POWER UP Year 3 Participants announced
- 40 Black Music Creators and Industry Professionals to receive career-changing support in POWER UP’s third year
- Since 2021, 80 Black music creators and industry professionals have already been powering up with successes including promotions to senior roles, Board roles, Brit Award, Mercury Prize and MOBO nominations
- As the award-winning initiative POWER UP enters its third year, it calls for more collaboration from the industry to power up Black talent
POWER UP today announces the music creators, industry professionals and executives who will make up Year 3 of the Participant Programme.
Co-founded by PRS Foundation and Ben Wynter, POWER UP’s Participant Programme elevates pioneering Black talent and is a key feature of the long-term initiative launched to address anti-Black racism and racial disparities in the music sector.
POWER UP has now received over 1,200 applications since it was launched in February 2021, with applications from 848 Black music creators and 355 Black industry professionals at crucial career stages. The demand for a fairer and equitable music industry is now huge, and POWER UP is proving to be a vital initiative. Over £12.8m of grant support has been requested through POWER UP alone across three annual deadlines – with PRS Foundation and funding partners investing over £1.1m into participants’ projects alongside invaluable holistic support.
The programme, specifically designed to fit the needs of the participants, assists in the development of their careers and practice, to break through glass ceilings and accelerate change across the industry. This includes grant support of up to £15,000 alongside capacity building masterclasses, mentoring, coaching, mental health and wellbeing support, and access to added value support from POWER UP Partners and the peer network which is integral to breaking down barriers.
Year 3 POWER UP Participants are as follows:
Music Creators
| AGAAMA | Joel Culpepper |
Music Industry Professionals
| Ade Edu
|
Kima Otung |
Find out more about each of the Year 3 Participants here
The POWER UP Participant Programme is now a 120-person strong network bringing varied experiences and considerable expertise to power up and contribute to the wider POWER UP Movement.
The programme has already supported award-winning talent, industry professionals taking up senior and Board positions across the industry, and creators who are dominating playlists and lineups across the UK and globally.
A snapshot of Year 1 & Year 2 Participant successes so far
- Two-piece band Nova Twins won a Heavy Music Award, toured the US and Europe, signed to Marshall Records and have secured BBC Radio 1, NME and Spotify Equal support globally. Their POWER-UP supported second album Supernova was nominated for the Mercury Music Prize, they won a 2022 AIM Award and received 2 x BRITS 2023 nominations
- Other artist and music creator Award winners since POWER UP was launched include Ego Ella May (Jazz FM Awards), TAALIAH (AIM Award), Bemz (DJ Mag Award) and DoomCannon (MOBO Award). Not to be outdone, Industry Professionals winning awards include Jennifer John (AIM Award), Eunice Obianagha (whose creative events work was nominated for a Music Week Award), and Christine Osazuwa and Hannah Shogbola who joined the Music Week Women in Music Awards’ Roll of Honour
- Several industry professionals have launched new ventures, and new roles, promotions and appointments include: Adem Holness being appointed Head of Contemporary Music at the Southbank Centre; Ree Sewell being appointed A&R Coordinator at Universal; Eric Hunter becoming Education & Membership Engagement Manager at The MMF; Christine Osazuwa being appointed as Chief Strategy Officer at Shoob; Travis Beckford being appointed as Associate Director for the UK and Europe at ASCAP; and Eunice Obianagha has recently been appointed as Head of Diversity at UK Music
- Despa Robinson was appointed to the AIM Board, and Daniel Kidane was elected to the Ivors Academy Senate
- Artist KG became a full-time Capital Dance radio presenter, with coverage in Complex, Mixmag and Clash, and industry professional Kwame Daniels presented his own Inna Rhythm series on BBC Ulster
- Guvna B (Year 2 artist managed by a Year 1 participant) became the first rapper to top the UK Official Christian and Gospel Chart
- Live agency, Marshall announced that they have signed CHERYM and Bemz
- Abel Selaocoe took part in the Proms in 2021 and 2022, signed to Warner Classics, and presented the three-part BBC Radio 3 show Cello His debut album hit No. 4 in the Classical Album Chart and he was on Later with Jools…
- Des Agyekumhene’s company Soga were behind the Close To Home NFT campaign for Aitch– the first artist to claim an NFT entering the UK’s official album charts
- Forward Slash founder Keturah Cummings was selected for the 2022 Barclays Black Founder Accelerator programme and launched new podcastJack of All Trades
- Dan Kidane’s Sun Poem was premiered in 2022 with the LSO and Sir Simon Rattle performances across the UK and Europe garnering critical acclaim
- Dapz on the Map secured a FIFA ’23 Soundtrack feature
- Loretta Andrews published her book Talking to Children About Race
- Adetokunbo “T” Oyelola’s client YolanDa Brown was appointed as Chair of the BPI; and YolanDa and Adetokunbo launched a campaign to open Soul Mama – a Black-owned music venue
Senior POWER UP Manager, Yaw Owusu said,
“We are really excited to welcome the Year 3 cohort to the POWER UP family. All of whom are doing such stellar work in their various disciplines and sectors. We are looking forward to adding value to that work and their careers via the POWER UP programme and connecting them with the rest of the ever-expanding POWER UP network”.
