Union of Female Musician Artists

The Union des Femmes Artistes Musiciennes (UFAM) was created in 1910 by Lucy Tassart (singer and socialite) and Privat de Séverac (composer and conductor) in response to the difficulties experienced by female musicians at the beginning of the 20th century. Although an increasing number of women were being trained in musical institutions, their professional integration was contested and they could only aspire to a very limited number of jobs. Orchestras, for example, did not open up any, or very few, positions to female musicians.^[7]

The UFAM's objective was to ‘assist female musicians in the most practical way possible’ by providing financial, medical and legal support to its members who requested it.^[7] It obtained the 'reconnu d’utilité publique' (recognised as being of public interest) status in France on 12 February 1914.^[8]

It follows in the footsteps of numerous professional unions structured at the dawn of the 20th century around mutualist principles, such as the Union of Women Painters and Sculptors (the first association of women artists in France, founded in 1881 with statutes similar to those later adopted by the UFAM) and the Union of Women Music Teachers and Composers (UFPC, founded in 1907).^[7]

Lucy Tassart (1863–1946) was the daughter of established journalist Victor Courbouleix (chairman of the board of the Gil Blas newspaper) and the wife of an influential magistrate Jules Tassart (vice-president of the Paris Court of Appeal and Chevalier of the Legion of Honour). She performed as a singer in various Parisian salons from the 1890s onwards and frequented the political, financial, artistic and feminist elites of the capital, notably attending suffragette conferences. The UFAM, created on her initiative, relied heavily on her network of contacts, and she remained its president until her death in 1946.^[7] Although Privat de Sévérac was the official founder of UFAM, his title was purely honorary: he did not take part in decisions and was not a member of its board. Organisations recognised of public interest could not officially be single-sex, and he acted as a male guarantor, which the female leaders needed in order to apply for grants and, more broadly, to exist in the charitable sector.^[7]

In 1942, UFAM decided to abandon the single-sex focus of its policy and open its annual competition, originally intended to promote young female talent, to men. UFAM was officially dissolved by decree on 13 May 2016.^[9]

The association's statutes detail the following support measures for female musicians:^[8]

1. Creation of a relief fund to help female musicians in need who have been members for at least three months.
2. Allocation of rent subsidies, after examination of applications submitted by the interested parties.
3. Compensation for the cost of a restful stay in the countryside for members whose state of health requires it (each year, the UFAM will send a certain number of members to the countryside free of charge).
4. Legal advice in the event of any disputes that may concern members.
5. Medical assistance.
6. Medicines.
7. Wardrobe (loan of evening dresses, stage costumes or teaching outfits).
8. Providing performance and teaching opportunities.
9. Creation of a retirement home (project completed in 1933. Following the death of a former benefactor, Mrs Parise, the UFAM was bequeathed an old house in Samoreau, Seine-et-Marne, which was renovated to become a retirement home capable of accommodating a few members for periodic stays).^[7]

When it was founded, the association had three categories of members: Benefactor Members (for patrons, both men and women), Honorary Members, and Professional Female Beneficiary Members (who paid an annual membership fee of 10 francs and had to prove their status as musicians in order to receive assistance).