Free action learning programme for Colchester’s creative & digital sector OPEN NOW FOR APPLICATIONS

I’m really excited to be bringing action learning to 37 Queen Street…. I’m a big fan of action learning as a professional development tool; having joined my first set around 10 years ago, it’s something that has really informed my development as a leader and entrepreneur. Having run action learning programmes up and down the […]Read More

Making gender equality in the music industry a reality…. What can we all do?

The music industry can look an awful lot like a man’s world, even in 2018. Fewer than 1 in 5 songwriters in the UK are female, just 1 in 6 labels are majority-owned by women, and fewer than a third of those working in the industry are female. Get to the upper echelons, and only […]Read More

[View the story “Here’s one we made earlier – notes from our Make Do & Bend Ideas Lab” on Storify]Read More

A manifesto for the curious and the generous

I’m writing this from Liverpool, where I’ve been for the past 2 days for the inaugural Binary Festival, a brilliant get together of innovators, makers, creatives and inventors. Over the past two days, I’ve stared and listened in wonder as the brilliant Sam Aaron did the most awesome live coding, been inspired by the force […]Read More

Make, Do & Bend – the title of our Ideas Lab, yes, but also a good philosophy

Imagine the scene – 25 or so of Europe’s most curious and forward thinking composers, musicians and creative technologists, gathered together at NESTA HQ for a ‘nothing’s impossible’ day of plotting and conspiring, eating and drinking, thinking and doing. All in the name of exploring the next frontiers of live performance, and how digital technology […]Read More

Get curious… Get Generous… Reflections from Venues Day Business Up, Be Inspired panel

Earlier this week I joined 300 other delegates at the Music Venue Trust’s second Venues Day, all of us enjoying the slightly weird experience of drinking tea in the Ministry of Sound bar at 10am on a Tuesday morning. And all of us clutching hot off the press copies of the GLA’s Rescue Plan for […]Read More

‘Fresh ideas… knowledge, greater understanding, confidence and new people’ – what musicians will get from The One Dayer

the hub’s One Dayer – Independent Music, Money & Tech takes place in Camden on 1 July. In her latest blog, the hub’s Director, Julia Payne, talks about why the event is a ‘must go to’ event for musicians, songwriters and composers working in beyond mainstream music – and what they can expect to get […]Read More

#VoteForMusic: the sector speaks – postings from The Great Escape

At a packed session at The Great Escape on 15 May, I took to the festival stage, to announce the results of our #VoteForMusic campaign. Joining me on stage were the musician and dj Dan le Sac, Cooking Vinyl founder and chief executive Martin Goldschmidt, The Great Escape’s Martin Elbourne and Yellowbrick music’s Meredith Cork […]Read More

WHY IT’S REALLY IMPORTANT YOU CAST YOUR #VOTE FOR MUSIC

With just one week to go till Election Day, it’s all getting a bit crazy here at #VoteForMusic HQ. Voting closes on 7 May, with results being announced from The Great Escape on 15 May. Plans are also taking shape for our #VoteForMusic debate, when senior politicians and others will debate key campaign issues. With […]Read More

#Vote For Music – kitchen table politics, for real

We’ve seen David Cameron slicing tomatoes in his, Nick Clegg drinking white wine in his, and Ed Miliband with a mug of builder’s tea in his. Politics these days seem to be all about cosy chats in kitchens. But in the case of #VoteForMusic, it’s true. Chief hubster, Julia Payne, explains how she came up with […]Read More