Year 1 POWER UP Participant Christine Osazuwa, said
“This was the exact programme I needed for my career…I met incredible people that it was an honour to be included in the same breath in. I used being part of POWER UP as a talking point when I was interviewing…it was industry-wide understood and heralded…I’m so proud to say I was part of the inaugural class.”
While POWER UP Partners continue to recognise the efforts being made across the music sector, it is clear more needs to be done to urgently move beyond solidarity and into tangible actions and reach the expectations of what had been promised.
Ben Wynter, Co-Founder of POWER UP said,
“Three years after the black square movement, many promises and statements appear to have been forgotten. Despite initial pledges for change, we are witnessing the resurgence of injustices, lack of equity, and inequality as things revert to ‘normal.’ POWER UP demonstrates that empowering Black talent to shatter the glass ceiling leads to success. As we enter our third year and our network grows to 120, it’s evident that this program remains a vital lifeline for powering up Black talent. We’ve worked behind the scenes to guide companies in correcting missteps and actively participated in IPO Government roundtable discussions on streaming, advocating for diverse voices to be included. POWER UP is driving tangible change, staying true to its original purpose. In these uncertain times, we urge industry leaders to move beyond symbolic gestures and take concrete action to support this initiative and honor the promises they made in 2020.“
Joe Frankland, CEO of PRS Foundation and Co-Founder of POWER UP said,
“Huge congratulations to the 40 music creators and industry professionals joining our inspiring network of POWER UP Participants. We have been blown away by the impact of the programme so far and we are really proud of the achievements of POWER UP alumni, so I’m excited to meet our new cohort and to ensure the network continues to grow and approaches evolve to tackle complex racial barriers. The results of investing in Black talent speak for themselves and I wanted to thank our many partners and collaborators while encouraging others to join the get involved.”
Sheniece Charway, Artist Partnerships Manager, Black Music & Culture said,
“In an industry where it’s all too easy to talk the talk, POWER UP is an initiative that truly walks the walk, providing tangible, holistic support to Black talent in the music industry. Now three years in, we are seeing some incredible results from previous cohorts, which is testament to the power of community and what can be achieved when we collectively share knowledge and resources to support one another. We at YouTube are proud to partner with POWER UP for a third year and look forward to seeing what this year’s participants have in store for us.”
Paul Redding, CEO, Beggars Group said,
“The results over the first two years speak for themselves We look forward to welcoming the third cohort to the programme and continue to support this important initiative as we seek to deliver meaningful industry change.”
Sheryl Nwosu, Lawyer and Chair of the Black Music Coalition said,
“Each year as I watch Black executives and music creatives benefit from POWER UP, whilst at the same time I witness and continually hear about the ongoing struggles of Black executives and Black music creatives trying to cut through in the Industry, I both applaud the existence and success of POWER UP and remain super aware of the ongoing necessity for POWER UP to exist. 3 years on I remain steadfast in my support of POWER UP as I’ve seen the results of it and continue to be wowed by the talented individuals who come through the programme; this growing alumni will be the ones to create the newer, more equitable landscape and infrastructure in the music industry.
By its very existence POWER UP continues to answer the call to action of Black Out Tuesday and the black squares of 2020, we at the BMC continue to support this aim and all the brilliant participants!”
Announced in 2021 alongside a premiere of ‘Time To Power Up’, POWER UP was co-founded by PRS Foundation and Ben Wynter and is managed by PRS Foundation in partnership with YouTube Music, Beggars Group, Spotify and the Black Music Coalition. The initiative brings together several music industry partners across all sectors to accelerate change, with supporters including Creative Scotland, Believe, Simkins, Creative Wales, Arts Council of Wales, Paul Hamlyn Foundation, plus AIM, the BPI, the FAC, The Ivors Academy, the MMF, the MPA, MPG, The Musicians’ Union, PPL, PRS for Music and the PRS Members’ Fund, as well as Associate Partner, Daft Springer, who each bring added-value support to POWER UP Participants.
More than 80 Black music executives and creators came together to contribute and set the direction for POWER UP. An Executive Steering Group (ESC) was established in late 2020 featuring some of the most influential Black professionals in the UK music industry. Alongside the ESC, seven focus groups covering Recording and Publishing, Live, Platforms, Gender, Sexuality, Enterprise and Regionality delved deeper into the barriers Black music creators and professionals have experienced across the sector and how they could be addressed.
In 2022, POWER UP was awarded the inaugural IMPALA Changemaker Award, recognising the scale and speed of impact being made while recommending partnerships and similar initiatives in the independent sectors across Europe.
