Help Musicians and Music Minds Matter appoint new trustees

Help Musicians has announced the appointment of BBC director of music Lorna Clarke and UK Music chief operating officer Stephanie Haughton-Campbell to its board of trustees, while Deviate Digital founder and CEO Sammy Andrews joins the board of subsidiary charity Music Minds Matter as a new Trustee.

Clarke brings to the Help Musicians board decades of experience a broad range of experience gained across the UK’s music broadcasting landscape, while Haughton-Campbell contributes expertise in organisation and development within the creative industries and Sammy Andrews brings with her a wealth of digital experience to help deliver the mental health support delivered by Music Minds Matter.

Stephanie Haughton-Campbell said: ‘It is easy to say that joining the Help Musicians Board is a great honour. The work of this fantastic charity supports musicians during episodes of financial difficulty and nurtures outstanding creative talent to achieve the true highs in their careers. CEO Sarah Woods and the dedicated, talented team at Help Musicians underpin a core element of the music industry; the musicians who provide heart-stopping musical moments while contributing to the £7.6 billion GVA generated by music to the UK economy (2023). As a Trustee, I eagerly look forward to contributing to Help Musicians' mission and participating on this Board.’

The appointments were confirmed at the charities’ recent AGM, which saw the approval of their Annual Report and Accounts with a total of £5.4m invested across both charities. Across the last year, Help Musicians has delivered more than 17,000 individual interventions while Music Minds Matter has directly helped over 5,000 people working across music to improve their mental health.

Help Musicians and Music Minds Matter chief executive Sarah Woods said: ‘Through Help Musicians and Music Minds Matter we are determined to deliver impactful support at scale to both people who need help right now, and work in partnership to prevent the issues of the future. We are fortunate to have Trustees who share our ambition; to help guide our future direction to increase our engagement right across the musical sector. Prevention, is now a significant part of our work across both charities, and these fantastic new appointments will bring new perspectives to how we can work upstream to reduce the likelihood of work or careers lost to issues of poor physical and mental health.’