Working in the Performing Arts: What Equal Arts Learned

Working in the performing arts means living on passion. Rehearsals run late, tours take you away from home, contracts are short and the line between work and life blurs. For many women in the sector, that passion comes with a cost that rarely appears in the programme notes.

Equal Arts, a European project led by InDance International with Le Voci di Astarte and SITES / Bruiser Theatre Company, set out to understand that cost and do something practical about it. Running from October 2024 to September 2026 and co-funded by the European Union, it focused on gender equality in leadership and management across dance, theatre, media and the wider performing arts.

Who leads, and who stays invisible

Women are well represented in the performing arts workforce, but not equally across roles. As Jenny, a producer, lighting designer and theatre company founder, describes after more than 25 years of touring across Europe, Australia and beyond, women are routinely placed in supporting roles such as producing, administrating and enabling, while decision-making and credit flow elsewhere.

That matters because the people who lead decide which stories are told, which artists are hired and how a company treats its people. When women are kept in the background, the whole sector loses out.

Giving everything, receiving little

The second theme is care. Judith, a kizomba teacher, event organiser and cultural advocate, has spent more than a decade working across the European dance scene. Her experience shows a pattern many will recognise: women are asked to give everything to students, communities and events, while getting little in return in guidance, recognition or rest.

Without mentoring or a safety net, stress and burnout become part of the job. Equal Arts asks a different question: what would a professional culture look like if the care women offer others were also offered to them?

Freelance lives, fragile careers

Much of the sector runs on freelance and project-based work. That means irregular income, little job security and few structures for support. Passion alone does not pay the bills, and it does not protect anyone from unsafe workplaces either.

This is why practices such as La Mecànica’s anti-discrimination protocol matter. It gives clear measures for action, support networks and confidential communication channels in rehearsal rooms, on tour and in community settings. When conditions are close and hours are long, a written protocol tells everyone what to do before anything goes wrong.

What Equal Arts offers

Equal Arts turned these insights into free tools:

• Certificate in Performing Arts Leadership: micro-learning units on leadership and voice, mentoring and mental health, and digital confidence, in English, Spanish and Italian
• Women in Leadership playbooks: practical support to accompany each unit
• Digital Portfolio: 52 real practices organisations can adapt
• “Equal Arts Unlocked” webinars: three live sessions on leadership, sustainable dance careers and promoting theatre work

The course reached 68 learners from 8 nationalities, and every webinar participant who responded said they would recommend the series.

A sector that can change

The strongest message from Equal Arts is that change is already happening. Women are building careers, setting boundaries, finding mentors and shaping more respectful workplaces. The project’s job was to make that knowledge easy to find and share.

The project has ended, but everything remains free at equalarts.eu, and InDance International continues the mission through mentoring, upskilling and training across Europe, England and Africa.

Whether you are an artist, educator, producer or employer, there is a place to start. Visit equalarts.eu, begin the course and see what working in the performing arts could look like.

Co-funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or SEPIE.