Sent to Monique
Buzzarte in Spring of 1997
As you requested, here is a brief overview
of my posts to the Internet regarding the VPO.
You will need to shorten it even though I mention only the most basic
posts. Please forgive my personal
perspective, but you asked for a report of what I did. Most people do not know. A full report would include the actions of
several people. I will cc this post to
a few IAWM members and friends who might be interested in my perspectives. I received some thousands of responses about
the VPO issue from private posts and about eleven different listservs and they
are a rich source of material for analysis and study. This brief "diary of resistance" I have sketched out
might help you make your report.
My first post about the VPO was to the
trombone-L on October 16, 1995. (This
was the first time the thread had ever been mentioned anywhere on the
Internet.) It received little notice
from the trombonists but was forwarded to the International Horn Society-L on
October 19, 1995 where it caused very extensive discussion--in the first two
weeks about 50 pages when printed out.
Based on that initial experience I began
using the entire music area of the Internet to try to raise a protest against
the VPO's belief that gender and ethnic uniformity give them aesthetic
superiority. On January 24, 1996 I
sent documented information about the VPO's categorical exclusion of women to
eight lists (gen-mus, IAWM, Women in Music, trumpet, trombone, IHS, tuba, and brass
lists). In addition it was forwarded by
others to the Orchestra (ICSOM), the ams, and the Unmoderated Classical Music
lists to make a total of eleven listservs.
(These are the ones I know about, but my posts went many places I am
only now learning about--such as various feminist lists, the opera list, and
lists for labor relations.) I should
note that from the very beginning Varda Ullman Novick was indefatigable in
cross-forwarding posts to various lists to keep everyone informed about what
was evolving with the VPO issue.
The January 24, 1996 post caused massive
discussion throughout the Internet. The
most notable and interesting was the gen-mus list which had 15 posts the first
day. Until then they were averaging one
or two posts a week. It also caused
extensive discussion on the IHS and Orchestra lists. The discussion on the Orchestra-L continued unabated for
months. (Interestingly, all together
the orchestra list discussed the issue far more than the IAWM list.)
On January 29, 1996 I sent a second post
to the gen-mus list entitled "More VPO Info." Due to their interest I encouraged them as
gender-in-music scholars to begin writing about the gender bias of the VPO and
other orchestras. I noted that their
efforts would move the mass media. This prediction was quite correct, but it
turned out to be me who did most of the writing. I gave the gen-mus list the address of the VPO, the Berlin
Philharmonic, and the Czech Philharmonic and suggested list members write to
these orchestras.
On February 25, 1996, Jeanice Brooks took
my suggestion and sent a letter to the VPO inquiring about their employment
policies and hinting at a possible boycott.
It was co-signed by 30 members of the gen-mus list from 12 countries. The VPO responded to the gen-mus list on
April 19, 1996 saying that if the orchestra employed women they would need to
increase their personnel by 25%. The
orchestra feared the prospect of mass pregnancy. The theme of a boycott stayed strongly in the minds of the VPO
and greatly increased the perceived strength of our protest. This was a big contribution by our gen-mus
friends.
An active discussion continued on the
gen-mus list for several weeks and many of those messages were forwarded to the
IAWM-L by Ginger Smith. At this point the
IAWM-L did not discuss the issue in much detail. It was, in fact, almost ignored.
Meanwhile, Irene Stuber contacted me and began placing VPO notices in
her Cats Claws and WOAH which were very widely read on the Internet.
On January 30, 1996, Sylvia Glickman, who
at that time was IAWM Journal Editor, asked me to write an article about gender
bias in orchestras. She had seen my
posts to the lists. Her foresight about
what was to come was astounding. The article appeared nine months later with
ideal timing for the protest that evolved.
Sylvia's efforts were taken over with perfect coordination by Eve Meyer
who succeeded her as Editor of the IAWM Journal.
The post you mention, "Orchestras
& Social Reality", was sent to the IAWM-L and seven other lists on
January 31, 1996. It was not
specifically about the VPO, but rather about what people can do to oppose
discrimination in orchestras. I wrote
it because this question had been raised on the IHS-list but was never
adequately answered. I used Abbie Conant
as a concrete example and role model that young musicians (of both genders and
all colors) could use in struggling for equality.
On February 2, 1996 I received my first
post from a journalist wishing to write an article about the Vienna
Philharmonic. It was from Andres Saenz
of _La Nacion_ in Costa Rica. In his
article he predicted protests against the VPO over a year before they actually
happened. He based his prediction on
the activity that was evolving on the Internet and specifically mentioned the
gen-mus list.
On May 6, 1996 I placed my transcription
and translation of a West German State Radio interview of members of the VPO
on IAWM-L and seven other lists. It was forwarded to the ams-L, orchestra-L,
and unmoderated classical music-L again bringing the total to eleven
lists. The WDR's inspiration for the
interview came from a full page article about Abbie's struggles in the Munich
Philharmonic that appeared in TAZ, a major Berlin newspaper in December of
1995. The article also discussed a documentary
film about Abbie that was broadcast nationally in Germany.
Through the transcription the IAWM-L was
finally moved to considerable discussion and began formulating ways they might
protest against the VPO. There was much
discussion about the tatics used by the guerilla girls. Sarah Whitworth and Jo Scheir suggested
members write letters to the VPO and asked if an address could be
provided. On May 14, 1996, I posted the
VPO's address to the list. In the same
post I also suggested that the IAWM board write a letter to the VPO inquiring
about their employment policies, and to tell the VPO that the IAWM might begin
organizing a protest. My suggestion did
not become a reality until eight months later after you were made a board
member representing the "Performers Portfolio."
