Brixton Splash Ltd is a not for profit company which has been created to lead and manage the Brixton Splash Festival and to engage with the local community to encourage participation and growth. The current Board comprises 5 locally based voluntary directors.
The Board are currently looking for new directors to add to the team and welcome expressions of interest. There will be a formal application process which will commence in September 2011, however do feel free to contact the Board at any time in the interim on info@brixtonsplash.org.
Blacker Dread – Director & Founder
Record Producer and local Business Owner
Blacker is a highly influential fixture of the black community in London, producing his first British record in 1984. Co-founder of Brixton Splash, he is a highly respected Music Producer and Community Leader, he has been awarded for his outstanding achievement to the Community and he is an inspiration to many.
Although a strong believer in the power of positive reggae music to make a difference in people’s lives, Blacker Dread was soon exposed to the manipulation of artistes by the music industry. This was the premise for opening Blacker Dread Music Store in 1993, His sphere of influence spans well beyond his record shop in Brixton. In the days of Black Power, Blacker Dread was a highly visible activist. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Blacker Dread produced gigs to raise funds for Nelson Mandela’s ANC, and was integral in ensuring that Mandela’s visit to the UK in 1995 included an appearance in Brixton, because as he states, “Brixton is the heart and soul of the black community in the UK.”
He has worked with numerous community empowerment groups from Brixton Base Ltd., to the 1990 Trust, to collaborating with the police to ensure that black community issues are heard. He was a founding member of the Black Music Council in 2004, a group that makes a stand for the discrimination against reggae music, saying “Music is my heritage- a major part of my life…it was my duty to defend the music in every way.”
Asher Senator – Company Director
My first professional music encounter was in the Eighties, when, after considerable success on the sound system (discotheque) national circuit, I signed as a recording and performing artist to a popular record company called Fashion Records. Fashion Records already had successful recording artists such as Laurel and Hardy who sang the pop hit ‘Get In The Back’. I recorded exclusively for Fashion Records for two years in which time I gained two number one singles and a number one album in the street urban charts. My partners at the time Smiley Culture and Maxi Priest broke into the national charts with hit songs ‘Police Officer’ and ‘Strolling On’.
I am now Chief Executive of Code 7 Ltd, a company that delivers progression routes, training and development packages for young people who are mainly deemed hard to engage. Code 7 has a board of 4 trustees and 3 non-executive members, employs 4 people, hires up to a range of 8 facilitators and has a voluntary workforce flotation of around 20 people.
I am keen to play a significant part in the maintaining and upholding of Brixton as my community and work with Brixton Splash in showcasing local talent.
Jo Watson – Treasurer
Events Specialist
I grew up in the tranquil Cotswolds and never expected to find myself living in amongst the busy, bustling vibrancy of Brixton, even though I had visited whilst volunteering for the anti-apartheid movement in the early 90′s but that’s where I have been for the past fifteen years, we are a jumble of Bajan, Ghanaian and English at home which fits well with the cultural vibrancy of Brixton.
Having started out in an accountancy practice in Oxford I came to London London theatre management accountant for Lord Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Really Useful Group. After six exciting and challenging years I took a gap year to travel through central Africa for three months, before moving on to India, Nepal and Thailand and then to Australia via Singapore, Malaysia and Bali. I now run my own Event Management company based in Brixton, producing a variety of events for corporations which include Santander, EDF, the NHS and The Dyslexia Research Trust.
I was a founding trustee of the Brixton Shed charity an inclusive theatre provision for 7- 18 year olds in Brixton, whose principle ethos is inclusivity. Everyone is welcome. The content and environment is driven by the young members and everyone is equally valued. The charity’s core belief is that everyone’s effort and levels of capability make a unique and worthwhile contribution and it is this ethos that empowers and enables the members to thrive creatively in a non-threatening relaxed environment. To emphasis this Brixton Shed is now known as Brixton Inclusive.
I love everything Brixton has to offer, and passionately believe Brixton Splash will make a huge contribution to our community and beyond as it develops and grows. I am a passionate believer in giving back to the community we all share and I am delighted to volunteer my financial, organisational and event management skills to Brixton Splash.
Jo Birch-Phaure – Company Secretary
Communications and Marketing Specialist
I have worked in a wide variety of environments from small charities to large corporations and feel that this breadth of experience has equipped me with a tenacious but flexible and dynamic approach. I am experienced in PR and event organisation, campaigns and working with young people. I have a 2.1 Honours Degree in Geography and a Masters in Sociology which focused particularly on young people and political participation. I also have a PR Diploma. I currently hold the post of Senior Communications & New Business Officer at UK Youth following over three years in events for the charity including UK Youth’s Gala Dinners, plus receptions at the House of Commons and House of Lords and a whole programme of Centenary events culminating in a reception at St James’s Palace for over 500 guests. I have volunteered since the age of 18 and am a firm believer in the importance of volunteering, I feel particularly privileged to be able to volunteer and bring my skills and contacts to Brixton Splash.
On a personal note my Burmese father arrived in South London after the war when British troops liberated my Grandmother from the Japanese POW camps. I was drawn to Brixton as the parallel between my families story and the Windrush and subsequent émigré’s seemed to resonate with me. Brixton Splash is very much the celebration of people who have come to the UK and bought with them some fascinating stories and artistic expressions as well as great food!! I hope this year will continue to expand the number of cultures who make Brixton so special who participate in the Splash event.
Lee Jasper - Company Director
Lee Jasper is the Chair of Brixton Splash Ltd and a Brixton resident. Lee has extensive experience of organising and managing major London festivals in addition to his long career as a human rights race equality activist. Former political adviser to the Mayor of London , currently Secretary of the anti violence campaign group SACRYD, current Chair of the London Race and Criminal Justice Consortium and active in a myriad of local, regional and national organisation and forums Lee brings huge experience, passion and commitment to the board of Brixton Splash Ltd.
Brixton Splash does not currently have a Chair and will be looking to expand and recruit a new Chair in preparation for the 2013 event.
