The event has talks, panels and workshops with Spotify, Jaguar, Hot Chip/Joe Goddard, Jaguar, Lady Of The House and more…
Adding to an already impressive festival programme, AVA Conference can announce the full set of talks, panels and workshops planned for London’s leading electronic music & visual arts conference taking place on Friday 24th February at Printworks London. The daytime session invites industry leaders, artists and gamechangers to share ideas, exchange knowledge and grow ideas as it unites music’s brightest minds. Tickets for the conference are available from £15.
The full programme takes place across four key spaces – Press Halls, Control Room, Dark Room and a Tech Drop In area, each hosting talks, workshops, and interactive sessions that are built around key themes of: Innovation, Diversity, Sustainability & The Future.
In the main Press Halls area, the Opening Keynote from 11AM will be a deep dive with Hot Chip band member’s Alexis Taylor and Joe Goddard discussing their almost two decade journey as one of the UK’s most infamous electronic music duos, crossing pop, synth, electronica and more in their non-traditional productions. AVA’s closing keynote is the newly announced ‘Migrant Footprint’ talk, presented by The Right To Dance & War Child feat. multi-disciplinary artist GAIKA, DJ Nooriyah (Middle of Nowhere) and Eastern Margins founder Lumi, who will be discussing their unique personal and collective stories where migration and music have intersected.
The Press Halls also hosts ‘The Game Changers’, a heavyweight panel with 5 key industry professionals who have each played a role in facilitating a significant shift in the way we think about the landscape of electronic music. With Jaguar (BBC Radio 1) Christie Driver-Snell (Editor for Dance Music, Spotify) Hannah Shogbola (Primary Talent, BEMA), Steve Hogan (WME) and David Boyle (Audience Strategies), a group of individuals who have been involved with prompting a shift – whether via artist promotion, festival curation, streaming or growing technologies such as A.I.
Another addition comes from Resident Advisor – with RA Presents – The Art Of Djing with Courtesy. Courtesy aka Najaaraq Vestbirk will host a live version of RA’s The Art Of DJing video feature series – an insight into her process. she will unpack her craft in front of an audience, demonstrating techniques and answering questions, with the RA Films team there to capture the magic as it happens. This will happen right after a live edition of the RA Exchange Live with Tony Andrews, the founder of Funktion-One audio. The brand is recognised as one the most pioneering loudspeaker manufacturer globally – and proudly championed at AVA’s flagship Belfast Festival.
Digging into the world of venue management and hosted by curator & broadcaster Emily Dust, The Venue Perspective – What makes music work? powered by Square, recruits the brains behind Printworks and 40+ other venues Simeon Aldred (Broadwick Live), Scottish venue & festival founder Tom Ketley (FLY Events), Megan Scanlan who heads up Square’s venue & business development team and Michael Gwyther – Senior PM for Peppermint Bars & Events to discuss what it takes to make a venue tick, their audiences & artists to thrive in their environment, and the tech behind supporting that.
AFEM will present a panel exploring Neurodiversity In Music, and how leaders can empower neurodiverse colleagues and artists featuring Jeryl Wilton-Kruger (Infectious PR), Hayleigh Beckles (Triple Threat Management), Jen O’ Neill (Hoare Associates), Saytek (Artist), Sarah Hildering (InGrooves), Esther Oram (AIM / Artist Manager). AFEM will also work with charity EarthPercent to co-present a climate-emergency themed talk titled Music For The Planet.
Sentric Music will return to AVA to present: “Sync State of The Nation” Patrick Cloherty, Head of Sync, Europe at Sentric opens up the conversation with supervisors across all key media types, including TV& Streaming, Film, Ads and more to review the current climate within the Sync sector. The talk will deep dive into changes, trends and key opportunities for producers across the landscape. Alongside this AVA collaborator Mark Gordon (Score Draw Music/Output Belfast) will host an important discussion around “Exporting Music” the strategy to reaching new markets, advice shared from speakers across the industry spectrum, including Sophie Jones (BPI Chief Strategy Officer), Richard Zijlma (Ex-GM ADE) and more.
Lady Of The House is a community celebrating, championing and honouring women in Dance Music through a multifunctional platform. “Past, Present and Future” Hosted by Vanessa Maria and introduced by LoTH founder Laila Mckenzie this talk will feature Lynn Cosgrove (ex-Carl Cox manager) and Maria May (CAA) delving into the past, present and future of diversifying dance music.
All of these are in addition to a heavy programme already announced featuring SHERELLE in conversation with NIKS (founder of Black Artists Database and co-founder of BEMA), Steel City Dance Discs will host a DIY tape making workshop where attendees can create their own physical artefacts.
And of course, on the day there’ll be a drop in area running with our partners Square, Easol, Volta XR, War Child / The Right to Dance, Steel City Dance Discs, Sentric Music, Bluman Associates, Immerse hosting a variety of b2b sessions, meetings with cutting edge technology providers across a spectrum of services, from website and ticketing to visual and processing and more.
You can find tickets and more info HERE.
