About

The SAY Award Judging Panel for 2023




Adem Holness
Head of Contemporary Music
Southbank Centre

Having been responsible for arts and cultural organisations, talent development programmes, live music festivals, tours and gigs, Adem specialises in enabling the ambitions of music artists & creatives, predominantly within UK Jazz, Afrobeat, Grime, Reggae, Electronic and R&B music. At Southbank Centre, Adem is responsible for 150+ gigs and events a year, including the iconic Meltdown Festival. As Music Curator at the Horniman Museum & Gardens, Adem led the award winning 696 Programme & Festival celebrating Black British Music & the sounds of South London. Adem is a fellow of Clore Leadership, the Royal Society of Arts and PRS Foundation’s Power Up scheme, an initiative supporting Black music creators and industry professionals to address anti-Black racism and racial disparities in the music sector.






Andrea Gibb
Screenwriter

Andrea Gibb is an award winning Scottish screenwriter, working in film and television.

She was nominated for the Bafta Carl Foreman award for ‘Afterlife’ and nominated for a Bafta television award for ‘Elizabeth Is Missing’. She adapted this novel into a single television film for STV and BBC, starring Glenda Jackson and directed by Aisling Walsh. This film won her an RTS Scotland award and the short form drama award from the Writers Guild.

Her adaptation of Andrew O’Hagan’s acclaimed novel ‘Mayflies’ was produced by Synchronicity Films in Glasgow and garnered a slew of 4 and 5 star reviews on transmission in December ’22. It was nominated for 4 RTS Scotland awards and has just won Best Television Film at the Seoul International Drama Awards.

Andrea is currently working on a raft of film and television commissions including a four part adaptation of Gill Hornby’s novel ‘Miss Austen’ for Masterpiece and the BBC which is due to start filming in November.

Andrea lives and works in Glasgow.






Ariel Cohen
Strategic Partner Manager, Artist Development, YouTube Music
YouTube Music

Ariel has spent over 9 years working directly with artists and their teams helping them to grow their online audiences at companies such as RCA Records (Sony Music), AWAL, and now YouTube. Helping to achieve success with campaigns for artists such as Little Simz, Nao, Shygirl, Meekz, Raye, Unknown T and more.

Since the summer of 2021, Ariel has been the Strategic Partner Manager for Artist Development UK at YouTube in London, where he works with over 65 artist teams to help develop emerging artists on YouTube with strategic advice, best practice and through unlocking opportunities that help artists take their careers to the next level.
He is also a dog dad, long suffering McLaren fan and founder and former co-director of Twisted Hearts Records.






Becci Scotcher
Senior Grants & Programmes Manager
PRS Foundation

“Becci is a compassionate, respected, and creative music business executive with over 21 years’ experience covering diverse business areas such as partnerships, programme development, communications and export.
In her current role, as Senior Grants & Programmes Manager she leads the Grants team of the UK’s leading charitable funder of new music at PRS Foundation, awarding over £3million in grants per year, and is responsible for partnership and programme strategy placing equity at its core. Through funds such as PPL Momentum Fund, Hitmaker Fund and International Showcase Fund has supported outstanding talent from all backgrounds, covering the whole of the UK and all genres, with grantee success stories including Little Simz, Wolf Alice, Dave, Sam Fender, Years & Years, AJ Tracey, Anna Meredith, Yola, Glass Animals, Ezra Collective, Jade Bird, Ghetts, Shiva Feshareki, Sarathy Korwar, Floating Points, Nadine Shah, The Fanatix, Imogen Heap, IDLES, Kae Tempest, Kojey Radical and Yard Act.

In her two-decade career, Becci has advised the likes of JAAK, Help Musicians UK, Association of Independent Music, Welsh Government, Americana Music Association UK and Arts Council of Wales and was core member of the WOMEX 13 delivery partners; Cerdd Cymru : Music Wales team. She previously held roles at Roadrunner Records, Welsh Music Foundation, and Wales Arts International.”






Charles Jeffrey
Creative Director
Charles Jeffrey LOVERBOY

Charles Jeffrey, Creative Director of Charles Jeffrey LOVERBOY continues to build on his stellar start in the fashion industry, taking on new challenges year on year. From humble beginnings in Charles’ East London bedroom, LOVERBOY is now an international fashion powerhouse, carried in over 90 stores worldwide. Drawn to inherent magic in queerness, Charles and his collaborators create fashion dreamscapes, adding new layers to the brands story with each passing season and creative output.






Gordon Smart
Broadcaster
Restless Natives

Gordon Smart is an award-winning journalist, newspaper editor, broadcaster and whiskey entrepreneur.

He has become a familiar figure in the world of broadcasting, recently hosting on BBC Morning Live, and BBC Radio 5 Live with his new Sunday evening show. He also hosts his weekly podcast 'Restless Natives' alongside fellow Scot and long-time friend Martin Compston.

