Lady of the House Cultural Exhibition @ Lost Horizons, Bristol – full event report

Women’s pivotal role in dance music celebrated with three days of panels, workshops and – natch – a serious closing knees up

Laila McKenzie is stood in the small, covered courtyard outside Lost Horizon in Bristol, enjoying a brief – and well-earned – rest. The ‘cultural exhibition’ she’s curated dedicated to women in dance music, Lady of the House, is heading towards a conclusion after nearly three days of panel discussions, workshops and advice sessions.

As McKenzie gets ready to talk to Juno Daily about the event, and the aims of her Lady of the House organisation, she’s politely interrupted by a young, British Asian student. “I just wanted to say how fantastic this has been,” he says gently, a broad smile breaking across his face. “It’s great hearing these perspectives from women in dance music. I’m so pleased that you’ve done this – I’ve learned so much.”

McKenzie smiles in response. Lady of the House is arguably just as much about educating men as it is empowering and celebrating women in dance music. Sadly, that’s still needed; take a trawl through the replies to social media posts from leading female DJs, and you’ll still find plenty of toxic, out-dated attitudes, patronising “mansplaning” posts and semi-threatening, sexualised misogyny. While plenty of men are happy to see a rebalancing in the scene – roughly 40% of the audience at this event were male – the fact that a cultural exhibition dedicated to women in dance music is needed at all tells its own story.

Like many women in dance music, especially those whose journey through club culture began decades ago, has done it the hard way, and there’s a sense that her drive to establish Lady of the House was partially inspired by a desire to make things better going forward.

‘Despite years of experience, at times I’ve been made to feel I can’t do the job as well as the middle-class white man,’ the mixed-race, Sheffield-born promoter and club consultant wrote in the introduction to the luxurious Lady of the House book that she co-compiled last year. ‘I’ve had to go the longest and hardest way to get to where I am today, and that’s why I will ensure I do all I can to make sure future women don’t have to go through the same. Everyone in dance music is equal and should be respected because of the merit of their work, not who they are.’

The blend of guest speakers across the three days of the event (the first, which Juno Daily didn’t attend, was for school kids and aimed at enthusing a new generation of future female DJs, producers and music industry professionals) reflects this. The first day, which Juno Daily didn’t attend, was a closed session for Bristol schoolchildren with a talk on working in electronic music from a panel including hard house legend Lisa Lashes, a production masterclass from Jaguar and an introduction to radio from Molly Mae (plus, in a link with forward-looking and tech-savvy venue Lost Horizons, a virtual reality taster session).

Over the two days aimed at adults, many experienced dance music professionals – including male allies such as Eats Everything and local legend Deli-G – reflected on their experiences while setting out steps that still need to be taken to ensure true equality. In one memorable on-stage discussion during the event’s second day, McKenzie and CAA’s Head of Electronic Music, Maria May – Frankie Knuckles representative outside the United States for many years, and now David Guetta’s agent – discussed how things have changed for women in dance music over the last four decades. May made the point that women have always played a part in the industry, it’s just that male artists have hogged the limelight. There was also a masterclass on launching and running a record label from Anja Schneider that was packed full of practical advice.

It wasn’t all about old hands though. A series of younger producers, radio DJs and industry professionals told the audience how they’ve succeeded, partly by bypassing gatekeepers and building an audience directly through social media, streaming mixes and podcasts.

One of those was Alexandra Hearth AKA Lex On The Decks, a DJ, producer and publisher best known as the founder of Cleopatra Magazine – a title dedicated to women in the creative industries – and host of the wildly popular Hot Girls podcast of one-on-one interviews. As well as showcasing her skills behind the decks at the Saturday night after-party, Hearth also hosted a DJing masterclass which was attended by an impressive number of young, enthusiastic women.

 “I’ve worked for a while in trying to be proactive about creating more gender equality, as culture should be leading the way but it’s still super male dominated,” Hearth explained to Juno Daily during a break in proceedings. “With Cleopatras and Hot Girls, I’ve focused on trying to tackle the information gap, creating spaces for women to learn how to create success for themselves in music and careers. Lady of the House is highlighting the abundance of female talent out there and through this exhibition is creating opportunities for networking and collaboration.”

Day two of the event closed with an extended networking event, where current industry professionals mingled with those keen to get started in dance music, while a number of female-led organisations and mentoring projects were given the opportunity to outline their work on stage. Bristol’s Night-Time Economy Advisor Carly Heath, who was part of an illuminating panel discussion on women in the West Country city’s club and live music scene, took the opportunity to detail what the City Council is doing to make clubs, live venues, bars and restaurants safer for women.

Perhaps the most inspiring talk of all, though, was an hour-long discussion about the experiences of black and brown women in dance music culture. Hosted by Marti Burgess, one of the directors of the legendary Lakota nightclub, the talk featured inspiring contributions from, amongst others, veteran house vocalists Janice Robinson and Barbara Tucker.

It would be fair to say that Tucker, who joined the event via Zoom from her home in the United States, stole the show. Although she had some depressing and eye-opening stories about issues she has faced in the past as a black woman in the scene, for the most part she was positive, passionate, and enthusiastic, with a rhythmic delivery that made it sound like she was delivering a sermon from the pulpit of a gospel church.

Her message was as empowering as you’d expect; while there is still much work to do to ensure genuine gender and race equality within the dance music industry, the power to make these changes is within all of us. That means more men stepping up to the plate and calling for change, too.

“I think sharing knowledge and experiences collectively will help those women breaking through to navigate this industry more confidently and events like this certainly help to facilitate this,” said Charlie Tee, who will soon become the first female permanent host of Radio 1’s flagship drum & bass show. “I think that a willingness to constantly assess the landscape and ask ‘what else still needs to be done to equalise the industry’, is a big part of it. This is something we can all collectively work on. It shouldn’t be left to women and other under-represented groups to evoke change for ourselves, we need those in higher positions of power to do the work also and work together with us.”

It’s empowering and important statements like this, as much as the practical workshops and advice sessions, that made the Lady of the House cultural exhibition such an energising and thought-provoking event. It will only grow in the years ahead.

Words: Matt Anniss

Pictures: Myles Blackwell