“Me, the baby side who hangs out in the dressing rooms and plays with beer caps, I didn’t really want that.” On Instagramthe singer and artist GiedRé does not hesitate to show her daily life as an artist-mother: train journeys, the child on stage during the installation, etc. But to be able to sustain his life as an artist on tour, with two children, GiedRé had to organize himself.
“I resumed my tour when my first child was 4 months old. He didn’t choose to sleep in five different cities a week, so we had to give him a framework.”she remembers. Call each venue in advance to ask them for a baby seat in the car that takes them to the concert venue, choose the train, think about childcare during the concerts, etc. “It’s extremely exhausting and extra organization, but they’re great memories.”remembers the singer.
Touring concert halls and festivals is not always compatible with parenthood. Particularly because most artists without children have a well-established organization when it comes to being on tour: they know the dates several months (or even years) in advance, travel by train, van or tourbus , must be transported from a station to the room, take the time to check out, wait, play then leave.
Superstar Taylor Swift mentioned it in the documentary that Netflix dedicated to her: to a producer who asked her about her desires to have children or not, she responded “I don’t have the luxury of learning on the job because my life is planned two years in advance”. At this level of notoriety, getting pregnant while on tour seems impossible. But, even when your name is not Taylor Swift, announcing your pregnancy to your professional entourage when you are an artist is sometimes perilous.
Anticipate… When possible
Rebecca, leader of the group Kolinga and professional musician for ten years, remembers it very well: “When I announced my baby project, someone close to me at the time made me understand that it would be good for it to happen at such a time. Once pregnant, the remarks did not stop. For example, it was suggested to me that it was better to let people believe that it was an accident, so as not to offend anyone.”
When the child was born, we still had to adapt to carry out the twenty dates scheduled throughout France, Kolinga being Rebecca’s musical project. Without her, no tour. Leaving your son at home was impossible with breastfeeding and planning an extra person on tour to look after him required an increase in the touring budget – often already tight – as the father was also a member of the group.
“My father-in-law came with us, often at his own expense. My husband and I left in the van several hours before the rest of the team to have time to take breaks if necessary. I was breastfeeding before going on stage, and then my father-in-law would bring the baby to the hotel. I came home straight after to breastfeed him again.”she says. No relaxation possible and, above all, “it was our problem, in the eyes of others”.
If each artist does not have the same memories – more or less joyful according to some – the fact remains that not everyone evolves in the same conditions either. The fathers, already. An artist contacted notes that it is often mothers who keep the children at home during concerts. One of the reasons (beyond patriarchy): male entertainment workers only have four days of paternity leave.
For mothers and fathers alike, it is such an obstacle course that fifteen years ago, the collective The Mattermittents was created so that everyone knows their rights. “We realized that the regulations or calculations when it comes to intermittent workers are very poorly thought out. As soon as we are not in a traditional framework, with discontinuous professions, there are dysfunctions. However, social protection does exist.underlines Amandine Thiriet, the president, who claims to receive around ten emails per day from intermittent questions. “Some employers are avoiding responsibility when it comes to motherhood. They will ostracize a pregnant woman when she already has few protections”she accuses.
“I can hardly adapt my schedule by being a musician for others, otherwise I would lose my place quickly.”
Not all artists are in the same boat either. If Rebecca and GiedRé are the main figures of their projects, Charlène is the keyboard player for the others. With her partner, Joseph – also a musician – she has had to adapt her daily life to that of the artists for whom she works. “I asked myself the question of changing careers when my child was born, she admits. When I was offered to work on a tour again, my child was 7 months old. I felt unable to leave. I had to refuse and it put me in trouble.”
But once back on the road, a year and a half after the birth of their child, both parents are unanimous: “We are lucky to have family who can take over if necessary when we are both in concert. It requires juggling our schedules and it’s a lot of organization! We get there, but it’s not easy every day.”
Especially when the job requires you to be available “almost all the time”: “I can hardly adapt my schedule by being a musician for others, otherwise I would lose my place quickly”illustrates Charlène. And if the subject of bringing your child to work is sometimes necessary, then it remains to be able to accommodate the constraints of concert halls, not always or even rarely adapted to parents.
Adapting venues and festivals
“There were times when I had to express my milk in the toilet or had to find a restaurant to breastfeed”remembers the keyboardist. The labor code is nevertheless clear about this: “Any employer employing more than a hundred employees may be required to install premises dedicated to breastfeeding in their establishment or nearby.” That’s for the law. In fact, it depends on the rooms, the number of employees and the reception conditions. A manager and theater manager interviewed, for example, found herself expressing her milk in small dressing rooms without a water point. Another professional remembers that the room dedicated to breastfeeding was the storage room for computer servers.
Ensuring that rooms can accommodate breastfeeding women already seems to be a first step. Should we also include a nanny budget for each artist tour? Regardless, the sector is starting to consider the issue. Several conferences were organized on the subject at the MaMa Festival, a major meeting for music professionals. David Jolly participated. With his Mediatone “booking” box, in support of emerging artists in the Lyon region, he admits to having realized after these exchanges that nothing was in place for his artists. He intends, therefore, to develop at least information sheets.
Amandine Thiriet, from the Les Mattermittentes collective, sees more and more couples wondering about their rights, and no longer just mothers. Would the solution, finally, involve forcing venues to be able to accommodate parent artists? Establish “transformation criteria” for companies and projects to financially encourage broadcast venues or producers to take up the issue? In any case, in the government administration of the National Music Center, the subject is on the table.
Source: www.slate.fr
