Who We Are

EJ is passionate about supporting individuals and organisations to reach their full potential.

Starting at the grassroots as a community theatre practitioner, EJ has worked in the Arts and Cultural sector, both in the UK and internationally, moving from programme delivery to leadership.
 
EJ was formerly Executive Director of the Manchester Jazz Festival, London Programme Manager for Creative & Cultural Skills, UK Programme Director for The School of Life and Director of Projects for Almeida Theatre.

Most recently EJ has been dedicated to supporting creative organisations to be more entrepreneurial, sustainable, and resilient in the face of challenging financial times. As a creative business coach, consultant and mentor, she supports organisations to grow and change in a number of ways.

As the parent of a child with additional needs, she is excited to join the OmniMusic team and bring the benefits of our work to more families like her own.

Photo credit: Ali Ford

Holly, an Artist, Arts Facilitator, and Creative Producer, is fuelled by creativity, inclusivity, and ambition.

Operating globally, Holly is committed to creating safe spaces and advocating for equal arts access. Collaborating with organisations like Brighter Sound and the Roundhouse, Holly has received support from the PRS Foundation and Arts Council and is eager to contribute to Omni’s work.

Photo Credit: KC-imaging

Molly loves working with teams of creatives to create exciting and inclusive projects for people who wouldn’t usually access them; as she understands the wealth of benefits that quality creative programmes have on an individual’s wellbeing and growth.

Molly’s excited to be working with OmniMusic to help realise the organisation’s programmes and contribute to creating wonderful music making experiences with our participants.

Molly also works with Brighter Sound on their Young Creatives programme.

Pronouns: she/her

Music teacher specialising in electronics

Kris Gjerstad is a professional turntablist and workshop leader with many years of experience. He specialises in delivering high quality workshop sessions to groups of any age and ability using music technology.

Mark has a longstanding interest in combining music and technology. After completing a Masters in Music Technology at York University he has worked with a wide variety of organisations, exploring the potential of assistive technology which enables people of all abilities to make music. He has notably worked with the team creating the MIDIcreator and is the primary developer of the Apollo Ensemble software.

Mark is committed to making assistive technology accessible to everyone and has delivered a series of conferences, training and workshops to share this on a larger platform.

Rachael is a musician who also designs assistive music technology. Rachael was named Tech4Good IT Volunteer of the Year 2015 for her work with music and technology for young people at Royal School Manchester, Seashell. Rachael is passionate about community music-making, and has directed Mistral Clarinet Choir since 2013 to enable adult students of all abilities to make music together. She delivers musical sessions with the technology that she has developed at various special schools in the Manchester area.

Chris Ball is a Manchester-based freelance creative technologist. He works to facilitate the use of technology within the arts, and has completed projects with both local and international artists requiring skills in electronics, programming, interaction, design and fabrication.

He began his professional journey making new and unusual MIDI interfaces for musical performance – mostly in his spare time. This became a series of engagements: interactive design and fabrication for Travelling Light Circus, in-house technologist for the Arts & Tech cohort at MadLab, and PCB design for several smaller projects. More recently, he has completed larger scale projects for MIF and the Imperial War Museum North.

He prefers to work closely with artists, giving them as much or as little involvement as they wish in the technical development of their pieces.

Adrian has been at the forefront of music and music technology education for over 40 years, writing and developing qualifications, training teachers and running some of the countries first courses in further and higher education colleges to offer music technology as a subject. He has also worked for awarding bodies, advised governments and performed as both a guitarist and keyboard player.

Adrian has also taught in secondary schools and has been very active as a composer and songwriter and continues to make music using technology.

Mark Rowland is a graduate from the University of Chester. He is a musician, DJ and advocate of Assistive Music Technology.

He has worked on collaborative projects using innovative music technology with artists and projects including Jools Holland and Bonnie Tyler through the Drake Music project, DJ Fresh, Smirnoff Mindtunes and musician development at Valley Community Theatre.

Mark is a businessman in the legal, medical techology and education technology sectors. As a solicitor and entrepreneur, Mark brings considerable business and corporate governance experience to the Board of Trustees at OmniMusic.

Mark’s late brother, Daniel, suffered from Turners Syndrome and a learning disability. One of the joys of Daniel’s life was to perform music and dance in a group. Mark will strive always to ensure that everyone has the opportunity to play, sing, dance and be merry.

Tom Northey is a freelance cosultant working with artists and arts organisations on a range of development projects.