% of theater professionals.<\/strong>\n\t\t\t\tWhy are we missing the voices of women in the theater?\n<strong>Because Artistic Directors and Producers choose not to produce their plays.<\/strong>\nSadly, women&#8217;s work is often missing in our society. At NPR, for example, in a survey similar to <em>The Count,<\/em> it was found that the percentage of women being interviewed, doing the interviewing or being the subject of the interview was exactly 20%. In art museums throughout the country, 80% of the art hanging from the walls is by men, while the women&#8217;s work is stored in the basement.\n\t\t\t\tBlind Audition Campaign\n\t\t\t\t<p>In 1952, in an effort to diversify its male dominated orchestra, the <strong>Boston Symphony Orchestra<\/strong> conducted an experiment with a series of &#8220;blind&#8221; auditions, where musicians would play behind a screen concealing their identity and removing all chances of racial and or gender bias. This would allow for merit based selection and hopefully increase the number of women in the orchestra.<\/p>\n<p>To everyone&#8217;s surprise, the initial results still skewed heavily male! Then someone had the brilliant idea to ask the candidates to remove their shoes. It seems that the clickity-clack of the women&#8217;s heels as they entered the audition hall unknowingly influenced the adjudicators! Once musicians removed their shoes, almost 50% of the women advanced to the next round of auditions! Today many symphonies in the United States have achieved gender-balance. The moral of the story: overcoming unconscious bias isn&#8217;t as easy as one might think.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\tResources\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Resources:<\/strong>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.dramatistsguild.com\/media\/pdfs\/thecount.pdf\">THE COUNT: Who&#8217;s getting produced in the U.S.?<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/howlround.com\/a-brief-history-of-the-gender-parity-movement-in-theatre\">A Brief History of the Gender Parity Movement in Theatre<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/implicit.harvard.edu\/implicit\/\">Harvard University Project Implicit<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.huffingtonpost.com\/entry\/the-kilroys-2016-list_us_5767d7cbe4b015db1bc9c514\">Meet The Kilroys, A Gang Of Women Fighting For Gender Parity In Theater<\/a><\/p>\n\t\t<h2>\n\t\t\tPerforming Arts\n\t\t\t\t\t\tUnconscious bias \n\t\t<\/h2>\n\t\t\tWhat <em>The Count<\/em> and other studies like it show is the presence of bias, unconscious or otherwise, in our society. Bias is a natural response to living in a society &#8211; it can be about gender, race, class, education, disability, etc. We all have biases against what is different to our social norms. Often times we don&#8217;t realize it&#8217;s creeping into our minds, coloring everything we see.We need the arts to represent life, as it exists in the world. Therefore we need to address unconscious bias in the performing arts. <strong>At Renaissance Theaterworks, we want to assure that the voices of women are being heard throughout our country. At <\/strong><strong>Renaissance Theaterworks we are taking the lead.<\/strong><p><strong>If you want to dig deeper: <\/strong>Harvard University, the University of Washington and the University of Virginia teamed up to create a series of online tests that measure unconscious bias. Visit <a href=\"https:\/\/implicit.harvard.edu\/implicit\/aboutus.html\">Project Implicit<\/a> to test your unconscious bias and identify areas of your perception that need attention. The site has tests that measure bias against age, race, gender, religion, and even weapons.<\/p>\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.r-t-w.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/gender-parity_quote-cropped.png\" alt=\"Quote regarding gender parity in the arts. Renaissance Theaterworks promotes the work of women in theater onstage and off.\" itemprop=\"image\" height=\"347\" width=\"593\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.r-t-w.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/gender-parity_quote-cropped.png 593w, https:\/\/www.r-t-w.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/gender-parity_quote-cropped-300x176.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 593px) 100vw, 593px\" title=\"gender-parity_quote-cropped\" onerror=\"this.style.display='none'\"  \/>\n\t\t<h2>\n\t\t\tWe Support Women in Theater\n\t\t\t\t\t\tBr!NK New Play Festival\n\t\t<\/h2>\n\t\t\t<p>Developing the work of Midwestern Women Playwrights, the Br!NK New Play Festival gives audiences the opportunity to connect with the playwrights and give their feedback during interactive public staged-readings of the newly work-shopped scripts.In addition to the staged-readings, the Br!NK New Play Festival also includes the Br!NK Br!efs 10 Minute Play performances \u2212 a week chock-full of new works by Midwestern women playwrights.<\/p>\t\t\n\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.r-t-w.com\/brink\/\" target=\"_self\" role=\"button\" aria-label=\"What is Br!NK?\" rel=\"noopener\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\tWhat is Br!NK?\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.r-t-w.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Brnk.jpg\" alt=\"Logo for Renaissance Theaterworks BriNK Br!NK new play development program for midwestern women playwrights.\" itemprop=\"image\" height=\"598\" width=\"599\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.r-t-w.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Brnk.jpg 599w, https:\/\/www.r-t-w.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Brnk-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.r-t-w.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Brnk-150x150.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 599px) 100vw, 599px\" title=\"Br!nk\" onerror=\"this.style.display='none'\"  \/>\n\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.r-t-w.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/RM01_MartiGobel_p-72dpi.jpg\" alt=\"Marti Gobel featured in THE ROOMMATE by Jen Silverman, a 2019-20 Renaissance Theaterworks' production\" itemprop=\"image\" height=\"1335\" width=\"2000\" title=\"RM01_MartiGobel_p 72dpi\" onerror=\"this.style.display='none'\"  \/>\n\t\t<h2>\n\t\t\tBe a Change Agent\n\t\t\t\t\t\tSupport Works By Women\n\t\t<\/h2>\n\t\t\t<ul id=\"u107459-17\"><li id=\"u107459-8\">Buy a ticket to a woman&#8217;s play and send a follow-up note to the theater telling them you&#8217;d like to see more work by women playwrights and\/or about women.<\/li><li id=\"u107459-10\">Write to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.arts.gov\/contact-us\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">National Endowment for the Arts<\/a> and ask for more support for women artists.<\/li><li id=\"u107459-12\">Tell the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dramatistsguild.com\/contact\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Dramatists Guild<\/a> you want to see a strong Women&#8217;s Initiative.<\/li><li id=\"u107459-14\">Volunteer for a woman&#8217;s organization or theater.<\/li><li id=\"u107459-16\">Support the work of women onstage and off with your dollars, advocacy, and patronage.<\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.r-t-w.com\/give\/donate\/\">Support<\/a> Renaissance Theaterworks.<\/li><\/ul>\t\t\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>2023 &#8211; 2024 Season Theater By Women For Everyone! Donate Buy Tickets Account Cart Call: 414-278-0765 Gender Parity in the Arts Since 1993, Renaissance Theaterworks has been dedicated to promoting the work of women theater artists onstage and off, becoming a leader in the global movement toward improving gender parity in the arts. [In Wisconsin]&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"parent":173,"menu_order":40,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.r-t-w.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/177"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.r-t-w.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.r-t-w.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.r-t-w.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.r-t-w.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=177"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.r-t-w.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/177\/revisions"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.r-t-w.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/173"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.r-t-w.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=177"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}