Incorporated Society of Musicians study finds 70% of self-employed workers in industry said they had been harassed

This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

Six out of 10 people who work in the classical music sector have been victims of discrimination and sexual harassment, according to a study.



About 60% of respondents said they had been harassed, with orchestras and ensembles singled out as the “primary place”, the survey carried out by the Incorporated Society of Musicians (ISM) found.

It also found that 70% of self-employed workers in the industry said they had been harassed, compared with 30% of staff, while three-quarters of people questioned said they did not report incidents for fear of losing their job.

Deborah Annetts, the chief executive of the ISM, told BBC Radio 3’s Music Matters programme: “We’ve had about 250 responses and out of those responses, 60% are reporting discrimination of some sort or another and the chief form of discrimination is actually around sexual harassment.

“The primary place in which it’s taking place is in orchestras and ensembles, but also there is quite a high level of activity within schools and conservatoires, which is extremely concerning, that there is a very high level of sexual harassment going on within the music community.”

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She said it was troubling that the majority of the harassment and discrimination was against the self-employed.

“That’s very significant because if you think about most working environments, they are largely employed, and within an employed structure you will have proper HR procedures, you’ll have cultural norms, etc, which just don’t seem to be operating within the classical community.

“I think the other thing that is really very troubling is the 75% of people are not reporting sexual harassment which could be as bad as indecent exposure and assault ... because people are frightened that they are going to lose work if they make a complaint.”

Frances Richens, the editor of the Arts Professional magazine, conducted a separate survey of readers from across the industry.

It found that 800 respondents said they were aware of sexual harassment in the arts, while 500 said they had been sexually harassed.

Richens said: “There is a really widespread problem that is deeply rooted in the sector and that unfortunately arts organisations are not responding to adequately.”

One musician, who wished to remain anonymous, told Radio 3 she had been told she would not be booked again for a West End show after she rejected the advances of a man who was a close friend of her employer.

She also claimed she was asked to perform a sexual act on a music director at another West End show in front of the rest of the all-male band.

Equity launched a wide-ranging investigation last month to try to find solutions to the sexual harassment crisis. The union, which represents more than 40,000 actors, performers and creative practitioners, said that it was the time to harness energy generated by people telling their stories about harassment and abuse of power.

It set up a working group that has until January to gather ideas and suggestions on how to combat the problem.

In September 2015 Chris Ling, a former violin teacher at Chetham’s School of Music in Manchester, killed himself in the US before he was to be extradited to the UK to face trial on 77 charges of sex offences against 10 former pupils.

Ling died at his Los Angeles home as US marshals arrived to arrest the 57-year-old, who had reinvented himself in California as a show business manager after leaving the music school in 1990.

