2014.06.02

 

♥ IMPRA's board asked some musicians, organizers and education representatives to describe what they think IMPRA's work over the years has meant, personally or professionally. Partly to show possible contributors what support we have, but also to be able to continue working now that there is a bit of a headwind - here are some of the answers:

 

Thoughts on IMPRA:

 

"Impra has become a network where female musicians in a wide range of genres connect with each other and collaborate - priceless! (Many women can feel alone as they are in the minority in this context).Impra is an organizer that presents music regularly all over the country with women in artistic management - that makes Impra unique and modern! It is always great fun to come to an Impra club. You meet a different audience than usual - usually quite a young audience aged 18-30 and the majority women."

 

Sofia Jernberg, singer & composer

 

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"There is a clear before and after Impra in Swedish music life.

No other single organization has been as effective in shining a light on the biases that are still a troubling fact in large parts of the music world.

All stages in the creation of musical experiences, from musicians via organizers to audiences and cultural administrators, are now marked, largely thanks to Impra's work, by an awareness of gender issues and the importance of equality.

Impra's influence also extends beyond the national, - In several European countries, Impra's work has served as a clear role model and inspiration, and strengthened Sweden's leading position in gender equality issues.

Impra's work is far from finished, and it is therefore of great cultural political and artistic importance that Impra's survival can be ensured."

 

Joakim Milder saxophonist, composer and professor at King. The Academy of Music in Stockholm

 

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"Impra is of great importance in developing the music genre Jazz/improv. Impra has a  large contact network  and knowledge about music life which now and in the long term benefits all Swedish cultural institutions and educations and starts and implements creative artistic projects etc. Impra works for the development of the art form. Since women are in the minority in the genre, it develops slowly. Having worked with this since the early 90s, I see that Impra is hugely important. Impra needs long-term continuous support. The problem "imbalance in the jazz/improv genre" cannot be fixed in 1-3 years!"

 

Maggi Olin, Gy jazz course leader Malmö Academy of Music, composer, arranger & pianist

 

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"Sweden is today an important actor at the forefront when it comes to gender equality in jazz and improvisational music. In that development, the IMPRA network plays a decisive role: Not only as an opinion maker, but also as an initiator and pusher for various equality projects around the country and in Europe. In recent years, the jazz and improvisation scene in Umeå has collaborated with IMPRA in connection with seminars and other project activities. For us, it is a strength that we in Sweden have a musician-based network which with great competence and experience focuses on gender and equality issues and which also has the ability to bring this out to the various environments of jazz music life. Jazz is a form of music that still has a lot to learn on the subject. "

 

Lennart Strömbäck, NorrlandsOperan

 

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"IMPRA has gained momentum throughout jazz Sweden with its concert series, festivals and an ongoing discussion and research work. They prove time and time again that everything gets so much better if we all get to participate. On equal terms. The experience, competence and the networks they have created over the years are worthy of any research institute. Not to mention all the great music we get! Now the work is finally starting to have an effect - but surely we shouldn't settle for 16% women on the Swedish jazz scenes? No, now IMPRA is needed more than ever!”

 

Lena Åberg Frisk CEO & CEO Jazzclub Fasching and Stockholm Jazz Festival

 

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"IMPRA works with music and equality on many levels. They draw attention to problems in the industry and operate where it is relevant at the moment. By making sure that female musicians are met and noticed, role models are created that are vital to fostering an interest and being able to believe in yourself (as a young female musician!). Through the clubs that are imbued with IMPRA's value base and awareness, young musicians can go to a concert without having to be confronted by the narrow gender roles that often characterize one's choice of instrument, approach and genre. IMPRA shows the way for an equal, free and norm-breaking music life in a way that no other organization/festival or similar has dared to do yet and therefore becomes a strong engine and a support for everyone who wants to go in the same direction. "

 

Annika Marmén & Lili Holényi, student, project manager Popkollo Jazz

 

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"For me, impra has given me incredibly valuable contacts to be able to establish myself as a musician. I have made friends who shared tips and ideas that I never received during my music education. It has been an injection of inspiration and given me hope for a future as a musician where I am seen as an asset, not as a competitor, which is an attitude I myself will always carry forward. Impra has also made me want to get involved in developing the music scene for others as well, which I know I'm not alone in.”

