TRNSMT pageant boss responds to criticism of all-male headliners for 2019

“As an industry we can do more, and that includes providing a platform for female artists.”

Картинки по запросу TRNSMT festival boss responds to criticism of all-male headliners for 2019

The team behind Scotland’s TRNSMT Festival has responded to criticism of the event’s 2019 line up.

The bill was unveiled a few hours ago, and contains an all-male batch of headliners: George Ezra, Stormzy, and Catfish & The Bottlemen.

Talking to NME, Ellis mentioned that the line-up displays a few of the largest feminine names of the second, and reiterated his remark to “creating feminine artists” as a way to make them the headliners of tomorrow.

One other account claimed that feminine acts solely accounted for twenty p.c of the line-up, and confirmed the massive gaps that happen when ladies are eliminated.

“We attempt to have extra females on the invoice. Jess Glynne is an enormous artist and she or he’s there. Would I choose to have extra feminine artists on the invoice? Sure. But it surely’s additionally about creating feminine artists to make them into headliners. We had Sigrid on the King Tut’s final yr, however we’ve now upgraded her to the primary stage,” mentioned Ellis.

As a result of this, founder Geoff Ellis spoke to NME about the booking policy, and the thinking behind it.

“We try to have more females on the bill. Jess Glynne is a big artist and she’s there. Would I prefer to have more female artists on the bill? Yes. But it’s also about developing female artists to make them into headliners. We had Sigrid on the King Tut’s last year, but we’ve now upgraded her to the main stage”.

TRNSMT is run by DF Concerts, who also curate separate event Edinburgh Summer Sessions on Scotland’s East Coast. Ellis continued:

“You’ve got people like Florence & The Machine who we would’ve been delighted to have as a TRNSMT headliner, but she’s coming in August so we’ve got her headlining two nights at Edinburgh Summer Sessions instead”.

“We’ve got CHVRCHES headlining the Summer Sessions too, so it’s not that we’re ignoring female artists, but you can’t always get them on the weekend of your festival and sometimes you’ve got to get them at different points of the year”.

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