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Hot Chip, Spotify and Funktion-One’s Tony Andrews join AVA Conference

The AVA Conference in London has revealed a raft of additions to its speaker line-up, including Alexis Taylor and Joe Goddard of electro pop icons Hot Chip, Funktion-One co-founder and audio pioneer Tony Andrews, and speakers from streaming giant Spotify.

Taking place at Printworks on February 24, the AVA (Audio Visual Arts) Conference will feature a programme of talks, panels, and workshops for the electronic music and visual arts sector. The key themes informing the sessions are ‘innovation, diversity, sustainability, and the future’.

In the main Press Halls area, the Opening Keynote from 11am will be a deep dive with Hot Chip band member’s Taylor and Goddard discussing their almost two decade journey as one of the UK’s most celebrated electronic music duos, crossing pop, synth, electronica and more in their non-traditional productions.

AVA’s closing keynote is entitled ‘Migrant Footprint’, presented by The Right To Dance & War Child, featuring multi-disciplinary artist GAIKA, DJ Nooriyah (Middle of Nowhere) and Eastern Margins founder Lumi, who will discuss their unique personal and collective stories where migration and music have intersected.

‘The Game Changers’ is a heavyweight panel with five key industry professionals who have each played a role in facilitating a significant shift in the way we think about the landscape of electronic music. With Jaguar (BBC Radio 1) Christie Driver-Snell (Editor for Dance Music, Spotify) Hannah Shogbola (Primary Talent, BEMA), Steve Hogan (WME) and David Boyle (Audience Strategies), a group of individuals who have been involved with prompting a shift - whether via artist promotion, festival curation, streaming or growing technologies such as AI.

Another addition comes from Resident Advisor, with RA Presents – The Art Of Djing with Courtesy. Courtesy aka Najaaraq Vestbirk will host a live version of RA’s The Art Of DJing video feature series, offering an insight into her process. She will unpack her craft in front of an audience, demonstrating techniques and answering questions, with the RA Films team there to capture the magic as it happens. It will follow a live edition of the RA Exchange Live with Funktion-One’s Andrews. The brand is recognised as one the most innovative loudspeaker manufacturer globally – and proudly championed at AVA’s flagship Belfast Festival.

Looking at the world of venue management and hosted by curator and broadcaster Emily Dust, ‘The Venue Perspective - What makes music work?’, invites the team behind Printworks and over 40 other venues, including Simeon Aldred (Broadwick Live), Scottish venue and festival founder Tom Ketley (FLY Events), Megan Scanlan who heads up Square’s venue and business development team and Michael Gwyther, Senior PM for Peppermint Bars & Events, to discuss what it takes to make a venue tick, ensure audiences and artists thrive in their environment and the tech needed to create it.

AFEM will present a panel exploring Neurodiversity in Music, and how leaders can empower neurodiverse colleagues and artists featuring Jeryl Wilton-Kruger (Infectious PR), Hayleigh Beckles (Triple Threat Management), Jen O' Neill (Hoare Associates), Saytek (Artist), Sarah Hildering (InGrooves), Esther Oram (AIM / Artist Manager). AFEM will also work with charity EarthPercent to co-present a climate-emergency themed talk titled Music For The Planet.

Sentric Music will return to AVA to present ‘Sync State of The Nation’ where Patrick Cloherty, head of sync, Europe at Sentric, will open up the conversation with supervisors across all key media types, including TV& streaming, film, advertising and more to review the current climate within the Sync sector. The talk will explore changes, trends and key opportunities for producers across the landscape. In addition, AVA collaborator Mark Gordon (Score Draw Music/Output Belfast) will host a discussion around ‘Exporting Music’ the strategy to reaching new markets, with advice shared from speakers across the industry spectrum, including Sophie Jones (BPI Chief Strategy Officer), Richard Zijlma (Ex-GM ADE) and more.

Lady Of The House is a community celebrating, championing and honouring women in Dance Music through a multifunctional platform. ‘Past, Present and Future’, hosted by Vanessa Maria and introduced by LoTH founder Laila Mckenzie, will feature Lynn Cosgrove (ex-Carl Cox manager) and Maria May (CAA) delving into the past, present and future of diversifying dance music.

For more information and for tickets, visit www.avafestival.com.