Our Team

Alison is a creative producer and programme manager whose work champions inclusion and participation. With two decades of experience across the music, arts, and education sectors, Alison has worked with arts charities, music education hubs, festivals, music ensembles, and theatre companies.

She began working with Sound Connections as an Associate in 2020, before joining the team in 2022 to manage the Training and Professional Development programme. She now oversees the Sector Support programme (maternity cover), where she supports organisations across the UK to strengthen their work in areas including youth voice and participation, inclusion, impact and evaluation, and strategy through training, funding initiatives, and consultancy projects.

In addition to her role at Sound Connections, Alison is the Music Projects Manager at Tower Hamlets Arts & Music Education Service (THAMES) where she develops and manages partnerships with a diverse range of cultural organisations to provide a strategic arts education programme for schools, young people and teachers across Tower Hamlets. Her previous roles include UK Project Manager for Make Music Day UK, Executive Producer for Mahogany Opera Group, and working with organisations such as Making Music, Second Movement, Rosetta Life, Spitalfields Music, Royal Holloway University of London, Exaudi, and the Presteigne Festival.

Alison is also a singer and has a music degree from the University of Birmingham. She has supported various arts organisations as a trustee, steering group member and advisor, and is currently a trustee of the Lucille Graham Trust.

alison@sound-connections.org.uk

Chase Watson is the Assistant Producer of Wired4Music. A self-taught multi-instrumentalist, music producer, educator, and event curator, she brings a unique blend of lived experience, creativity, and compassion to her role.

Her journey into working behind the scenes in the music industry began as a Young Producer at the Royal Albert Hall, where she discovered a passion for programming and live production. Since then, Chase has led the coordination of impactful events including full-scale showcases featuring DJs, dancers, steel pan orchestras, and live bands; blending community, culture, and creativity.

With Caribbean roots and often being the only woman in the room, Chase is passionate about creating inclusive, empowering spaces for young people to explore and express their musical voices. At Wired4Music, she delivers programmes such as the monthly WIRED UP showcase and Collaborate Sessions, supporting emerging artists with access to studios, songwriting development, and performance opportunities.

Chase’s self-directed journey into music fuels her commitment to championing underrepresented voices and opening doors for others to thrive. Outside of Wired4Music, she performs as Chase Ty, playing piano, guitar, and saxophone alongside artists and bands across London.

intern@sound-connectins.org.uk

Emily is the Programme Producer for the Training and Professional Development strand at Sound Connections. She curates the Sound Connections annual Inclusive Practice in Action conference, leads on our Innovate funding programme, mentoring programme, and designs our offer of training sessions. As well as this, Emily supports the planning of various aspects of the programme, including consultancy, evaluation and Wired4Music projects.

Whilst studying music at university, Emily researched music education. This gave her the opportunity to work in the community to observe and assist with music activity in schools and music hubs. Emily is a keen singer and regularly sings with a local alumni group of Southend Choirs. She believes music should be available to all and has a deep understanding of how the arts can benefit an individual, emotionally and physically.

emily@sound-connections.org.uk

Helen Evans is a Programme Coordinator at Sound Connections, and is responsible for coordinating projects for the consultancy programme. She works on a range of evaluation and research projects, with a particular focus on data collection, data analysis and research. She has recently worked on evaluation consultancy projects such as British Council World Voice, National Open Youth Orchestra programmes, Wigmore Hall Learning partner schools programme, and Live Music Now Inspire special schools programme.

helen@sound-connections.org.uk

Jasmine Padda oversees the smooth running of our Sector Support and Consultancy work, including the day-to-day running of our consultancy team, our Activate investment programme for Music Hubs; the Wired4Music Associate training programme— supporting young people into paid work within our consultancy service; and co-developing and delivering our youth voice and participation training alongside young people.

Jasmine works closely with the Co-Directors and Programme Manager on the development and delivery of our consultancy services across the UK and further afield, which support arts and culture organisations to develop their work in areas such as participation, impact, inclusion, evaluation and strategy.

Jasmine joined Sound Connections in 2021, and brings 5+ years of experience in marketing and communications to this role, both within Sound Connections and the wider Music Education sector.

Beyond her work with Sound Connections, Jasmine is a practicing artist, producer, musician, and model. Before joining the team, she was an active member of Wired4Music, our network for young creatives in London, and participated in the Generate investment programme for emerging artists, amongst other opportunities. Her lived experience within these programmes provides her with invaluable insight into their impact and the meaningful opportunities they offer young people. Driven by her dedication to expanding access to music and music education for all, Jasmine is deeply committed to our mission.

jasminep@sound-connections.org.uk

Liz has worked in the music education sector for over 15 years, and her approach is rooted in developing and delivering impactful, needs-based, children and young person-centred programmes across the country. She has worked in several delivery and senior management roles including as Project Manager for Newham Music Hub, Head of Programmes at national youth music organisation, Music for Youth, and most recently as Managing Director (maternity cover) at Drum Works.

