EDI

Barbara is a vocalist and educator with ten years’ experience teaching and singing professionally. As a session singer, choir leader, and studio manager, Barbara has a unique and personal approach, with a keen interest in personal and professional development. Barbara graduated with honours from the BMus degree in Popular Music Performance in 2007.

Since then, she has worked with a wide variety of performers, songwriters, and producers, from the double platinum-selling English pop star Paloma Faith to the Perrier Award-winning American comedian Rich Hall. She runs a busy private studio with an extensive client list but still finds time to contribute to a variety of community music projects and choirs, alongside her active teaching and singing career. Barbara performs regularly with the Sense of Sound choir as well as jazz quintet, The Stowaways. She is a firm believer in focusing one’s energy on being the best you can be, and supports anyone who is on the quest of lifelong personal development.

EDI  is important to me as I believe everyone should be able to reach their full potential. I have experience in making the necessary changes in practices to support underrepresented groups and I look forward to sharing these with committee members.

Like all women working in music, and music education for 25 years, I have a great deal of experience of inequality. It is everywhere in our industry, as an example, just 15% of professional songwriters in the UK identify as female. I am a Director of The F List, where we are working to address gender inequality in UK Music. The issues that influence and perpetuate gender equality are myriad and complex, but I believe that achieving equal representation will go a long way towards tackling these issues. 
 
I feel equally passionate about the many other types of inequality we face, including; race, disability, neurodivergence, religious background and of course socio-economic background, and I do my best to get educated on these matters. When studying the issues of equality, increasingly it seems that intersectionality is at the heart of both the challenges and the solutions, and therefore, I believe it's counterproductive to fight for one individual area of equality in isolation. 
 
I see it as part of my responsibility as a human being, but in particular as someone working in education, to work with the ICMP community to do all I can towards the goal of equality for future generations of musicians.

I am pleased to serve as ICMP’s Chair of the Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion Committee. As a proud gay man working in academic leadership, I have seen first-hand the power of effective institutional change when spearheading the rights of underrepresented groups. It is with great humility to work alongside committee colleagues to ensure the rights of all staff and students, fostering an environment of belonging, and being unafraid to directly confront all forms of systemic prejudice.

Equality, Diversity, and Inclusivity are incredibly important to me from my own history with disabilities and socioeconomic challenges - alongside those of my family and peers. Throughout my time in this position,

I aim to keep ICMP a safe and inclusive space for people from all walks of life by taking both student and faculty feedback - and communicating to our board where we would like energy to be invested.  Please feel free to pull me aside for a discussion at any time; I will be more than happy to listen!

I’m a second-year BA (Hons) Creative Music Production student. Being a part of a community is important and I’m devoted to making sure we are heard. My role as an EDI officer is so important and I will be devoted to being the best representative for your needs possible. Don’t feel afraid to approach me about issues you have surrounding EDI within our uni.

I have been working to support students from backgrounds underrepresented in higher education for almost a decade. I started being involved in this during my postgraduate studies, working with students from areas of deprivation around Cardiff and the Cynon Valley. 

My educational journey has been influenced by my learning difficulties; dyslexia and dyspraxia. Especially as I proceeded through higher education into postgraduate studies and found awareness and support lacking. I make use of my experience and skills in my current role as the Success and Transition Coordinator at ICMP to run a range of initiatives to support students that face barriers when entering higher education or succeeding at higher education.

I have been working to support students from underrepresented background since graduating university. I began my career teaching history in the secondary school I had attended as a student in South London in order to support young people like me.  My educational journey has been influenced by my identity as a black woman from a working-class Caribbean family. Despite studying Law at the University of Warwick, I experienced many internal and social challenges during my experience of higher education. 

My personal and educational experiences allow me to understand the barriers that many underrepresented young people face throughout their own educational journeys. I am able to draw from my own experiences in my current role as Access and Outreach Coordinator at ICMP to coordinate projects and initiatives that address educational disparities, raise attainment levels, and ultimately increase the representation of underprivileged young individuals in higher education.

I think equality, diversity and inclusion should be integral to all our interactions with each other, with the various communities we exist in and the world we share with each other. As a gay man, I’m proud to represent the LGBTQIA+ subgroup on the EDI Committee and play a part in helping to ensure that equality, diversity and inclusion are at the heart of ICMP’s future development.

As Gender Equality Champion, I advocate for women, non-binary and trans identities. I am committed to breaking down gender stereotypes within the music industry and to work with our talented body of students to create a diverse pool of role models for future generations. I work closely with the LGBTQIA+ Equality Champions, as whilst I believe that lesbian, gay and bi-sexual support needs and transgender support needs are nuanced, there’s certainly more shared, for example discrimination, mental health issues and homelessness. 

Therefore, forming a united front is more powerful when creating solutions.  As part of an alternative family, wife to a trans man and mother to our IVF-conceived son, we have had to fight for the same baseline rights as typical heteronormative families are automatically afforded. I’m proud to be part of the ICMP EDI Committee that is committed to eliminating discrimination and advancing equity of opportunity.