Dundonian pop star Be Charlotte will host Scotland’s first ever all-female songwriting camp in a bid to encourage more women to get involved in music.
The event will take place at the city’s Botanic Gardens on March 2 and 3, in the lead-up to International Women’s Day on March 8.
Be Charlotte has partnered with Festival of the Future and Dundee University, who are providing the studio space.
Ten talented women from Scotland and further afield will be invited to collaborate, with Dundee’s Assai Records hosting a special performance on March 3 to showcase the results.
Charlotte, 22, said: “There’s something that feels quite special about hosting Scotland’s first all-female songwriting camp.
“I wanted to do something definitive, something positive to help move the conversation of equality along.
“I turn up to so many songwriting sessions and usually find I’m the only woman in the room or even the whole studio.”
She said she had attended songwriting camps in London, Nashville, Stockholm, Berlin and Thailand over the past couple of years and wanted to create an environment in Scotland where women are not the minority.
“Although I have enjoyed those experiences it made me realise how uncomfortable it can be for some people,” she said.
“I write my favourite songs when I feel comfortable and that’s the experience I hope to share with the women attending.”
Charlotte is an active campaigner for free instrument tuition in schools and her latest schools tour project will culminate in a collaboration with a choir of girls from several Dundee and Angus secondary schools.
The pop star will oversee a live video shoot performance at Dundee V&A on March 4, giving the school girls their first experience of shooting a music video.
“I’ve tried to come up with ways to encourage more women to get involved in music”, she added.
“During my schools tours, I try to encourage more young women to pick up an instrument and find that confidence to keep playing.”
Emma Beatt, festival programmer at Festival of the Future, said: “We are really excited to be partnering with Be Charlotte and supporting this brilliant initiative with female songwriters.
“Not only is Charlotte an extremely talented singer-songwriter in her own right but she’s determined to use this for the betterment of others and that’s something that fully chimes with the Festival of the Future ethos.”
