ILUVLIVE MARKS 21ST YEAR WITH NEXT CHAPTER OF GROWTH — KICKING OFF WITH THE GREAT ESCAPE ARTIST SHOWCASE & NEW TALKS SERIES THE BREAK

By Rishma • On Events

Ilu­vlive Presents: The Break – City Splash Special
Thursday 22nd May 7pm-10pm @Qube Elephant
Tick­ets here

 

Respec­ted live music and tal­ent devel­op­ment not-for-profit organ­isa­tion ilu­vlive is mark­ing its 21st year under the stew­ard­ship of Man­aging Dir­ect­or Lauren Louise Pow­ell, who leads the organ­isa­tion into its next chapter of growth with a series of new brand devel­op­ments, col­lab­or­a­tions and ini­ti­at­ives across the year that con­tin­ue iluvlive’s com­mit­ment to cre­at­ing oppor­tun­it­ies for live per­form­ance, net­work­ing, col­lab­or­a­tion, artist devel­op­ment and discussions.

ilu­vlive has been shap­ing Black Brit­ish music since 2004 and the first in a series of events cel­eb­rat­ing its 21st year was a tal­ent show­case ‘ilu­vlive Presents’ at The Great Escape Fest­iv­al in Brighton last Thursday 15th May at Dust, sup­por­ted by PPL Giv­ing, with rising tal­ent includ­ing rapper/vocalist DeeRi­gin­al, JER­UB, Olympia Vital­is and STORRY. All artists on the lineup have received sup­port or par­ti­cip­ated in iluvlive’s Artist Devel­op­ment pro­gramme and reflect the rich diversity, cre­ativ­ity, and genre-blend­ing innov­a­tion that defines the organ­isa­tion. The event had an incred­ibly response and was atten­ded by A&Rs and Label heads and saw Storry’s vinyls sell out, and mul­tiple fol­low ups to demon­strate the show­case­’s impact and open­ing doors for its artists.

Deeri­gin­al said “The ilu­vlive artist devel­op­ment pro­gramme has helped me in vari­ous ways. In terms of the live aspect, I gained an agent and a popup show at Box­park Shored­itch, that was prob­ably my favour­ite show of 2024, and that gave me the con­fid­ence to do my first ever head­line show. I’m grate­ful for the fund­ing, which allowed me to invest in vari­ous areas of my career.” 

Next up is The Break, a brand new event series designed to sup­port aspir­ing industry pro­fes­sion­als with talks, career sup­port and net­work­ing. The first, kick­ing off on 22nd May, is in col­lab­or­a­tion with respec­ted fest­iv­al City Splash with Lauren Louise Pow­ell and Ben Ryan (City Splash Founder) host­ing with pan­el­lists pro­du­cer and instru­ment­al­ist PRGRSHN and tour man­ager & show pro­du­cer Neicee Oakley. The rest of the year will see the con­tinu­ation of The Break, along­side bi-monthly R&B plat­form Bloom in part­ner­ship with Everything RNB, plus a series of jam events at Box­park and a new rap-focused event in part­ner­ship with cre­at­ive col­lect­ive Vibbar to be announced.

Foun­ded in 2004 by Jade Richard­son (respec­ted A&R and Board Dir­ect­or), but under the stew­ard­ship of CEO Rachael Bee (industry vis­ion­ary, artist man­ager, and entre­pren­eur) for 17 years, ilu­vlive has been at the fore­front of nur­tur­ing emer­ging tal­ent and shap­ing Black Brit­ish music for 21 years. It has show­cased some of the biggest names at the start of their careers includ­ing Ed Sheer­an, Wretch 32, Ghetts, Kano, Little Simz, Kojey Rad­ic­al, Ella Mai, Tom Gren­nan, and Mahalia, as well as industry luminar­ies like Alec and Alex Boateng, Remel Lon­don, and Eunice Obi­anagha. From R&B to Grime, the ilu­vlive stage con­tin­ues to cham­pi­on some of the most excit­ing names in Black Brit­ish music, with artist devel­op­ment alumni includ­ing Nao, Izzy Bizu, Bawo, Sans Soucis, Lylo Gold, Jords, and Emmavie. ilu­vlive grew from humble begin­nings to deliv­er over 70+ events a year across six UK cit­ies, sup­port­ing over 350 acts and reach­ing an audi­ence of more than 7,000 on the ground and over two mil­lion online annu­ally.

