SNAKKS In what way can SNAKKS cultivate an open and inclusive space for educating and recruiting young women to music production?

Abstract

I denne masteroppgaven har SNAKKS blitt brukt som case studie for å undersøke hvordan en kan lage en åpen, inkluderende møteplass som fremmer læring og trivsel. Spørsmålet er, "På hvilken måte kan SNAKKS bidra til å fremme og rekruttere unge kvinner til musikkproduksjon?" I tillegg har eventuelle barrierer og faktorer blitt undersøkt, samt tiltak som kan bidra til å øke unge kvinners interesse og trivsel innen musikkproduksjon og musikkbransjen. En rekke teorier, forskningsartikler og studier er undersøkt for å bedre kunne kartlegge og danne et bilde på de utfordringene som finnes, samt foreslå noen tiltak som kan bedre disse utfordringene.

In this thesis I have done a case study on SNAKKS, an open meeting place for youth interested in music. SNAKKS is a project started by AKKS Trondheim, which I was given the opportunity to manage from January this year and am still coordinating, while teaching songwriting and music production. As part of my master thesis, I wanted to explore the question “In what ways could a project like SNAKKS enable young women to explore their musicality in an inclusive environment. By looking at the work of AKKS and other organizations and networks such as Nuts and bolts, WoNoMute and Girls twiddling knobs, working with empowering women and gender balance and diversity in the music industry, I’ve researched different models for teaching, as well as theories that can shed a light upon how to tackle this issue within the music industry and teaching of music production. By doing this it has become apparent to me that these challenges must be solved in multiple segments, as this research question is quite multi-faceted, and there are many potential barriers from when a girl starts to produce her first music until she gets enough experience and is comfortable claiming the producer title. In order to narrow down the task, I've chosen to focus on girls in the age interval 13-20. By looking at what motivates them to start producing music as well as what was crucial for them catching an interest and starting out, how they were recruited, I found some possible barriers but also factors that are essential, which I discuss how could be considered when recruiting, developing teaching methods as well as building networks and communities that help them develop and thrive. This way I’m hoping to pinpoint what factors are important for them to keep going and also thrive in the music industry. In order to answer this part, the scope of this thesis is quite broad as I've supplemented with in-depth interviews or conversations as research, as well as done literature reviews and used SNAKKS as a case study, and compared this to a more conventional space in the music industry such as a typical song camp and studio environment. By doing this, I have addressed some of the most critical issues as well as provided some suggestions and possible solutions for how we can make these spaces more inclusive, but also help young women learn music production.