In this same letter of May 14, 1996 I
pointed out that the IAWM did not need the tatics of the guerilla girls. My remarks turned out to be very correct and
are interesting to read in retrospect:
"Most people are not aware of the
VPO's employment policies. A simple and
dignified protest by women musicians in front of concert halls during the VPO's
international tours, along with factual advance letters to the media, would be
all that it takes to create a lot of publicity. The general public would thus learn of the VPO's discrimination,
and be less inclined to buy their recordings and concert tickets. The protest would also be a deep embarrassment
to the VPO, which is the national orchestra of Austria."
That is exactly what happened in the
protest ten months later. I wasn't
making a wild guess. In the same post I
pointed out that Abbie and I had found these tatics to be very effective in
making known our 13 year long struggle against the Munich Philharmonic. I also listed the importance of networking
with other international women-in-music organizations, and I listed some of
their addresses in Germany, Switzerland, and Holland. Unfortunately there has been little movement in that direction to
date, but I am sure that progress will eventually be made. The work with Regina Himmelbauer in Vienna
was exemplary.
On May 15, 1996, the Vice President of
Garland Publishing, Leo Balk, contacted me and asked if I would write a book
about the status of women in German-speaking orchestras. He had seen my work on the Internet. We eventually settled on the idea of writing
solely about the VPO.
In August the VPO began to be put under
considerable parliamentary pressure in Austria. A parliamentarian from Linz, Sonja Ablinger, was principally
responsible. Due to the massive
discussion on the Internet, articles began appearing already in August of 1996
in major European publications predicting that the VPO might face protests in
the USA. Die Woche and The Guardian are
two examples of such publications.
At this point Werner Resel gave a
misleading interview to Austria's State Television, and on August 14, 1996
Reuters circulated a report world-wide that the VPO would begin admitting
women. This false report was accepted
by much of the international community, and the presumed "success"
was even discussed by IAWM members during
the "Donna in Musica" meeting in Italy in late September of
1996. On September 25, 1996 I placed a
post on seven lists pointing out that the Reuters report about the VPO
admitting women was false. (Again my
post was widely forwarded.) Discovering the report was false astounded much of
the music community. As a consequence
the Internet discussion of protest became even more active and angry,
especially on the IAWM-L.
On October 8, 1996 Nora Graham contacted
me for more information about the VPO.
She had no association with the IAWM and did not know of its
existence. In early May a friend had
forwarded her privately a copy of my WDR interview transcription. Nora told me she had written to two Orange
County organizations about the VPO's up coming USA tour, and that she wanted to
organize protests in Orange County. I
suggested Nora join the IAWM-L and enlist their support for her ideas of letter
writing and protest. She joined both
the list and the IAWM. On October 27,
1996 she posted a copy of her protest letter to Dean Corey on the IAWM-L, and
became a central leader in the protest against the VPO.
At about the same time, in late October of
1996, my article "Art Is Just An Excuse: Gender Bias in International
Orchestras" was published by the IAWM Journal. Eve Meyer included information I had provided pointing out that
the recent Reuters report was incorrect.
From this point on there was a very solidly established attitude that
protests against the VPO should be held during their up coming USA tour. A good deal of discussion evolved about
Nora's ideas for letter writing. One of
the most clear and unmitigated statements regarding protests at the site of the
concerts was made by Nancy Bloomer Duessen to the IAWM list on November 1,
1996.
In mid November 1996 (approx. Nov. 19th?)
the zapvpo web page was put up and you began concretely organizing the desire
of IAWM list members to protest. I
contributed two articles to the web page and simultaneously posted them to
several lists. These were "The
Image of Purity: the Racial Ideology of the Vienna Philharmonic in Historical
Perspective" posted in the first week of January, 1997, and "A
Difficult Birth: Maternity Leave in the Vienna Philharmonic" posted on
February 11, 1997.
From that point on it became necessary to
focus my efforts in private posts.
These were mostly to the IAWM's tireless Press Liaison, Cathy Pickar,
helping her understand the policies of the VPO, giving her information for the
press corps, and helping her formulate strategies for dealing with them. I also worked closely with you, Regina
Himmelbauer and Clare Shore, advising you on the orchestra's attitudes,
translating articles, suggesting protest strategies, etc. I also corresponded a good deal with the
international media after the IAWM sent them documented information I had
provided concerning the VPO's policies.
Some of the most important agencies I corresponded with were NPR (to
urgently correct another false VPO report), the Los Angeles Times, Newsweek,
ABC, and the New York Times (the central European correspondent, Jane Perlez
who wrote the front page article--not Mr. Holland of the music section.)
During the last weeks of the protest I was
also busy organizing and rehearsing the informal concerts "Celebrating
Women" that took place during the protest.
Now I am tired. I've unsubbed from most of the lists and am taking an
Easter/Passover/etc. rest. But the
battle has only begun. Look at these
statistics comparing the number of men and women in German-speaking orchestras:
Vienna Philharmonic: 149/1 - <1%
Czech Philharmonic: ?/0 - 0% (not German-speaking but closely tied to
those traditions)
Vienna Symphony Orchestra: 124/3 - 2%
Staatskapelle Dresden: 144/5 - 3%
Berlin Philharmonic: 120/7 - 5%
(4 additional women are in a probationary period)
Dresdener Philharmonie:117/6 - 5%
Gewandhaus Leipzig: 193/13 - 7%
(Stand 1994)
Over all women represent only 11% of
Germany's major orchestras, and occupy virtually no first desk positions. Abbie and I are now in our 17th year of
protest.
I will be back to contribute what I can to
the VPO WATCH--if the IAWM has no objections.
It seems, as Pauline Oliveros pointed out, that due to our experiences
Abbie and I are "cultural warriors."
In spite of the hazards for one's psyche, resistance has become our way
of life.
Best,
William