She joined Sound Connections in 2020 to oversee Wired4Music and our youth voice and participation work, before moving over to managing our sector support strand and consultancy service.

For our sector support work, Liz develops and delivers training and resources on youth voice and participation, leads on our Activate investment programme for Music Hubs, and initiated and oversees our Wired4Music Associates programme – supporting young people into paid work within our consultancy service.

For our consultancy service she leads our work with organisations across the UK and further afield to develop their work in areas such as participation, impact, inclusion, evaluation and strategy. Liz has delivered work with the likes of Arts Council England, Anthem Wales, BBC Children in Need, Bristol Beacon, English Heritage, Independent Venue Week, London Music Fund, London Symphony Orchestra, National Youth Arts Wales, Royal National Institute of the Blind and Music Hubs across England.

As Director, Liz holds specific responsibilities for our sector support strand and consultancy service, alongside joint responsibility for the charity as a whole.

liz@sound-connections.org.uk

Mwathi is an entrepreneur and creative who’s passionate about the arts and community. 

He started in events management as a volunteer and then transitioned into being involved in curating and producing events as well as managing some of his own and helping to consult for others. He now freelances across many different roles in events and works with community programmes as well as with artists, producers, creatives and with his own ventures. 

Mwathi got involved with Sound Connections through Wired4Music’s Generate programme, which gave him funding as an artist. He has also been involved in many of the community events, including hosting at Wired Up and participating in the Sound Connections Inclusive Practice In Action (IPIA) gathering last year. 

mwathi@sound-connections.org.uk

Shakira Alleyne is a writer and musician from London. Guided by an experimental ethos, her focus as an artist is to reconnect people with raw emotions and encourage critical questioning. Shakira has been involved in various grassroots projects including her Roundhouse residency and Brownswood’s talent initiative Future Bubblers. She has also worked with an array of prestigious brands such as Fred Perry, Universal and Vacheron Constantin. Making music has been a powerful outlet for Shakira over the years and this fuels her passion for creating exciting and inclusive musical opportunities for all.

shakira@sound-connections.org.uk

Tee Peters is the Wired4Music Programme Producer developing webinars and producing our events and opportunities. With a background in video production and marketing, he also makes his own music.

Recent singles ‘Seasons’ & ‘Numeracy’ premiered on BBC Introducing as Track of The Week and has since been featured on Spotify’s ‘Conscious’, ‘Dazed’ and ‘Free Form’ official playlists. To follow this up, Tee performed for the Mayor of London and has teamed up with brands such as O2, DICE, War Child, Nandos and Rough Trade.

wired@sound-connections.org.uk

Kerk Henderson – freelance Communications Coordinator at Sound Connections – is responsible for managing communications across all Sound Connections platforms. Kerk assists in the production and implementation of campaigns for the Wired4Music, Training and Professional Development and Sector Support/Consultancy programme strands.  He also manages, maintains and creates content for Sound Connections and Wired4Music websites, newsletters and social media platforms.

Kerk brings almost a decade of experience to this role with his background in computer sciences, award-winning photography, and skills as a videographer. He has worked on projects within academia and the cultural sphere in both the UK and the Caribbean. 

As a songwriter/musician, Kerk has played sets in and around London as well as in his home country of Jamaica. As creative director of media and communications firm Commacross Ltd, Kerk has responsibility for strategic planning, digital-based content creation and branding support.  Recent projects include the completion of a digital policy framework that favours young people’s engagement and safety, and a London-based music video.

comms@sound-connections.org.uk

Vanessa is an early years music practitioner, researcher and Creative Producer at Creative Futures. She works with children and adults in early years settings and teaches early years piano. She has an MA in Education (Early Childhood Music) from the Centre for Research in Early Childhood and a PGCE in Music from the Institute of Education.

Having started her career as a secondary school music teacher, she has subsequently worked as both a music and general teacher/practitioner in a number of primary schools and early years settings. She has also worked at schools in Spain where she led multi-arts projects with young children and as Education Assistant at the New London Orchestra, working on education and community projects.

vanessa@sound-connections.org.uk

Yasmine is a spoken word poet and playwright born and based in South-West London, passionate about sharing stories centring joy, lyricism, and nostalgia from a Black and working-class lens. She has performed at the Roundhouse and the Royal Court Theatre and an extract of her audio play ‘I used to know H.I.M’ was featured on BBC Radio London to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of Hip-Hop. Yasmine initially worked with Sound Connections as part of the Workforce Development Programme in 2022 and is also a Wired4Music member.

yasmine@sound-connections.org.uk

A friend of: Emily Perryman
Nickname: Honey Monster
Favourite hobby: Zoomies!
Favourite toy: Yellow ball

Honey the Golden Retriever puppy is full of energy. She likes playing with her toys, cuddles, and watching TV. She is looking forward to visiting the Sound Connections office once she is fully toilet trained!