Kevin Osbourne - Founder and CEO of Create Equity and MeWe360
Kevin is a leader and social entrepreneur who works to promote a more equitable and representative arts and cultural sector; and to support BAME entrepreneurial talent to achieve their full potential. He has launched several initiatives aimed at realising these ambitions. Most recently, in 2021 Kevin founded Create Equity, a social enterprise whose mission is to campaign for investment to be racially equitable in the arts, in social enterprise, and in commercial industries. Create Equity devises, designs and delivers projects and conducts research. Projects include: the Create Equity Fund, a pilot £25m investment fund financed by public and private capital; Create Equity 2031, which campaigns and shares knowledge to raise awareness of the causes of racial funding disparities; and the Create Equity Hub, an online resource to aggregate BAME investment funds and match investees with suitable investors. Kevin is also Founder and Chief Executive of MeWe360, established in 2012 as a business incubator and venture fund for BAME practitioners in the creative industries, to make the sector more inclusive. As a black-led, not-for-profit, MeWe360 works with Black and Asian communities and through its Incubator Programme, offers members mentoring and advice, industry and peer networking as well as space and investment to develop entrepreneurial skills and growth in their own business. MeWe360 is now an Arts Council England Sector Support Organisation which to date, has supported more than 10,000 artists and entrepreneurs. Kevin hosts a blog, Skin in the Game, and is also a regular contributor of the UK’s leading industry magazine, Arts Professional. He is a graduate of the Clore Leadership Programme (2006), and in 2008 was awarded an MSc in Business and Responsibility from the University of Bath with research on BAME leadership.
Camille Curtis y van Dyke
Camille is a passionate leader with over 20 years of working with young people, education and the creative arts. She has a successful track record of training, engaging, nurturing, mentoring and providing opportunities for young people who wish to pursue further education, internships or employment in the creative industries. She wants to have impact... to initiate change for the greater good and to have a wider reach throughout the UK
Wozzy Brewster - OBE FRSA - Founder The Midi Music Company
Founder & Executive Director, The Midi Music Company (MMC), Co-Founder & Board of Director, Black Association for Arts UK (BAFA UK) and Artist Manager, United Vibrations & Chainska Brassika Wozzy is a creative entrepreneur with experience of designing and delivering creative projects in Theatre, Media and Music. She is a co-founder of Second Wave established in 1982, worked as an Arts Administrator for the Basement Youth Theatre and ran the Front of House for The Albany Empire in the late 80s, becoming the southeast London Project Manager for Community Music [CM] in 1988, where she managed and co-ordinated a range of music projects. In 1995 Wozzy founded the registered music education and talent development charity, The Midi Music Company. She was awarded a Commonwealth Youth Service Award in 1995 for her services to international youth arts initiatives and was a finalist for the European Women of Achievement Awards in 2000 in recognition of her outstanding contribution to pan-European understanding and progress, providing an inspiration to others. Wozzy has worked with over 2000 young people to achieve their creative goals, providing guidance and support to assist them on their journey to fulfil their aspirations. She co-ordinated the Prince’s Trusts’ ‘A Place in Europe’ project [1994], LWT Talent Challenge programme [1997 & 1998] and established MMC’s creative industries careers advice service: CICAS® in 1997. Wozzy received her OBE for services to Youth Arts in 2002 and her Women of Achievement Award from the London Borough of Lewisham in 2003. She is a former Member of the Cultural Strategy Group for the Greater London Authority, under the leadership of Ken Livingstone [2000 – 2004], Co-Chair/Director of the London Youth Arts Network [2000 – 2007] and was a Member of the London Regional Council – The Prince’s Trust [2005 – 2010]. She is a graduate of the Clore Leadership Programme (2008) and studied the Creative Industries at City University. She is also the former Youth Culture Advisor to the Mayor of Lewisham, Sir Steve Bullock, from 2003 – 2018, an Honorary Freewoman of Lewisham 2018 and an inductee of the Music Week Women in Music Award’s Roll of Honour 2018. Along with her role at MMC, Wozzy is currently a co-founder and Board of Director of BAFA UK, and she is the Artist manager of southeast London’s Future Afro Jazz band, United Vibrations and Lewisham-based 8-piece Ska Reggae band, Chainska Brassika, along with being a member of the UK Music Diversity Taskforce, BRIT Awards Academy, BPI Music Export Growth Scheme and MMF Education Committee.
Arts Emergency - Mentoring for young people
Arts Emergency helps underrepresented young people flourish in the creative and cultural sector. The charity provides 16-25 year olds with a trained mentor working in their field of interest and up to nine years of access to opportunities, advice and resources from the Arts Emergency Network. Arts Emergency has provided The Kieran Taylor Scholarship Trust mentors access to our mentor handbook and resources which have been developed over 10 years experience in the creative mentoring sector.