A programme, playlist and festival dedicated to the works of females are announced, released and revealed.

March 8 is International Women’s Day, and the Australian arts scene took the opportunity to announce some exciting new initiatives aimed at balancing the gender inequality in the music and theatre industries.

Composer and professor Matthew Hindson AM is the mind behind a trailblazing new initiative: the National Women Composers’ Development Program, hosted by the Sydney Conservatorium of Music. Currently women only make up 26 per cent of all the composers registered with the Australian Music Centre, but Hindson is determined to resolve this. Four young emerging and award-winning composers – Clare Johnston, Natalie Nicolas, Elizabeth Younana and Ella Macens  – have been chosen to participate in the two-year programme, which will include tutelage from leading female Australian composers including Professor Anne Boyd AM and Dr Maria Grenfell.

“In recent years we have been pleased to see an increasing number of female students enrolling in composition,” Hindson said in an interview hosted by the Sydney Conservatorium. “They now make up around 44% of our current composition undergraduates. However our interests are to see these women advance to compose at the top of their music profession....