The PRS Foundation Team

Joe Frankland is CEO at PRS Foundation, leading the organisation into its third decade.

Joe joined PRS Foundation in 2014 as Industry Funds Manager to run flagship schemes including the Momentum Music Fund and the International Showcase Fund before moving into the Senior Grants & Programmes Manager role in 2015, where he led the Foundation’s grants team and worked strategically to plan and manage pioneering grant-making and partnership programmes.

Frankland previously worked at the forefront of talent development, helping to break artists and build careers at Generator in the North East, and is passionate about supporting organisations across the UK.

@Joe_Frankland

Fiona joined PRS Foundation in January 2011 and, as Senior Manager, Operations, is responsible for managing finance, governance and HR. Fiona has her own arts consultancy and has worked with a variety of organisations including British Council, London Sinfonietta and London Symphony Orchestra, BBC, and Sound and Music. She currently has a role of Education and Youth Ensembles Consultant with the Association of British Orchestras. She is a Trustee of Awards for Young Musicians and the National Children’s Orchestras of Great Britain.

@FionaHarvey30

Becci is a music industry communications, events, partnerships and artist development specialist. With over 17 years of experience which includes leading artists and business development initiatives and funding, industry engagement and representation, event planning and delivery, directing communications and project management, she has lead multiple teams within the public and private sector.

Becci was a core member of the WOMEX 13 delivery partners; Cerdd Cymru : Music Wales team, leading to a £3million economic impact to Wales and garnered over 30 hours of regional, national and international television and radio broadcast.

Through her music industry consultancy, Life Medicine she leverages her network and industry insight to support her clients. She advises the likes of JAAK, Help Musicians UK, Association of Independent Music, Welsh Government and Arts Council of Wales. She has previously held roles at Roadrunner Records, Welsh Music Foundation, and Wales Arts International.

Yaw joined PRS Foundation in August 2020 as Programme Consultant to build a new and pioneering initiative aiming to power up Black music creators and executives as part PRS Foundation’s actions following Black Lives Matter movement conversations. He was appointed to the Senior Management role in December 2020 to run the new initiative and integrate the programme learnings and actions across the organisation.

You can read the PRS Foundation commitments here.

Outside of PRS Foundation, Yaw is a Director and Executive Manager of The Playmaker Group where his prime activities include creative consultancy, talent development and content creation.  He has consulted on a number of key music projects, working with the likes of MTV, BET, Liverpool International Music Festival (LIMF), Nike, BBC Radio 1 Academy, MOBO, The Fader, Jockey Club Live and Levi’s amongst many others.   Yaw has also produced acclaimed radio documentaries for outlets such as BBC Radio 1 & 1Xtra, BBC Radio 4 and The World Service, and worked on various music campaigns for artists ranging from music pioneers such as Wiley (A-List Records) and Damian Marley, to dynamic creatives Yuna, Shakka and Jesse Boykins III to grassroots emerging artists like XamVolo and Sub Blue.   He is also co-founder, alongside partners Seani B and Ray Paul, of BrukOut Entertainment, a joint venture Record Label with Universal.

Liam joined PRS Foundation in April 2014 and manages the communications across the Foundation’s broad range of funds, programmes and events.

@LiamMcMahon

Kwame Safo, oversees the management of the Momentum Music Fund, Hitmaker and the International Showcase Fund. Also known as the DJ Funk Butcher, Kwame has over 15 years’ experience as an active DJ, music producer and label owner (Houseology). Kwame has played a pivotal role in shaping the UK dance music landscape through his records, releases, live shows and his radio shows on Rinse FM, Kiss FM, Deja Vu FM and especially his Houseology 101 show which has been running since 2007.

Additionally, Kwame has played an important part on advocating safety and education for young people with his work as Lead Tutor for Capital Xtra’s Musical Potential project in 2012 and as a consultant and Ambassador for the London Night Czar Amy Lamé’s Sounds Like London initiative and event in 2018. Most recently, in 2020 Kwame took on the position of guest editor for Mixmag under the Blackout Mixmag header and tied together over 19 different features addressing systemic racism and the amplification of Black contributors.

Maxie joined the PRS Foundation team in May 2016, working to champion a diverse range of music creators and make all PRS Foundation opportunities as accessible and equitable as possible. Maxie is from Norwich and is passionate about supporting underrepresented voices in music. After working closely on Women Make Music and Keychange to support gender equality in music, she was appointed Keychange Project Manager in 2019. Maxie founded Gravy, a musical collective and emerging artist incubator, has a MMus in Sonic Arts, and currently plays drums in Graceland and Current Bond. Maxie has lectured on gender diversity in the arts and hosts LGBTQ+ club nights. She has worked for festivals, venues and talent development organisations in a range of genres, sat on the jury for awards such as the SAY Awards, the BRIT Awards and MOBO Unsung, has programmed hundreds of new music shows, and occasionally presents radio shows too. In 2020 Maxie was named in the shesaid.so Alternative Power 100 Music List.

@MaxieGravy

Elizabeth joined PRS Foundation in 2016 and works across the Open Fund and Women Make Music funding schemes, as well as Musician in Residence Programmes. Elizabeth has a broad range of experience in talent development and grant management from previous roles including Help Musicians UK. She plays the French horn in Basement Orchestra, enjoys hula hooping, swimming and baking themed cakes.

@ElizabethSills

Alison joined PRS Foundation in 2019 and helps to deliver the communications strategy including the website and social media. Alison has a background in film and venue management including Walthamstow Assembly Hall, most recently working on Borough of Culture for the London Borough of Waltham Forest. She is passionate about music, and plays piano, guitar and banjo.

Westley joined PRS Foundation in August 2018 as Administrator and Keychange Project Assistant. Before PRS Foundation Westley was the International Coordinator at the New Zealand Music Commission helping to launch and grow the international careers of a diverse range of artists. He has held a range of roles relating to music in the UK and New Zealand and toured extensively in more bands than he can remember.

Aja joined PRS Foundation in February 2020 and coordinates our Industry Funds such as International Showcase Fund, Momentum and Rebalance. She came to us from the Albany in Deptford where she was Acting Creative Programmes Manager responsible for booking music, theatre, spoken word and events across three venues and co-ordinating the Lewisham Council Festival of Creative Ageing: Age Against the Machine. Prior to this she was Producer at HowTheLightGetsIn Festival and responsible for programming  over 500 music artists for the festival year on year. She is a particularly keen untrained technician and enjoys any excuse to fiddle with a lighting desk.