3 days ago
North East entrepreneurs join BBC's Steve Lamacq as trustees of music industry trust
Two entrepreneurs from the North East have been selected to be a part of a music industry trust and will sit alongside BBC DJ Steve Lamacq and other industry insiders. Victoria Smith, of Ghostwriter Consultancy & Events, and Wendy Smith, Creative Director for The Glasshouse, will join eight new trustees for the Live Trust, which has been set up on behalf of the UK live music industry and will deliver funding where it is needed most to help the sector thrive.
Victoria and Wendy will join three founding trustees, who are James Ainscough from the Royal Albert Hall, Steve Lamacq of BBC 6 Music and the current Live Chair, and Kirsty McShannon, founder & CEO of Azorra. Victoria is finance director and shareholder at Sunderland-based Ghostwriter Consultancy and has over 20 years' experience working with independent venues and festivals in the UK.
She led the development of Gig Lab, a software platform aimed at improving event management and has extensive experience across finance, ticketing, and venue management. Victoria was also recently recognised with the Innovate UK's Women in Innovation Award.
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Wendy is an experienced creative director and performing artist who has played a key role in developing The Glasshouse International Centre for Music and its programmes in Gateshead. The trustees will serve a three year term of office on a voluntary basis and were selected on the basis of their passion for and understanding of the UK live music sector.
The trust believes their particular skills could help secure a vibrant future for venues, artists, festivals, promoters and the wider range of actors that make shows possible. The board will use the experience and networks that the new trustees bring to aid its decisions around the assessment of where need is most pressing and where funds can give most impact.
Live Chair, Steve Lamacq said: 'Appointing the trustees has been a long, detailed and considered process. We were delighted to receive almost 50 very high-quality expressions of interest in joining the board. I would like to thank Charisse, James and Kirsty for joining me on the appointment panel and taking their role so seriously. I look forward to working with the new trustees to set the foundations for the Trust's work in the months and years ahead'.
Established in response to the 2024 Culture, Media and Sport (CMS) report calling for an industry-led voluntary solution to the crisis in the grassroots music industry, the Live Trust is responsible for overseeing a voluntary £1 ticket contribution on arena and stadium shows over a 5000 capacity. It recently announced 800,000 pledged ticket sales from artists including Pulp, Diana Ross, Mumford and Sons, Hans Zimmer, Gorillaz, Wolf Alice and others, and is committed to delivering vital funding where it is needed most.
It will act on behalf of the live music industry, which contributes £6.1bn to the UK economy while employing 230,000 people, and will support a grassroots sector which saw 125 grassroots music venues close permanently in 2023, 78 festivals lost in 2024 and a 50% decline in tour dates over the last three decades.
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