Richard Russell, Chief Operating Officer, Arts Council England

Richard is the Arts Council’s Chief Operating Officer, responsible for leading the Arts Council investment, governance and planning functions.  He is also Executive lead on the Arts Council’s Goal to ensure that every child and young person has the opportunity to experience the richness of the arts, museums and libraries.  Richard took up this post in November 2016.

Since 2013, Richard was the Arts Council’s Policy & Research Director responsible for building an evidence base to support the Arts Council’s work. He also led on the Arts Council’s work on workforce and leadership in the arts and cultural sector, including Higher Education.

Richard’s career prior to joining the Arts Council included leading arts organisations and festivals across England.

Artswork

WORKSHOP: Inspiring young people through the arts and culture - Artsmark and Arts Award

Artswork is committed to transforming the lives of children and young people through arts and cultural practice.  Artswork is part of a national network of Arts Council England funded Bridge organisations. Their job is to ensure all children and young people experience the richness of the arts both in and outside of school.

Russ Callaghan Grooms

WORKSHOP: How to make sure everyone is included - Rhythmix

Russ from Rhythmix is a multi-instrumentalist and award winning educator. Russ has led workshop sessions for many years in a variety of settings, including Special Schools, Hospitals and Youth Clubs. Co-founder of Orchestra ONE and UP! Orchestra, he has enabled young people through large scale performances at The Royal Albert Hall, The Royal Historical Dockyard in Chatham and Richmix in London. Using traditional instruments and technology, Russ combines a diverse range of techniques to enable inclusion for all young people.

Ally Daubney

WORKSHOP FOR PRIMARY TEACHERS: Inspiring high-quality music in the Primary curriculum

Prior to working in higher education, Ally worked as an instrumental music teacher for Brighton and Hove Music Service and was subsequently head of music in two Sussex schools.  She has taught all age phases from pre-school to Postgraduate. Ally was awarded a PhD from Surrey University in 2008. She currently works part-time on the ITE music courses and with Masters students at the University of Sussex.  Ally is an international curriculum and assessment expert and has worked extensively on curriculum development with the University of Cambridge International Examinations, most notably in Kazakhstan, Mongolia and Egypt.  As a researcher, she has worked on projects on behalf of many national and international arts organisations.  Ally is on the board of the award-winning music education hub, SoundCity:Brighton and Hove.  Her book Teaching Primary Music will be published by Sage in April 2017.  

English Folk Dance and Song Society (EFDSS) with Hazel Askew, Folk Musician and Educator

WORKSHOP: Sea songs and shanties in the Key Stage 1, 2 and 3 classroom

English Folk Dance and Song Society is the national folk arts development organisation for England. Their aim is to champion the English traditional arts - music, song, dance, storytelling, customs and traditions – as part of the rich and diverse cultural landscape of the UK.

Hazel Askew is a London based singer, musician and workshop leader. She has worked as a performer on the folk scene for many years, most notably with BBC Radio 2 Folk Award nominated vocal trio Lady Maisery and traditional English folk duo The Askew Sisters.

Hazel grew up with the folk scene, participating in many youth folk education programmes. She is a regular tutor for EFDSS on adult, youth and schools projects and has led workshops and courses for organisations including Folkworks, Aldeburgh Young Musicians, Dartington Summer School, Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre and various festivals around the country.  

Jennie Henley, Area Leader for Music Education, Royal College of Music

WORKSHOP FOR PRIMARY & INSTRUMENTAL TEACHERS: Unlocking children’s musical imagination through group teaching

Jennie Henley heads up Music Education at RCM. She teaches instrumental and vocal teaching within the undergraduate and postgraduate performance programmes. Her teaching career includes flute and saxophone teaching across Primary and Secondary schools, ensemble and choir direction, and music centre leadership. Before joining RCM she worked as Programme Leader, MA Music Education and PGCE Primary Music Lead at the UCL Institute of Education. Her research work involves exploring musical learning in different settings, including schools and prisons. She has written on topics such as inclusive pedagogy, adult musical learning, and musical and personal development through social music making.

Tobias Hug

WORKSHOP: Beatbox & Beyond

Explorer of the human voice, compassionate and inspiring teacher, Tobias Hug has been singing, teaching, travelling for 20 years and is deeply involved with the international choral, beatbox and a cappella scene.

He performs with his group Beatvox, the The Beatbox Collective (World Beatbox Team Champions) and with the London Voices (soundtrack to 'Hobbit' etc).  His arrangements were featured in the pilot episode of 'Glee'

Tobias is Artistic Director of the Italian a cappella festival Vocalmente in Fossano.

For 11 years, Tobias sang bass with Grammy-Award winning a cappella group The Swingles. His charity work has led him to work with children all over the world, namely Romania, Kenya and Brazil . 

Mary King, Glyndebourne Vocal Talent

WORKSHOP: Developing sound vocal leadership

Mary's multi-faceted career encompasses roles as performer, coach, writer and broadcaster. She has appeared in concerts and operas all over the world and is a leading exponent of contemporary vocal music. She has a high profile career as vocal coach for a wide range of choral, operatic and musical theatre groups and solo performers, and as a writer and broadcaster on TV and radio. 

Laura Saunders

WORKSHOP: Creative outcomes for young people & you – A framework for support & advocacy

Laura Saunders is a strategic leader in arts and cultural education, working with artists, educators and schools across the country as a teacher, facilitator, researcher and evaluator. Focusing her work on developing clients’ learning, she has worked with music hubs, cultural education partnerships, teacher- and leadership-training organisations.

She has been commissioned by OFC to undertake research and development into Creativity, creative outcomes and creative learning programming.

Laura studied woodwind at the Birmingham Conservatoire Junior School followed by Music & Education at Cambridge University. She has a PGCE in Primary and Early Years Education and an MA in Leading Innovation & Change.

Max Wheeler

WORKSHOP: Music tech and boosting engagement in secondary settings – Where we are headed and how can we engage students? – AudioActive & Charanga

Max Wheeler is a musician/producer, consultant, author and youth music tutor, specialising in; Rap, Urban & Electronic music, soundtracks, remixes and peer to peer education projects. 

Max has conducted thousands of workshops across the country teaching Rap, beatmaking, songwriting and production to everyone from young offenders to social workers to primary school children, special needs projects and community groups. As a recording artist on Giles Peterson’s Brownswood label Max is one half of duo Anushka with over a million plays on Soundcloud and around 3 Million online plays in total, an album and world tour in 2014/15 and Radio 1 plaudits from Annie Mac, and Skream including repeat play on the Radio 1 breakfast show.