The theme for International Women’s Day 2021 is Choose to Challenge.

A challenged world is an alert world, and from this alertness and challenge comes change.

Here at The Met, we’ve certainly faced huge challenges during the pandemic and we’ve been fortunate enough to have the steady hand of CEO Vic Robinson guiding us through these unprecedented times/new normal/strange days.*

We also welcomed Helen Clayton as Chair of the Board in 2019, after initially joining us as Treasurer in 2018, and we’re proud to be an organisation that puts women at the forefront of leadership.

Vic and Helen are supported by a stellar team, and on this International Women’s Day we’d like to celebrate the female and female defining members of staff who work so hard to make The Met a success.

Programme Manager Sophie Cade keeps everyone here organised and on track, and also found the time (and the creativity) to create a brand new strand of programming during lockdown.

Our Education and Learning Manager Steph Meskell-Brocken has built up a solid education and outreach programme over the last year, and has connected us more so into our local communities than ever before.

When it comes to customer service, you’d be hard pressed to beat Ticket Office Assistant Tilly Moses. Tilly’s professionalism, organisational skills and friendliness ensure audiences always have a positive experience with us (even if we’re having to reschedule yet another show…)

This year has been exceptionally difficult for the cultural sector, and many venues have had to permanently close their doors. Thanks to the excellent work of Finance Manager Sue Binder, we’ve managed to balance the books and weather the storm, providing plenty of digital output for audiences to enjoy.

As well as using this blog as an opportunity to thank all of our staff for everything they’ve done over the last year to keep artists, audience and participants safe and happy, we also wanted to use International Women’s Day to profile the amazing artists we’re hosting over the next few months.

First up is a streaming show to enjoy at home on Thursday 18 March by Canadian duo, Madison Violet.

With heart-wrenching songwriting and luscious harmonies combined with the natural storytelling of folk, the rhythms of Americana and catchy pop hooks, Madison Violet have been captivating audiences and critics alike for two decades.

This multi-instrumental duo has achieved an impressive list of accolades in their twenty years together, including a Juno nomination, a Canadian Folk Music Award for Best Vocal Group Album, a Critic’s Choice Award from Country Music People’s Magazine, and the John Lennon Songwriting Grand Prize.

Bringing their own brand of comedic energy to Zoom are Lip Service with their new show, Château Ghoul, on 31 March and 1 April.
Château Ghoul is East Yorkshire’s go-to boutique hotel offering themed weekends, although the high death rate keeps them from ever achieving that elusive Trip Advisor Certificate of Excellence. An interactive comedy show with integrated BSL, captioning and an Audio Description option.

Families can talk a walk on the wild side with Another Planet, a immersive, outdoor space adventure devised by female led theatre company The Gramophones. This audio adventure can be enjoyed by children aged 7+, and costs £12

Welsh harpist Catrin Finch has partnered up with Senegalese kora player Seckou Keita and will be performing tracks from their 2018 album SOAR, inspired by the flight of the osprey. Catch them live at The Met on Friday 4 June.

We’re also thrilled to be showcasing up and coming artists, including Sound On indie pop band Foxglove, whose colourful dance melodies and synth infused sunny tones are keeping us going through lockdown part 3.

We’ll also be partnering with Toria Wooff  for our Emerging Showcase series, and genre defying The Elephant Trees.

As well as all these fantastic future performances, we also want to give a shout out to the female and female identifying artists who came through our doors (virtually or physically) during the pandemic – DJ Paulette, Keisha Thompson (Shebekeke), Jenna G, Ren Harveiu, Abbie Ozard, Kirsty Almeida, Louise Wallwein MBE and so many more.

*delete pandemic cliché as appropriate