Vanessa Reed

Vanessa has repositioned the PRS Foundation as the UK’s most pioneering and effective funder of new music and talent development, significantly increasing resources for the music industry and launching a diverse range of award-winning initiatives which support composers and songwriters of all backgrounds. Recent initiatives initiated by Vanessa include Momentum – the ground-breaking talent development fund for artists working in pop music in partnership with Arts Council England, PPL and Spotify and a range of international initiatives including the Keychange campaign which invests in female talent whilst encouraging music festivals to aim for a 50:50 gender balance by 2022.

Between 1997-2007, Vanessa worked as an independent arts consultant, as Grants Manager at the European Cultural Foundation (Amsterdam), in the Education and Culture Directorate of the European Commission (Brussels) and as Promotions Manager at the British Music Information Centre. Vanessa was selected as one of fifty ‘Women to Watch’ by the Cultural Leadership Programme in 2010. More recently Vanessa won the music category of the Hospital Club’s 100 Awards for UK creative industry influencers, was awarded a Fellowship by Leeds College of Music for her contribution to music in the UK and accepted Music Week’s Oustanding Contribution to Charity Award on behalf of PRS Foundation. Vanessa is Chair of Sound UK Arts, Board member of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic and Fellow of the Royal Society of the Arts.