Accenture’s Women on Walls
An ongoing campaign to address inequality through representation of trailblazing women in portraiture in Ireland’s leading academic institutions.
Deliver on Accenture’s commitment to equality and diversity through Women on Walls, a project that addresses the historical omission of women in portraiture in Ireland’s academic institutions, by supporting Accenture and respective academic institutions with our expertise.
Following early meetings between Accenture and the Royal Irish Academy in 2015 around driving gender equality in STEM, it was remarked upon that the RIA had no portraits of women on its walls. This led to the creation of the Women on Walls campaign.
Business to Arts joined the partnership to scope and manage the commissioning process which has resulted in three iterations to date of the now internationally-renowned EDI campaign. Portraits of 25 trailblazing female leaders in STEM and the humanities have taken their rightful places on the walls of leading academic institutions Royal Irish Academy (2016), Royal College of Surgeons Ireland (2018), and Dublin City University (2021). Accenture's Women on Walls at University College Cork has just been announced. See more here.
On behalf of our clients, in each instance, Business to Arts harnessed its network and in-house expertise to project manage and administer the commissioning process; conducting a limited call to selected portrait artists, guiding the final artist selection, and overseeing each element of the commission from artist contracting, briefing and liaison through to the installation of the final artworks and promoting the partnerships to the arts sector and BtoA membership.
- 18 high-profile portraits commissioned to date featuring 25 trailblazing women
- Exhibition at UN Headquarters in New York with the RIA portraits
- An RTÉ documentary
- Eight-part podcast series created by RCSI
- Learning hub launched in collaboration with Dept. of Education by DCU
- Over 1000+ attendees at portrait unveilings
- 21 million+ reach for #womenonwalls campaign
- 250+ attendees for public tours of portraits
- Awarded Best Large Sponsorship Award at the 2017 Business to Arts Awards
- Advanced Accenture’s Equality, Diversity & Inclusion goals
- Advanced the Equality, & Diversity & Inclusion goals of RIA, RCSI, and DCU
- Enhanced visibility of female leadership in STEM and the Humanities for over 23,000 students across three academic institutions
- Supported artists' careers and provided them with a prestigious commission
“ The contribution of women in society is too often invisible. Who we see on the walls, tells us about what we as a society value, about who is welcome, about who fits in. We set out on the journey of Women on Walls with the ambition of making women leaders visible to inspire future generations.”
