WE:SHAPE
.NETWORK
WE:SHAPE,
RE-IMAGINE, & RE-SHAPE
OUR MUSIC COMMUNITY
IT'S TIME
TO
TAKE ACTION.
In the time of isolation and disconnection; In the time of unequal access to financial resources; in the time of institutional discriminations and the incompetence of our music industry to recognize diversity and adapt to musicians with the different social and cultural background; in the time that the educational system continues to discard diversity; We shape our network to take action.
WE:Shape aims to bring together musicians from all genres in order to create a support system for freelancers who are the subject of institutional discriminations on the basis of race, gender, class, ethnicity, age, ability, religion, and sexuality both in the industry and education system.
DO YOU BELIEVE IN THE POWER OF DIVERSITY?
How are you encouraging your music community to become more diverse?
DIVERSITY IS NOT OUR PROBLEM BUT OUR STRENGTH
WE:Shape aims to start polylogues around diversity and raise awareness of the unacceptable working conditions of music makers and performers. We shape connections to fight the isolation; We shape polylogues when we are silenced; We shape demands for recognition when we are discriminated against and neglected for so long. To allow for the exploitation of creative work has become the entry ticket to industry for independent musicians. As a result, most professionals in the music industry are hardly surviving.
Activism is part of our art.
WE:Shape aims to demand and take affirmative actions to provide better working conditions for its network.
It all starts with shaping our community!
#WE:ASK
What is the statistical overview of women, LGBTQ+ community, people of color, people with an immigration background, people with disabilities, religious minorities, and different age groups working within your institution?
#WE:ASK for transparency.
OUR GOALS
WE:Shape not only aims to build a foundation for the underrepresented musicians, musical cultures and music styles in the Austrian music industry and education, but also to push for more diversification in positions of power as well as decision-making processes related to our music community to make sure the system becomes inclusive and sustainable.
We would like to create a neutral platform to strengthen the network among musicians working in different music styles. We plan to connect musicians with industry professionals and educators such as journalists, festival and concert organizers, labels and agencies, music educators, etc., to openly discuss political and cultural discourses related to our music industry and academia.
ACTIVITIES
D/ISSONANT COUNTERPOINT
On the democratization of music and musical practices
Curated by Sheri Avraham, Ulli Mayer, and Golnar Shahyar (WE:Shape).
In cooperation with Brunnenpassage Vienna and Musikverein Vienna.
D/Arts is a project of many actors, initiatives, and institutions and works in broad alliance for more diversity in the cultural sector.
Netzwerk Junge Ohren!
Golnar Shahyar (WE:Shape) and Elisa Erkelenz (Outernational) will have a conversation about transcultural musical practices and ways to approach EDI (Equity, Diversity, Inclusion) in music institutions in Germany
Kultursommer 2020/2021
Golnar Shahyar, as a representative of WE:Shape has been part of the artistic board of Kultursommer Wien 2020 & 2021 to put together a festival that involves almost 2000 artists of the Viennese performance and literature scene by creating open-air performance opportunities.
Point Shard
Point Shard, a podcast produced by Rojin Sharafi, is about different social issues that have concerned me recently, such as a representation of marginalized communities in multicultural societies and white institutional space, racialized emotional labor, gender binaries, and ethnocide within the music ecosystem and in musical language.
!!DON'T YOU "WORLD" ME!!
Mechanisms of Exclusion and Inclusion in contemporary music and sound art with Golnar Shahyar (WE:Shape), Bernhard Günte (of Wien Modern), Rosa Reitsamer and Christine Schörkhuber!
Musical Careers in Constant Crises: An Asynchronous Dialogue from Tehran to Athens, via Belfast and Vienna
WIENER STIMMEN
Gordana Crnko, Zuzana Ernst, Golnar Shahyar, Ruei-Ran Wu and Anne Wiederhold-Daryanavard from the Brunnenpassage in dialogue with the Musikverein curated and developed an entire program track, which will be realized in the 2021 / 22 season.
Niemand kann irgendwem eine Stimme geben
Golnar Shahyar was interviewed by VAN editor Merle Krafeld about the musicality of different languages and the diversification of the music business.
