The Department of Creative Arts, Media & Music at Dundalk Institute of Technology, in association with Sounding the Feminists and the Centre for Creative Arts Research, has announced the programme for its forthcoming one-day symposium on women in popular and traditional music in Ireland.

The symposium will be held on Friday 23 November. This one-day symposium brings together both scholars and community activists engaged in work to address gender imbalance in both the music industry and academia.

In addition to panels on women in pop, and country and folk, representatives of Sounding the Feminists, Fair Plé, the Gash Collective, Girls Rock Dublin, the Improvised Music Company and Mnásome will engage with Dr Ann-Marie Hanlon, lecturer in popular music at Dundalk IT, in a round table discussion on why feminism is needed within the Irish music scene today and what these respective groups are doing to improve the lot for female performers across a variety of genres.

Dr Aileen Dillane will deliver the keynote speaker for this event. She will give an address titled 'Raging Mother Ireland: The intersection of faith, fury, and feminism in the body and voice of Madga Davitt (FKA Sinéad O’Connor)'.