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
Amir Hussain
Chief Executive at Yeme Architects
Ben Evans
Director at London Design Festival
Inua Ellams
Poet, Playwright, Performer, Graphic Artist and Designer
Loyd Grossman
Chairman of The Royal Parks
Michaela Greene
Development and Communications Director at Roundhouse
Syima Aslam
Director at Bradford Literature Festival
Sarah Ellis
Director of Digital Development at Royal Shakespeare Company
Tom Chalmers
Founder and Managing Director at Legend Times Group
Tony Heaton
Freelance Sculptor and Performance Artist
Alia Alzougbi
Artist, Educator and Cultural Producer
Sade Banks
Founder and CEO of Sour Lemons
Natalie Griffith
Brand & Marketing Director of Unit 2 Games
Mandy Barker
Founder of Sail Creative
Lucy Bayliss
Head of Creative Programmes at DanceEast
Charlotte Beevor
Entrepreneurial Designer and Stylist
Kevin Beimers
Director of Italic Pig
Stephen Bennett
Joint Head of Policy Lab and Visual artist
Sarah Bird
Director of Wild Rumpus
Wolfgang Buttress
Artist
Ben Carlin
Co-Founder of Megaverse and Immerse Sheffield
Phil Critchlow
Founder and CEO of TBI Media
Stephanie Edwards
Co-Founder of Urban Symbiotics
Tom Adeyoola
Entrepreneur
Jennifer Johnston
Head of Learning at Into Film
Reiko Kaneko
Ceramicist, Designer and Educator
Kurban Kassam
Freelance Film Producer
Noel Kelly
Chief Executive Officer and Director at Visual Artists Ireland
Anra Kennedy
Content and Partnerships Director at Culture24
Nick Keynes
Director at Tileyard Studios
Vikas Kumar
Founder and Director of GemArts
Hope Dickson Leach
Writer and Director
Anna Lowe
Co-founder and Director of Partnerships at Smartify
Amanda Maxwell
Community Manager and board member of shesaid.so
Vaughn McKenzie
CEO of JAAK
Fiona McLaughlin
Co-founding Director at Taunt Studios
Conor Mitchell
Founder and Artistic Director of The Belfast Ensemble
Jo Morrison
Director of Digital Innovation at Calvium
Helen Mort
Author
Liz Mosley
Self-employed Graphic Designer
Dave Moutrey
Director and CEO at HOME
Kobi Onyame
Recording artist, Producer and Songwriter
Rachel O’Riordan
Artistic Director of the Lyric Hammersmith Theatre
Laura Pye
Director at National Museums Liverpool
Lara Ratnaraja
Cultural Consultant
Indhu Rubasingham
Artistic Director at Kiln Theatre
Will Saunders
Consultant and Executive Producer
Michelle Adia Scarlett
Community Immersive Producer
Nasima Siddiqui
Co-Founder at WyndyMilla
Jaswinder Singh
Director of Asian Arts Agency
Amy Smith
Head of Talent at Framestore
Nick Starr
Co-Founder at Bridge Theatre
Tolu Stedford
Development Producer at the Independent Film Trust and CEO of Creative Lions Productions
Phil Stuart
Founder and Creative Director of PRELOADED
Maria Tanjala
Co-founder of Big Couch and FilmChain
Nia Thomas
Managing Director at Boom Cymru
Yehrin Tong
Illustrator
Polly Tootal
Freelance Photographer
Zing Tsjeng
Freelance Journalist
Sandeep Virdee
Artistic Director and Founder Trustee at Darbar Arts Culture Heritage Trust
Annie Warburton
Chief Executive at Cockpit Arts
Sharon Watson
CEO and Principal of Northern School of Contemporary Dance
Claire Whitaker
Bid Director, Southampton City of Culture 2025
Nia Williams
Director of Learning and Engagement at National Museum Wales
Annie Lydford
Annie is Managing Director at Nevill Holt Opera