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Women's Audio Mission Celebrates 10 Years of Closing the Gender Gap in Music Production and the Recording Arts(PR Web Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) San Francisco, CA (PRWEB) April 30, 2013 In an industry where women make up less than 5% of the workforce (source: Audio Engineering Society), Women’s Audio Mission, a nonprofit organization dedicated to the advancement of women in music production and the recording arts, is changing the face of sound. This year, Women’s Audio Mission (WAM) celebrates its 10-year anniversary, marking a decade of preparing women and girls for careers in professional audio. The San Francisco-based nonprofit has reached over 4,500 women and girls who otherwise may not have access to high-quality training for a job in the recording industry. Through in-person classes, online training materials, a nationally recognized youth program and, perhaps most importantly, a recording studio run entirely by women, WAM is steadily making gains towards closing the gender gap. WAM will commemorate their 10th anniversary, or WAMiversary, throughout 2013 with a robust lineup of member activities, sessions at WAM’s recording studio (named "Best of the Bay" by the San Francisco Bay Guardian) and a celebration this fall. Led by veteran recording engineer, musician and founder Terri Winston, Women’s Audio Mission began at City College of San Francisco where, as Director of the college’s Recording Arts program, Winston increased women’s enrollment from 12% to 43% - the highest percentage of any recording arts institution in the United States. Recognizing a need that surpassed the classroom, in 2003 Winston started WAM to increase women’s participation in pro audio by building up their credits and discographies and to introduce music technology to girls who traditionally do not have access to such a curriculum at a young age. “It is critical in our media-driven culture to prepare more women for audio technology careers,” says Terri Winston, founder of WAM. “This involvement in production amplifies women’s voices in our media-centric world. Until our society stops focusing on gender in the workplace and in regards to technology, WAM will keep working to level the playing field.” WOMEN’S AUDIO MISSION ADVANCES WOMEN IN PRO AUDIO: • GIRLS ON THE MIC. Each year, Women’s Audio Mission reaches over 450 underserved girls, ages 8 – 18, in the Bay Area through WAM’s youth program, Girls on the Mic. Nationally recognized by President Obama’s “Educate to Innovate” initiative, Girls on the Mic provides a music and technology-based curriculum and real-world experience in WAM’s professional recording studio. • WOMEN-RUN RECORDING STUDIO. Women’s Audio Mission built their recording studio from the ground up in 2008. To date, WAM has recorded a diverse roster of artists, from the GRAMMY Award-winning string ensemble Kronos Quartet and award-winning author Salman Rushdie to the first album written and recorded entirely by women and girls (from mixing to mastering), “Then It Starts to Feel Like Summer,” by San Francisco all-girl indie band The SHE’s. Studio time at Women’s Audio Mission is available at an affordable rate to anyone interested in working with WAM’s all-female team of engineers. • GENDER BALANCED, ONLINE AUDIO INDUSTRY TRAINING MATERIALS. WAM’s collection of online training materials, SoundChannel.org, brings the nonprofit’s award-winning, college-tested curriculum to a worldwide audience online. SoundChannel offers interactive training through a series of animated courses and online modules. The only online curriculum of its kind for professional audio, SoundChannel is also the first collection of audio industry training materials for which all demonstrations and narrations are by women. Since its launch in 2010, over 6,500 people in 127 countries have used SoundChannel.org. • IN-STUDIO CLASSES FOR WOMEN. Women’s Audio Mission offers Level 1 & 2 Certificate Programs through Master Classes at WAM’s state-of-the-art recording facility with award-winning women instructors. Classes are affordable and flexible to meet the scheduling demands of working professionals, students, parents and others. • ANNUAL MEMBERSHIP. Women’s Audio Mission connects female audio students and professionals from around the world with access to countless pro audio resources, in-studio training, internship and job placement, monthly member meetings (both in-person and via webcast) and so much more. Women do not need to be in the Bay Area in order to participate. Press interested in visiting Women’s Audio Mission, please contact Meghan Pochebit: Meghan(at)OffCentralPR(dot)com. For additional information, visit http://www.womensaudiomission.org. About Women’s Audio Mission: Women's Audio Mission is a San Francisco-based nonprofit organization dedicated to the advancement of women in music production and the recording arts. In a field where women are critically under-represented (less than 5%), WAM seeks to "change the face of sound" by providing hands-on training, experience, career counseling and job placement to women and girls in media technology for music, radio, film, television and the Internet. WAM believes that women's mastery of music technology and inclusion in the production process will expand the vision and voice of media and popular culture. For more information, visit http://www.womensaudiomission.org. Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2013/4/prweb10683853.htm (c) 2013 PRWEB.COM Newswire |