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# 2.3 New directions in feminist musicology

More recent feminist musicology aims at greater inclusivity, considers the intersectionality of exclusion based on gender alongside other factors of marginalisation – including race, ethnicity, sexuality, faith, class, disability and/or neurodiversity – and also seeks to get away from binary constructions of gender. Another key difference is the new willingness of musicologists to engage with practising musicians and others involved in music education and the music industries. Many feminist musicologists today see both wider advocacy work beyond academia and actively working alongside practising musicians and other professionals within the music industries as key parts of their work and how real change can be made.

Over recent years, many organisations, groups and collectives that aim to promote women’s music and to support women musicians have emerged – both in the UK and internationally. The F-List Directory of UK Female+ Musicians (founded by women-in-music activist Vick Bain in 2019), for example, has developed a large directory of female-identifying and gender-expansive musicians based in the UK (hence ‘Female+’). This initiative aims to assist the individuals listed in promoting themselves and also serves as a comprehensive resource for performance hirers seeking female and gender-expansive musicians. Another notable example is the Ireland-based collective, Sounding the Feminists, which actively promotes and publicises the work of female musicians across the island of Ireland. These are just examples among many.

## Activity 4 Donne Women in Music Foundation

Timing: Allow around 30 minutes to complete this activity.

Watch this video interview that OU Music academic Dr Laura Hamer filmed with soprano and women-in-music activist Gabriella Di Laccio, curator and founder of the Donne Women in Music Foundation in March 2023.

What motivated Gabriella to found Donne?

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Video 1
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### Discussion

Gabriella shares how she first started to become aware of music by women in 2015 when she was performing recitals of music set to poetry by Shakespeare and came across three cycles composed by the women Amy Beach, Madeleine Dring and Rebecca Clarke, which she added to her repertoire. Then in 2017 she bought a second-hand copy of Aaron I. Cohen’s International Encyclopedia of Women Composers. This inspired her to found Donne in order to tell these women’s stories widely to people outside of academia.

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