Raw Material Music & Media

I took on the role of CEO for this much-loved and well-established community music and media organisation in the heart of Brixton in July 2020. Our organisation serves young people and adults facing systemic barriers to creative skills development and aims to ‘make a creative life a tangible reality’ for those we serve. I have rebuilt the organisation from the ground up, re-establishing, and redefining stakeholder and community relationships. Racial equity and social justice are key drivers of our work. Key 
•	Developing a new staff structure, recruiting a new team, and establishing a revitalised programme driven by community consultation – reconnecting with our communities and stakeholders and reaching new partners and stakeholders.
•	Working with the Board, team, freelancers and community to redefine Raw’s vision and mission.
•	Recruiting new team members and embedding a ‘collective leadership’ approach using agile principles 
•	Expanding and significantly diversifying the Board to ensure it is more reflective of the communities we serve, with 80% Board members from Global majority, 80% female, majority under 50 
•	Raising nearly £2m to support the programme including the 3rd largest ACE London capital award in 2022.
•	Grown Raw Material’s reputation and networks considerably, increasing turnover and earned income.
•	Committed to sustainable organisational development– putting team wellbeing and individual autonomy at the heart of our collective practice.

Chief Executive Officer

R Nelken

Strategic Consultant 									          ongoing
•	Advisor and assessor for several funding bodies including Creative Scotland, PRS Foundation, Help Musicians UK, and the national charity Youth Music, for whom I am also a Trustee. 
•	Freelance fundraising with smaller organisations and individual artists
•	I am an accredited Action Learning Facilitator. Contracts have included Bristol Old Vic, Action Learning for Producers at Producer Farm, dancers via Independent Dance & Dancers Career Development.

Strategic Consultant

Mytime Active

Working to develop youth music programme, ArtsTrain, offering hundreds of young people across Bromley, Bexley and Lewisham the opportunity to express themselves creatively through creating their own new music and building capacity within the borough by developing skills of local music leaders. Linking in with regional and national music education initiatives and working towards become part of a regional music hub, providing a diverse and relevant music education offer for young people in Bromley for the future.

Mytime Active (formerly Bromley Mytime) is a national leisure and health trust and social enterprise. I am the artistic and strategic lead for ArtsTrain (www.artstrain.org), the creative youth music/artist development programme I devised and developed in 2008, supported by a small project management team. Arts Council, Youth Music and PRS Foundation have consistently supported our work since 2008.
•	Artistic direction, strategic support, fundraising and partnership brokering 
•	Developing new models of creative music-making with emerging artists and young musicians
•	Working with and commissioning artists e.g. patron Soweto Kinch, Eska Mtungwazi, James Yarde 
•	Supporting and mentoring the staff team, overseeing/devising practitioner CPD and training
•	Producing a range of project and commissions with partners including Serious/London Jazz Festival, Sound Connections, The Albany Theatre, Brighter Sound and Youth Music
•	Presenting our work at industry conferences, e.g. Music Education Expo, MU/Trinity Laban events

Project Development Manager - ArtsTrain - NPO 2018-2022

R Nelken Arts Consultancy

Freelance programming, producing, project development, fundraising - cross artform, specialist interest and experience in music and engagement

Freelance Consultant

The Albany

A key role in the Albany’s Senior Management Team, I led the Creative team of 9 programming and delivering our multi-artform artistic and engagement programme, at 3 venues in Lewisham and Southwark: The Albany Theatre, Canada Water Theatre and the Deptford Lounge. From 2017 -2019 we delivered over 400 shows, 130 productions and 15 commissions and co-productions per year. My team and I worked directly with over 600 artists per year, supporting with creative production, advice and grant applications.
•	Strategic planning and development of new approaches in theatre and cross-artform programming, engagement and co-created programmes leading to a more coherent artistic identity for the organisation 
•	Development and implementation of clearer and more structured systems in place between creative, marketing and production teams and the ‘onsale’ process and communication channels. 
•	Recruitment and management of a team delivering award winning youth and elders engagement programmes, new seasons of work, and a 3-week Festival of Creative Ageing.
•	Over £350k successful fundraising secured for the Creative Programme including the Big Lottery Fund, Youth Music, PRS Foundation and the Royal Opera House.
•	A total relaunch of the Albany as a music venue to critical acclaim and a hugely positive community response to our talent development approach for musicians and holistic support package - ‘more than just a gig’
•	Lead Producer of Age Against the Machine Sep/Oct 2019, a 3-week festival of creative ageing in partnership with Entelechy Arts and LB Lewisham. It included over seventy different events ranging from live music, theatre, dance, film, exhibitions, pop-up choirs, discussions and large outdoor performances. Around thirty of the events were community commissions created by inter-generational groups across Lewisham. Events took place in community centres, theatres, care homes, museums, parks, libraries and public spaces. Around 7,000 people participated in the programme

