CAN YOU CIC IT? team
Sybil Bell – Founder
Sybil Bell is Founder of Independent Venue Week and CEO I Like The Sound Of That Ltd. She is Co-Founder of CAN YOU CIC IT? a Community Interest Company running IVW in the UK and Yes We Can, the development education, and community program.
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.
Charlie Rickard – Director of Production
Charlie Rickard is one of the directors of CAN YOU CIC IT? – the Community Interest Company running IVW in the UK and Yes We Can, the development education, and community programme.
Passionate about music from an early age, it was inevitable he would end up working in the industry one way or another.
He learned the ropes in record distribution for several years before moving over to the live side of the business where he worked for a touring production & backline company.
It was during his time spent here that he threw himself into several roles that included facilities management, tour advancing, stage management & various production duties.
Brian Murmin – 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.
Brian joins the IVW team as an advisor and consultant, charged with helping us forge a bright and exciting future as we head into our important 10th year
Kyri Chrisostomou – Events, Programmes & Comedy
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 – Promoter & IVW Reps Co-ordinator
Joe joins the IVW team this year as a promoter , having recently left his post at the Brudenell Social Club in Leeds after 3 years there. Before that He was a programmer at Hyde Park Book Club, where He oversaw the foundation of a new 150 cap venue – and was very happy to see it become a part of IVW for the first time.
Having contributed to IVW’s online format last year, He’s looking forward to working more closely on the upcoming programme, and seeing venues open and thriving again all over the country for this year’s edition.
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!
Lucy Wells – Trusts & Foundations
Lucy Wells started out in publishing as a journalist, then became a sales/marketing director and publisher working for The Telegraph and EMAP Publishing. On moving to deepest Herefordshire with a young baby in 2002, her career changed direction when she worked on a local rural music festival. She then moved to The Courtyard Arts Centre, a multi-genre producing house in Hereford to grow their funding and stayed for 12 years.
She set up her own fundraising consultancy in 2016, specialising in arts and culture. Her work focuses on music-focused organisations with projects that often involve developing strategies and generating funding to bring the power of music to disadvantaged communities of all kinds. She also runs local charity Worcestershire Community Foundation, which has given her an invaluable insight into the grant-making perspective.
Lucy is totally committed to the potential of the arts to change people’s lives, and is really excited at the prospect of working with the team at CYCI to support grassroots music across the UK.
In her spare time, she is frequently walked by two mad sprockers and loves cooking, yoga, running and live music.
Alex Karol – Press & PR
Previously part of the core press team for The Rolling Stones, Alex sold her soul to the sexy grit of live music and hasn’t looked back. She has headed up the PR campaigns for major artists, tours, award shows, festivals right across Europe, lifestyle brands, and award shows… but is forever putting a dark, damp, tight gig first in her priorities
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.