INDEPENDENT VENUE COMMUNITY team
Sybil Bell – Founder
Sybil Bell is Founder of Independent Venue Week and CEO I Like The Sound Of That Ltd. She is also the founder of our development education, and community programme.
Sybil has been an artist manager & label manager, tour manager and promoter, owned a venue and recording studio, has consulted at various trade bodies including UK Music, the MMF and the FAC, has run numerous events including the MPG Awards and co-ordinating international networking events at SXSW for The Department of International Trade.
Sybil has spoken & curated panels at various events including SXSW in 2011, 2013 and 2016, Bigsound in Australia 2015, given the Keynote at Output, Belfast 2016 and spoken at Pop Montreal and at Mondo in NYC in 2017. More recently she has spoken at BBC Introducing 2019 and 2020.
Sam Heffer – Online, Comms & Social Media Manager
Sam joins the IVC team for all things digital, working across both Independent Venue Week and our UK community programme.
Having spent the majority of his professional life in Leeds an independent musician, artist marketing manager and events promoter, Sam has always had a passion for supporting independent music and projects of all kinds through his work.
Sam is looking forward to helping grow IVC’s online presence which will in turn assist in the support of independent venues and creative initiatives that have helped him develop his own career.
Brian Murnin – Business Development
Brian Murnin is a Business Development and Strategy specialist, who has led businesses of all shapes and sizes across the media and entertainments industry. He has launched new divisions and major initiatives for household names such as Warner Music Group and BBC Studios, and has helped exciting new media upstarts such as Vice Media and Clash Music grow into global success stories.
Kyri Chrisostomou – Manager, Community Programme
A country bumpkin in the big smog, Kyri is originally from Staffordshire. His background is a hybrid of music and business.
After moving to London to study music at BIMM, Kyri ran an independent artist project, gaining funding from HMUK. This was supported by Wonderland, Clash, Gay Times, BBC Introducing and Foundation FM. Live highlights included gigs at Ronnie Scotts, The Social and BBC Introducing Live.
Alongside this, He was an administrator for a small family property business, supporting general day-to-day operations across the board. He’s also assisted at music events, gigs & projects including Springboard Live – a national project which promoted new music acts through immersive live music concerts, powered by people aged 16-25, in partnership with BBC Introducing.
Joseph Kenway – Venue & Reps Manager
Joe is a specialist in project management and has a background firmly rooted in venues and live music.
He comes with a wealth of experience in promoting, production, marketing, conference and panel organisation and live streaming – delivering success on a multitude of projects, both in freelance roles and whilst in house at the Brudenell Social Club and the Hyde Park Book Club in Leeds.
Erin Gibson – Office Manager & Bookkeeper
Hailing from the north, plant and dog mum Erin graduated from LIPA in 2017 and has spent most of her life in venues both on and off stage as a drummer and in various crew roles. From selling merch on international tours, to repping local shows: Erin’s passion lies in making live music happen.
Erin moved to London in 2018 to become an operational manager for a music industry charity and is now extremely excited to be the newest member of the team!
Adam Webb – Policy & Industry Insight
Adam is an award-winning PR and communications specialist with his own consultancy, and over 20 years experience of working across music, technology and public policy. He currently works for the likes of the Music Managers Forum and Driift, Act, and leads the highly successful FanFair Alliance campaign that has delivered significant reforms to the highly controversial secondary ticketing market.