 

Linnea Henriksson, artist & composer

 

 

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"Impra has meant a great deal as a collaboration partner to Swedish Jazz. The jazz field has a huge need for initiatives for gender equality and I dare say that before Impra there was almost no serious work on the issue. The association was met with great skepticism from some quarters and it is remarkable how the issue has gained an obvious place on the agenda. The skeptics have had to take a big step back. Impra has influenced Swedish Jazz in a positive direction when it comes to this work, and without Impra as a partner, our gender equality work will be greatly weakened!"

 

Magnus Thuvesson, chairman Swedish Jazz

 

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"In my work as a jazz coordinator at Sveriges Radio, I have long been able to benefit from Impra's purposeful work, which has made it easier for us to reach a fairer gender balance in radio as well. But. We still do not live in an equal world and jazz in particular still belongs to the genres where there is still a great imbalance. Therefore, it is extremely important that we do not now comfortably sit back and think that we have "done the job". This work needs to be carried out continuously and consciously, and it is therefore of the utmost importance that Impra is given the chance to continue. For the good of all of us!”

 

Marie Vesterholm, Jazz coordinator, Swedish Radio

 

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"IMPRA has become an increasingly obvious part of young Swedish musical life within the ever-growing field of improvisation. The thoughts highlighted and formulated by IMPRA and its many sympathizers provide an important foundation in which educators and higher education can also draw support. We have seen a long-awaited development in Swedish improvisational music where strong female musicians create important and clear artistic impressions and where, after many years, a state in the absence of both reflection and equality is slowly changing and moving towards a developing and natural state for music. In this, IMPRA has played - and continues to play - a very decisive role in its work to raise awareness of a young generation of sound artists. IMPRA is needed - for another 10 years..”

 

Anders Jormin, professor HSM, Gbg

 

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"In our joint work for an equal music scene, IMPRA has had and has a great significance and an important role to play, especially in the genre of Jazz & and improvisation. IMPRA, in its role as representative of the free cultural practitioners in this matter, is for us a very important partner in order to bring about a change in music life in Sweden. "Spotlight Väst" is an example of an equality project that is carried out in the VG Region, where IMPRA is one of the parties together with Kultur i Väst, GAC, Ladyfest and MCV. Culture in the West has as one of its missions to work to ensure that the free cultural life gets increased opportunities to make international contacts. Here, too, I see that IMPRA is a given partner in specific projects or as a conversational and advisory partner through, for example, its previous projects  and its important IMPRA list. Sweden has come a bit further than most other countries in Europe in the work for an equal music scene, but we are not far from the goal. Therefore, it is important with IMPRA's continued existence both from a national and European perspective."

 

Marie Tarrach Bävholm, Producer jazz & blues, Culture in the West

 

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"Right from the start, IMPRA has been an important partner for the Royal Academy of Music in Sthlm (KMH).

IMPRA's members have been an important recruitment base to get external participants and a good balance and discussion in KMH's admissions jury.

IMPRA has increased awareness among students and teachers and inspired different gender groups at KMH and many other music education programs in Sweden. IMPRA has been a source of knowledge and support for these groups.

IMPRA has lifted stones that no individual has had the opportunity to lift with the same force and pointed to the skewed distribution that has occurred in many places.

IMPRA has questioned current norms, demanded and in many cases achieved gender balance in terms of jazz festivals, jazz awards, media space, etc.

IMPRA has had an enormous influence on the whole of jazz life in Sweden and not least on the musicians themselves, whose awareness of unfair conditions has increased significantly."

 

Ola Bengtsson Prefect Inst. for Jazz Royal Academy of Music in Stockholm

 

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"I am proud to be a part of Swedish jazz where activities like IMPRA exist. I believe that IMPRA's work since its inception in 2006 has filled and still fills a significantly important part in the work to achieve a more balanced gender distribution within Swedish jazz and improvisational music. IMPRA is an essential player in that work. IMPRA has the dignity and power needed to monitor and counteract the forces that make gender equality work difficult in Swedish jazz. IMPRA is, in my opinion, the biggest and most important platform that brings together and unites everyone who believes that it is wrong for a music genre to be undisputedly dominated by male performers and who actively wants to work to do something about it. The change work required takes a long time and things have certainly started to happen. It is largely IMPRA's merit, but there is still much to be done in both education and professional activities to achieve greater equality within Swedish jazz and improvisational music. Without IMPRA as a continued unifying hub for that work, I fear that it is all too easy for everything to return to a situation that is as wretched as it was before IMPRA was formed.”

 

Mattias Hjorth, course leader for Music Education/Jazz at the University of Music in Malmö