Celebrating IWD 2022 with Abbey Road Equalise at Angel Studios

On Saturday 5 March, we were delighted to host Abbey Road Studio’s Equalise event to celebrate International Women’s Day 2022 at our new campus in Angel Studios. Equalise is a one-day festival celebrating the next generation of female artists and creatives and is comprised of a free day of panel discussions, talks & masterclasses.

Abbey Road Equalise 2022

Abbey Road Equalise was established 2 years ago and as part of a programme of initiatives to encourage greater diversity in the field of music production and sound engineering as well as the music industry more broadly. Less than 5% of music producers and engineers are women and the team at Abbey Road Studios is determined to play its part in addressing this imbalance. In 2020, Abbey Road Studios launched the Equalise programme, born out of the Studios’ commitment to driving awareness and understanding of music production as a credible and accessible career path for under-represented groups. The programme aims to provide tools, knowledge and support to encourage more women to enter the industry, creating opportunities for young people across the UK and internationally.

The full day of panels, talks and masterclasses was hosted in Angel One, the recently opened commercial studio at Angel, which sits alongside our teaching facilities. Equalise was our inaugural event since we opened and we were delighted that the purpose of this event is about opening more doors physically and metaphorically to the music industry.

Watch ‘How to Build A Career in the Music Industry’

Abbey Road Institute graduates top tips

We were joined by a panel of ⁠graduates from our London Institute who are all carving their careers across the music and audio industry. ⁠The discussion covered topics from how they got started in their first jobs, to building a client base and navigating in a male-dominated environment. Here are some of their top tips on networking in the industry, freelancing, applying for jobs and how to avoid burnout:⁠ ⁠

Laura Iredale “To be a freelancer you have to keep pushing and always be active. If you want a varied day to day and if you want to explore the roots in the industry, then freelancing is a good direction”⁠ ⁠

Jessica Heap “Don’t be afraid to apply for something even if you think you don’t tick all the boxes. If you are keen to learn about it then that’s the important part”⁠ ⁠

Gabrielle Stok “Remember to take time off and have that support from someone that you can actually talk to about how you feel.”⁠ ⁠

Gianna Lei, “It’s all about putting yourself out there as much as possible and not being afraid of rejection.”⁠ ⁠
To find out more about our alumnae and the different careers they’ve gone on to, watch our International Women’s Day panel discussion from 2021 and to find out more about Abbey Road Equalise visit the studio website.