Interview: Niamh on working at Wild Paths Festival & the lack of females behind the scenes

Here at Hot Pink Music, we love to listen to what our readers want to see and you have told us that you love our interviews with women from different areas of the music industry. That's why this week we have an interview with the lovely Niamh, who has worked on big local events such as Wild Paths Festival as well as her own. We wanted to gain some more insight on what working on events as a female is like while also getting to know Niamh better too!

Niamh was first drawn to the events part of the industry after previously being involved with performance. She told us that she's been in bands since the age of twelve, all the way through sixth form, taking a year of musical theatre. Niamh said that it really wasn't for her and that she music side of things. Ultimately for her, going to festivals and gigs from a young age as well as playing led her to become really interested in how she could make a career out of it while combining all of the things she really enjoyed. Niamh explained that her favourite bit of what she does is when everything comes together, people are turning up and it's all going well. She told us that "nothing compares to that feeling." We discussed her involvement with Wild Paths, a local festival which began last year. She told us that it was really ambitious and that when she was there on the Saturday night when everything was coming together, she got such a good feeling. Niamh compared this to a charity night she once organised, where right up until the first act was going to play, nobody was there and she joked that she thought the singer might have had to play to just her and the sound engineer. She described how just a few minutes before the act went on stage, all of their friends arrived who had been in the pub next door and that the gig ended up being very successful. Back to talking about Niamh's involvement with Wild Paths, we talked about how last year she was handing out flyers and doing some repping at promotional events. Next year though at Wild Paths 2021, she's been given the title of Community Manager, meaning that she's in charge of getting sponsorships for the festival as well as managing some social media. Niamh revealed that to have such an important role with less experience than others is such a cool opportunity for her.

We discussed the gender inequality that Niamh has seen in not just her own part of the industry, but others she's worked with too. She talked about the fact that even when she was younger and in bands, it was still male-dominated. Niamh highlighted that musical theatre was mostly girls but that that was the only time it's been that way round. She explained that although she got on with her male friends in the industry well, she could always sense the imbalance and felt like there was a lack of confidence from girls. Niamh highlighted that she knows this is not the fault of the women, but that there is much more pressure on them. We also discussed the clear lack of girls in positions like sound engineers, lighting engineers and stage crew, all very male-dominated areas in the music scene. Niamh told us that the music scene has always been such a welcoming place and that she wishes the industry instilled more confidence in women to go for careers in those areas. We discussed the fact that the word 'engineering' can already make women feel excluded as that's never a career they're pushed towards due to gender stereotyping. As someone who has put together line-ups before, we felt it was important to ask Niamh how important she thinks making them equal is. She told us that she thinks it's even more important now, as girls want to see girls. She also highlighted that equal representation is really important, and that part of the issue the industry has with women not wanting to start a career has lot's to do with big festivals having massively unequal gender bias in their line-ups. She described that it must be difficult to peruse a career in something when you cannot see people like you already doing it. Niamh explained that the voices of women in music are just as valuable as the voices of men and that because music is so emotionally routed, not hearing female voices feels like their they're being muted.

For anyone who might be reading, thinking about a career of a similar one to Niamh's, we asked for her top tips and advice. She said that her advice would be to go for every opportunity with one hundred per cent confidence, never doubting yourself or your abilities when applying. Niamh also said that when talking to people with opportunities or just when your networking, never downplay your abilities, always be self-confident. She highlighted that there is never any shame in not knowing something, but that you should always show that you are willing to learn. She said that really, you can fake it until you make it. Niamh said when talking to people you may get to work with, you should highlight what experience you have rather than worrying about what you don't.

Niamh's next plans are to move to Bristol for university, where she's going to study music business, after hearing positive things about its music and events scene. She told us that she'd love to start a night there, which she's already planning for, as well as networking and getting to know people already involved in the local scene there. Niamh told us how excited she is to meet like-minded people and just enjoy putting on events. It was a pleasure to speak to Niamh and we were so interested in her thoughts on the local scene as well as her career. As always, you can find her linked below and we also recommend following Wild Paths too!

Ruby x

Niamh: https://www.instagram.com/_niamhashton_/?hl=en

Wild Paths: https://www.instagram.com/wildpathsfestival/?hl=en