On Day 2 of D&D this year, there was an amazing session called: 'Stop Saying Sorry: Women in Leadership roles in Theatre'. The conversation from this session was very inspiring, and there seemed to be a lot of momentum to start a physical group/network/meeting for women.
I called this session on Day 3 to work out the practicality of that meeting and when/how/where it should be!

We discussed/decided:

Theatre seems too specific, we should open it out to 'The Arts' more broadly.

There are already a lot of similar groups:
- Awesome women (Facebook group)
- Sisterhood Social (Sheffield)
- Mothers Who Make
- Bossy
- Project Ovation
- Women in Music Awards
- That Girl From Backstage (Facebook group)
- PiPA (Parents and Carers in Performing Arts)
so instead of trying to create a new one, and re-invent the wheel, we should join forces - Just create an event, and make sure we invite them all along.

What would be the purpose of the meeting? (We felt this would need to be really clear)
- Solve a problem?
- A social event? - Important, teher should be drinks/food
- **Build a network** - We felt this was KEY
- Support

The meeting should be welcoming, not feel cliquey (or like networking!). Having structure will help with this. Could it be open space? A Satellite D&D event? YES!

PRACTICALITIES:
- Can be hosted in Cambridge [Where I can offer a venue :) ]
- A weekday event, with an evening focus
- Start for lunch, with an optional bring-and-share meal, so people can arrive throughout (Provide tea & coffee - Bring your own mug!)
- Then Open Space (1/2 sessions)
- Then action-ing & drinks (plus re-cap)
- £5-£10 to cover the costs (possibly have a lower fee for the event, but invite people to pay a optional bit more into the put for accessible resources?)
- Access very important; Ask D&D for any minimum access requirements for an event
- Could there be a small pot of money to fund a BSL interpreter etc? [I have since asked the fundraiser at my work and apparently there isn't one for that small a scale, but we could ask people to ship in alongside their ticket, as suggested above]
- We can be transparent about it being a trial, as for suggestions as to how to improve
- We could make the event accessible digitally - can be streamed to up to 100 audience members (Caron Jane to help)
- Could use a Slack Group or LOOM.IO

We pledged to:
* Create a Database of groups/resources for women in the arts - Somewhere we can go for info
* Make this event a reality!

If you would like to know more, or be involved in/invited to a future meeting, please comment below, or email me - [email protected]