Inaugural Women in Live Music Awards winners announced
Women in Live Music (WILM), a Denmark-based association for women working in the European concert business, has announced the winners of its inaugural WILM Awards.
A statement from the association, established in February, says the awards were launched in reaction to the “fact that in every award show related to the touring/production world, you will find only two, perhaps three, nominated women. We wanted to raise awareness of the talented women out there in our industry.”
Xenia Grigat of Beatbox Entertainment in Denmark was named best concert promoter, taking 541 votes of the more than 1,500 cast for all winners, with Siobháin Brackenridge of the UK’s Kilimanjaro Live honoured as best promoter rep and Communion Records’ Carly Rockett as best ticketing manager.
Erin Lynch of FlyingFox in Sweden took home the award for best TM, while Anna Gideonsson of Palindrom Produktion, also in Sweden, was recognised as best production manager. Briton Anna Mac was named best lighting technician, with Alice James (Eventim Apollo, London) awarded best venue technical manager, Swede Jessica Maria Thorzen best driver and Henriette Aaberg of Norway best production coordinator.
A full list of winners is below:
- Tour manager: Erin Lynch, Sweden
- Production manager: Anna Gideonsson, Sweden
- Wardrobe: Anne-Marie Bigby, United Kingdom
- PA: Ria Sioux Byers, United Kingdom
- Merchandise: Kaylee Wesley Pearson, Denmark
- Photographer: Line Svindt, Denmark
- Venue technical manager: Alice James, United Kingdom
- Concert promoter: Xenia Grigat, Denmark
- Promoter representative: Siobháin Brackenridge, United Kingdom
- Ticketing manager: Carly Rockett, United Kingdom
- Production coordinator: Henriette Aaberg, Norway
- Driver: Jessica Maria Thorzen, Sweden
- Backline: Laura Helene Nagtegaal, the Netherlands
- Rigger: Ida Borgström, United Kingdom
- Stage manager, Linda Stenmark, Sweden
- Stage technician: Natalia Bassak, Poland
- Sound system technician: Freyja Ja-Ja Lawson, United Kingdom
- FOH engineer: Johanna Gustavsson, Sweden
- Monitor engineer: Anna Gideonsson, Sweden
- Video operator: Alanna Pépin-Danissen, Finland
- Pyro technician: Sophie Meredith, United Kingdom
- Lighting designer: Jenny Björklund, Sweden
- Lighting technician: Anna Mac, United Kingdom
“Having a ceremony celebrating women in our industry, celebrating us, is a fantastic idea,” comments Anna Mac. “We are awesome and deserve to be celebrated, so thank you to Women in Live Music for organising this and giving women the opportunity to honour each other.
“Women need to see other women, they want to see other women, and they want to see each other succeed. We are champions of each other. In an industry that is pretty brutal at times, physically and mentally, it is reassuring that women are supporting women. So, again, thank you for these awards.”
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