Julia Payne – Director
Six years ago Julia co-founded the hub, in order to affect real change and improve the cultural landscape and infrastructure for musicians and other artists, promoters and audiences across the UK. A natural leader, the hub evolved out of a desire to work with like-minded visionaries who shared her talent for lateral thinking, a determination to make a difference and a passion for asking ‘what if?’
These days Julia leads on our music development and research portfolio, working across our research, consultancy, professional development and creative production projects.
In 2007, Julia managed the Musicians – Have Your Say research project for the Musicians Benevolent Fund; the UK’s largest ever survey of professional musicians and music students, it informed a series of strategic recommendations for the organisation around its grant giving and communications, and other key areas. Julia has also worked on other national and regional strategy projects, including Arts Council England and the PRS Foundation’s review of rock, pop and urban music industry training, the Own Industry music business incubator research in the East Midlands, and with Arts Council England and Yorkshire Forward on the development of a regional strategy for supporting growth of small music businesses in Yorkshire.
Julia has extensive music education experience. She was a key part of the team behind BBC Talent’s Fame Academy Bursary Scheme. She was also instrumental in the development of Guildhall School of Music & Drama’s Connect programme (which was awarded the Queen’s Award for Higher & Further Education in 2005), securing £350,000 of funding, and acting as Project Manager between 2002 and 2004. She has recently completed a DCSF-funded research project on behalf of the Centre for Young Musicians, which explored progression routes in London for young jazz, folk and world music players. This autumn she will be working with Youth Music and Arts Council England, London to review the music opportunities offered to children and young people by the latter’s regularly funded organisations.
In addition to this ‘big picture’ stuff, Julia regularly works with organisations on ‘hands on’ business planning, fundraising and marketing; most recently with Folk Arts England, Music Beyond Mainstream and Attitude is Everything. Julia has also built and delivered a number of development programmes for musicians and other music sector entrepreneurs, most recently as part of Music Connections programme in Northamptonshire.
Prior to the hub, Julia worked in a variety of settings across the industry: as Marketing Manager at venues such as the Barbican Centre and The Stables; as Development Director at the Jazz Development Trust, as Music Touring Officer at Arts Council England and as an artist manager and tour producer.
Julia has been an advisor to the Performing Rights Society Foundation since 2001, and was formerly Chair of Urban Development and a board member at Jazz East. Outside of the hub, she mentors a number of young musicians and promoters, because – she says – ‘it’s really inspiring and keeps me on my toes!’