Head of Creative Programmes

Roundhouse Trust

As Senior Producer I led on our main produced work across Performing Arts, with a particular focus on spoken word /poetry, contemporary music, broadcast and digital work. My role was equally split between strategic leadership and creative producing/delivery and project management including artist liaison production and budget. I have led various Roundhouse creative and cross-organisational teams on a diverse range and scale of programmes and productions in the Roundhouse’s iconic Main Space, our Sackler Space (Studio Theatre) and across digital platforms (online and audio production). 

Productions past and present include: 
•	Roundhouse’s ‘Reverb’ Festival – lead producer for this critically acclaimed music/interdisciplinary/digital festival in August 2014 with guest artist curator Imogen Heap, transforming the Roundhouse with 4 days of tech innovation, sound exploration and installations including ‘Arboreal Lightning’ a large-scale sound reactive lighting installation in the Roundhouse’s Main Space and ‘Synaes’ an audio-visual collaboration between synaesthete composer Nick Ryan, the LCO and visual artists duo Quayola & Sinigaglia. 
•	L’Orfeo – a ground-breaking co-production of Monteverdi’s first opera with the Royal Opera House (15/16), involving young people in every aspect of the production and performance. 
•	The Last Word Festival – the UK’s largest spoken word festival takes place across every Roundhouse platform, live, online and through our Roundhouse Radio channel. Taking place May/Jun 17
•	Roundhouse & BBC 1Xtra Words First – a year-long national programme of spoken word (15/16)
•	Roundhouse Punk Weekender – in partnership with GLA, marking the 40th anniversary of UK punk (Jul 16)
•	Ron Arad’s Curtain Call – immersive 360 degree visual/aural shows - Matthew Herbert, Eska  Gaika (Aug 16)
•	Year-round smaller-scale programming – spoken word, experimental theatre, digital, emerging artists, RnD

Senior Producer, Performing Arts

Arts Council England

Managing a portfolio of some of London's top contemporary music organisations (NPOs). Encouraging and advising artists/new organisations who might want to build new relationships with Arts Council, across the contemporary music sector. Specialist role in creative media/digital development, organisation/artist development, children and young people and action learning faciitation with peers across art forms.

Relationship Manager - Music

R Nelken Consultancy

I am an accredited Action Learning Facilitator, currently running sets for the dance sector via Independent Dance and Dancers Career Development 

I have been a consultant/advisor on a range of music development and evaluation projects. Clients have included PRS Foundation, MOBO, Creative Scotland, Youth Music, the Hub UK (GLA, ACE London) London Sinfonietta

Consultant

Street Opera with the Albany Theatre

Produced a new  opera with composer James Redwood, librettist Hazel Gould, vocal leaders Abimaro Gunnell and Freya Wynn-Jones and 70 amazing participants between the ages of 3 - 93 via Heart n Soul, Entelechy Arts, Deptford Green School, and the Action for Refugees in Lewisham. Funded through the Deptford Trust, PRS for Music Foundation and Arts Council England. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PkacpIldvds

Freelance Producer

BBC Performing Arts Fund

Assessor

Organisational development, leadership, team building, producing, programming, strategic planning, income generation, new music, community and youth music, theatre, spoken word, digital/tech, funding, Action Learning, fundraising, facilitation, people/artist management, project management, cross-genre projects, diversity and engagement, development (individual and sectoral)

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