Founder and CEO of Sour Lemons
Sade Banks is currently the co-director of the social justice consultancy, The What If Experiment, where she creates strategies that build cultures of belonging across the creative and cultural sectors. The What If experiment evolved from Sour Lemons, which Sade founded in 2016 to address the lack of diversity in creative leadership based on her own experiences of exclusion and othering within the industry.
Sade is a life coach and mother to two tiny humans. She currently sits on the Mayor of London’s Cultural Leadership Board and the Main Advisory Board for the Freelands Foundation. She was previously a 2020 Clore Cultural Leadership Fellow, a Founding Member of the UK Lived Experience Movement and the Founding Chair of the Centrepoint Youth Parliament. She has previously served as a Trustee for the Lyric Hammersmith Theatre, was the Social Entrepreneur in Residence at UnLtd (2017-19) and a Friend of Red Bull Amaphiko (2018-19).
Awards include Champion of Change: The Champion of Women Awards (2022), Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s BHM campaign as a ‘Next Gen Trailblazer for Racial Justice’ (2020), Natwest WISE100 ‘Leading Woman in Social Business’ (2018) and AMV BBDO’s ‘Top 50 Diversity Trailblazers’ (2018). In 2015 Sade received an award from Prince William for ‘Turning Her Life Around’.
Industry Champions
Sarah Ellis
Director of Digital Development at Royal Shakespeare Company
Tom Chalmers
Founder and Managing Director at Legend Times Group
Lucy Bayliss
Head of Creative Programmes at DanceEast
Charlotte Beevor
Entrepreneurial Designer and Stylist
Stephen Bennett
Joint Head of Policy Lab and Visual artist
Tom Adeyoola
Entrepreneur
Sade Banks
Founder and CEO of Sour Lemons
Mandy Barker
Founder of Sail Creative
Jennifer Johnston
Head of Learning at Into Film
Anra Kennedy
Consultant Director at The Audience Agency
Vikas Kumar
Founder and Director of GemArts
Amanda Maxwell
Community Manager and board member of shesaid.so
Jo Morrison
Director of Digital Innovation at Calvium
Dave Moutrey
Director of Culture and Creative Industries at Manchester City Council
Laura Pye
Director at National Museums Liverpool
Lara Ratnaraja
Cultural Consultant
Will Saunders
Consultant and Executive Producer
Jaswinder Singh
Director of Asian Arts Agency
Amy Smith
Global Director, Recruitment & Outreach at Framestore
Tolu Stedford
Development Producer at the Independent Film Trust and CEO of Creative Lions Productions
Maria Tanjala
Co-founder of Big Couch and FilmChain
Annie Warburton
CEO at the Goldsmiths' Company
Sharon Watson
CEO and Principal of Northern School of Contemporary Dance
Claire Whitaker
CEO of Southampton Forward
Nia Williams
Director of Learning and Engagement at National Museum Wales
Tom Philipson
Founder of YourStudio and Special Lecturer at Central Saint Martins, UAL
Malath Abbas
Game Designer and Creative Producer
Steven Berryman
President of the Chartered College of Teaching and Senior Deputy Head, Sir William Perkins's School
Laura Giles
Managing Director at Screen Cornwall
Leslie Ramos
Philanthropy Advisor and Director at The Twentieth
Anna Kiernan
Associate Professor in Creativity and Literary Culture, University of Exeter
Fiona Mozley
Novelist
Lilli Geissendorfer
Independent Consultant and Director, Theatre Green Book
Savraj Matharu
Principal Lecturer in Digital Innovation, University of Westminster
Anna Disley
Executive Director, Programmes and Impact, New Writing North
Hannah Pater
Development Director, Big Change
Linda Spurdle
Cultural Consultant and Producer
Josie Warden
Design Researcher
Tobias Revell
Design Futures Lead at Arup
Phil Holton
Senior Qualification Manager, Pearson
Sara Salsinha
Independent Designer and Researcher
Rebecca Swarray
Senior Policy Officer, Greater Manchester Combined Authority, and freelance Curator, DJ and Producer
Robert Kilpatrick
CEO and Creative Director, Scottish Music Industry Association
Grace Shin
Account Manager, Clarity
Holly Lewis
Co-Founding Partner, We Made That
Jack Gamble
Director, Campaign for the Arts
Anna Kime
Freelance artist and Policy Officer, Centre for Cultural Value
Chris Hildrey
Director, Hildrey Studio
Fred Deakin
Director, Fred Deakin and Company Limited
Natasha Trotman
Equalities Designer and Researcher
Ve Dewey
Founder and CEO of Concurrency
Rachel Coldicutt
Founder and Executive Director, Careful Trouble