Making a name as the youngest editor of the Bizarre showbiz Column for The Sun, he was voted Showbiz Reporter of the Year in 2012. At 32, he was appointed Editor of the Scottish Sun, steering the highest-selling newspaper in Scotland through the 2014 independence referendum and a Commonwealth Games, among other huge stories.In 2016, he returned to London as Deputy Editor of the national edition during the European membership referendum.

Gordon runs the Restless Natives business, consulting for Jaguar Land Rover and media training emerging talent including One Direction and he also co-founded Copper Dog Whiskey. Previously he was Director of This Feeling, a network of nightclubs, which later led to a YouTube series featuring household names and bands including The Libertines and The Vaccines.

He has hosted Teenage Cancer Trust charity gigs at The Royal Albert Hall and has helped raise over £1m with the Mary Leishman Foundation, a charity set-up in his mother-in-law’s name after she died of cancer in 2010.






John Rostron
CEO
Association of Independent Festivals

John Rostron is the Chief Executive of the Association of Independent Festivals, the UK's leading festival representative body. AIF has over 100 festivals in its network, including Belladrum Tartan Heart Festival, Big Burns Supper, Boomtown, End of The Road, Mighty Hoopla, Notting Hill Carnival, 2000 Trees and Liverpool Sound City.


Recently he was appointed to the Board of Creative Wales - the Welsh Govt department for the Creative Industries. He advises on the Music Sector.


Previously John was an independent concert and festival promoter, developing acts from grassroots music venues to Arenas, and co-founded the Welsh Music Prize, celebrating and championing the best new music from Wales.


He lives in Glyndyfrdwy in North Wales and enjoys running in the Berwyn mountains.






Katie Goh
Writer, editor and author

Katie Goh is a writer and editor, whose award-shortlisted criticism, essays and features have been published in The Guardian, Vice, Prospect, i-D, Dazed, The Independent and more. Katie is the nonfiction editor for Extra Teeth and has previously been an editor for gal-dem and The Skinny. Katie's essay-length book of criticism The End: Surviving the World Through Imagined Disasters was published by 404 Ink in 2021, and her debut memoir Foreign Fruit will be published by Canongate and Tin House in 2025. She lives in Edinburgh.






Laura Boyd
Entertainment Reporter and Presenter
STV News

Laura Boyd - Laura Boyd is the entertainment reporter for STV News and co-presenter of Scotland’s most watched entertainment programme, What’s on Scotland. From interviewing some of the biggest stars in the world, including Rod Stewart, Simple Minds and Harrison Ford, to supporting local Scottish talent; Laura brings famous faces and rising stars to viewers across the country. When not on TV, she also writes a weekly column for the Sunday Mail magazine, as well as hosting a podcast and numerous events.






Pete Sparkes
Artistic Director
Drake Music Scotland

Pete is a musician and educator specialising in working with technology and inclusive methodology – creating new music for performances. Pete is Artistic Director of Drake Music Scotland. His particular specialism is working creatively with children and adults with additional support needs – including the use of music technology and other innovative tools like Figurenotes notation. He has led many training sessions and workshops for teachers and musicians all over Europe including a module at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland with composer Oliver Searle, and online teaching for University of Wisconsin and Berklee College (Boston).

He has led the Artistic Programme of Drake Music Scotland since 2010 a period that has included the foundation of the award-winning Digital Orchestra, iPad Quartet and the Universal Orchestra collaboration with Norway and Finland. In 2018 Digital Orchestra completed a first international tour to Singapore as part of the True Colours festival.

He was Education Officer of the Scottish Chamber Orchestra from 2002-2005 working with them on a variety of creative and ambitious projects. As a freelance project leader he has devised and delivered creative music projects with many different participant groups for various organisations including: Drake Music Scotland, Scottish Book Trust, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Artlink Central, and Jessie’s Fund.






Titania Altius
Head of Member Services
PPL

Titania Altius is Head of Member Services for Phonographic Performance Limited (PPL) and sits on the board of the Royal Philharmonic’s Academy Trust and Raw Material Music and Media, a music and media charity based in Brixton, South London.

Titania has worked in the music and creative industry for over 20 years. She began her career working in music PR before moving into the world of intellectual property at MCPS as an account manager working with a number of key record labels. She then worked at PRS for Music as a consultant in music licensing where she worked with brands such as Spotify, Google and Apple.

As a creative producer on the London Borough of Culture, Titania led on engagement and participation leading on projects with A New Direction, Vice, Institute of Contemporary Music and delivering the opening event at Wembley Stadium.

Before joining PPL, Titania was the Creative Programme Manager at Help Musicians UK heading up the development, management and delivery of the charity’s creative programme, including their grants schemes with partners including The MOBO Trust.

In addition to her music industry experience, Titania has worked in the Arts Education sector for over a decade. She has been a lecturer at the London College of Fashion since 2007 and has taught at universities across the UK including Tileyard Education and BIMM.

Outside of this, Titania’s passion for music manifests in co-founding the long-running Soul Affair event in Mayfair.