JAMES POLE (TREASURER): James Pole is an ACA qualified chartered accountant who is a Finance Director at Universal Music. Since qualifying in 2013 he has worked in various financial roles across the music industry both in the UK and abroad and specialises in bridging the gap between creative and financial communities. This is James’ first trustee and treasurer role. He has gained charity sector experience working in a consultancy role for international development organisation IDinsight. IDinsight work in impact evaluation for government bodies such as DFID, CDC & UNICEF, as well as large philanthropic organisations such as The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and The Hewlett Foundation.
SHERÉE PROSPERE: Sherée has worked within the voluntary sector since 2011, within various frontline positions across think-tanks and charitable organisations including St Giles Trust and Leap Confronting Conflict where she currently works as a Senior Programme Officer and Trainer. During her career, Sherée has spent time working within local communities in North and South London, leading on youth-led projects within campaigning, journalism, social enterprise and frontline work with young people who have experienced violence, county lines and trauma to currently project managing delivery programmes across London. Realising throughout her profession, that creativity and the arts have always been at the forefront of her work, to showcase the passion and talent of young people and to provide a platform for conscious change.
REMI FAIRWEATHER STRIDE: Remi is Youth Music’s Insights Manager, working to platform young people’s lived experiences as evidence for change across the music education sector and wider creative industries. Her work draws on learning from grassroots youth music spaces to drive systemic change. She chairs the organisation’s Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Accessibility (IDEA) Working Group. A passionate advocate for equity, representation and community building, Remi is an avid motorcyclist and spent five years in the motorcycle industry before joining the charity sector in 2020.
BECKY GRAHAM: Becky Graham is a Poet, strategic leader, and dedicated champion of social justice. For over 15 years, her work has been driven by a singular mission: ensuring equality of access and inclusion across social provision. She has utilised the arts as an essential resource for wellbeing, learning, and personal development across sectors, working within diverse communities and social settings- including health, criminal justice, and homelessness. Her dedication is rooted in grassroots practice and community engagement, focusing on creating safe, trauma-informed spaces and place-based initiatives for young people and individuals experiencing multiple complex needs.
Excelling as a systems convenor, Becky’s expertise spans the full continuum of change, from frontline, community-based support to influencing policy at a local and national level. She specialises in place-based work, fostering co-production models and leveraging high-impact partnerships cross-sectorally—with public bodies, health services, and cultural institutions—to address deep-seated social inequalities and drive community investment. This commitment ensures that lived experience is translated directly into systemic change, guaranteeing that sectors, services, and projects are truly responsive to the people they support and that communities serve as a resource for the people who live there.
EMMA SNELL: Emma is the Legal Policy Manager at the human rights charity JUSTICE, where she works primarily on issues relating to the criminal legal system, policing, and state accountability. She is a steering committee member of Art, Not Evidence, a campaign dedicated to preventing the misuse of music as evidence in criminal proceedings. She also volunteers as a trade union representative for the Cleaners and Allied Independent Workers Union, and as a mentor for recent care leavers.
Previously, Emma was an Associate Editor at Just Security, an online forum based at the Reiss Center on Law and Security. She also served as Director of Vocalise, where she oversaw the delivery of debating workshops in prisons.