Lauren Louise Pow­ell, ilu­vlive Man­aging Dir­ect­or said, “I’m incred­ibly proud to lead ilu­vlive into its 21st year with this announce­ment. Our return to The Great Escape and the new brand The Break, in col­lab­or­a­tion with City Splash, both demon­strate our work over the past 21 years, high­light­ing and sup­port­ing Black tal­ent and those from oth­er glob­al major­ity com­munit­ies. We are excited to kick off our sum­mer live music jam series at Box­park, along with our new rap series, as we cel­eb­rate this mile­stone year. As we innov­ate and empower Black voices in music to grow. ilu­vlive is com­mit­ted to cre­at­ing oppor­tun­it­ies for live per­form­ance, net­work­ing, col­lab­or­a­tion, artist devel­op­ment, and dis­cus­sions. It’s a spe­cial time for ilu­vlive, and we con­sist­ently strive to be a key play­er in the tal­ent pipeline, bring­ing our com­munity-focused work to the wider music industry. Being part of The Great Escape is essen­tial to that mis­sion, with thanks to PPL Giv­ing for their sup­port, which allowed us to make this show­case pos­sible, and Arts Coun­cil Eng­land for their ongo­ing sup­port, without which ilu­vlive would not be here at all.”

Rachael Bee, CEO of ilu­vlive said “I was incred­ibly proud to pass the MD bat­on to Lauren after 17 years at the helm and it’s really excit­ing to see the new events brand she is devel­op­ing for our 21st year and bey­ond. The fact that Lauren star­ted with us as an intern and is now MD speaks volumes about our com­mit­ment to nur­tur­ing tal­ent at every level. It’s been quite a jour­ney over 21 years, and for a small com­pany, we’re proud to have con­sist­ently punched above our weight. ilu­vlive was where Tinie Tem­pah and Ed Sheer­an per­formed their final per­form­ances as inde­pend­ent artists, where Jessie J per­formed her own songs the first time. It is where Emeli Sande met Naughty Boy, where Wretch 32 per­formed with a live band for the first time (the infam­ous ilu­vlive house band), where Mahalia per­formed at 14, where Ed Sheer­an met Jamal Edwards and where Krept and Kon­an cut their teeth.  Added to this are the live musi­cians, presenters, media pro­fes­sion­als and exec­ut­ives that have come through Iluvlive’s team at the start of their careers. The impact we’ve made on live Black Brit­ish music is undeni­able, and we can’t wait to see what the next 21 years will bring.”

Jade Richard­son, ilu­vlive Founder and Board Dir­ect­or said: “ilu­vlive was born out of frus­tra­tion — there just wer­en’t enough spaces in Lon­don to see the Black artists we loved per­form live. Now, look­ing back on 21 years and the incred­ible tal­ent that’s graced our stages, it’s truly hum­bling. I’m genu­inely excited to see how Lauren takes the brand for­ward, cham­pi­on­ing emer­ging Brit­ish tal­ent and cre­at­ing real oppor­tun­it­ies through live performance.”

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Rishma

Edit­or / PR Con­sult­ant at No Bounds
Rishma Dhali­w­al has extens­ive exper­i­ence study­ing and work­ing in the music and media industry. Hav­ing writ­ten a thes­is on how Hip Hop acts as a social move­ment, she has spent years research­ing and con­nect­ing with artists who use the art form as a tool for bring­ing a voice to the voiceless.

About Rishma

Rishma Dhaliwal has extensive experience studying and working in the music and media industry. Having written a thesis on how Hip Hop acts as a social movement, she has spent years researching and connecting with artists who use the art form as a tool for bringing a voice to the voiceless.